La Cité
For a couple of days this week we had guests. The weather was not the best despite our order - we had a bit of snow and a bit of sunshine, but mostly dark grey clouds. The snow was for the first time on our property since we arrived - first time I've had snow fall on me since I was a child and what I remember most is that we could go out for a short time to make a snowman - which of course you can't do properly wearing your gloves or mittens, so you end up with frozen fingers!
As we only had one full day to do something touristy we decided to go to Carcassonne and visit "La Cite" and see what it was all about, one of our guests having read the books from Kate Mosse (Labyrinth) which were set in the area. The medieval looking towers and surrounding buildings were quite ominous with such weather as a backdrop, and the wind was icy - so even though the air temperature was around 5 degrees it felt more like somewhere below zero.
Defenders of the castle:
Only the bravest people were out to tour the castle. Outside we pulled up our collars, hoods, hats and scarves and inside the rooms enjoyed the lack of whistling winds while viewing the interesting history and museum pieces on show. There were some large stones to hoist and catapult onto attacking enemies, slits through which you would fire your arrows at them, a gallery of important people (the family album?) carved in stone, many statues, sarcophagi and other interesting artefacts. There are lots of websites about La Cite so if you want to read more it shouldn't be too hard to find a good page or two.
Some shops were open and doing a slow but steady trade, but we made our way to a cosy cafe to enjoy a hot coffee before visiting the graveyard to view the ornate tombstones. Interesting how people look after loved ones when they have passed away - memories and personal messages, flowers, belongings, all on the tombs which are lovingly attended. Very sad but at the same time soothing.
The afternoon was complete after a couple of glasses of mulled wine in front of the fire mmmmmmm! and Wouter reminds me every day since how nice it was so maybe I have to make some more.
As we only had one full day to do something touristy we decided to go to Carcassonne and visit "La Cite" and see what it was all about, one of our guests having read the books from Kate Mosse (Labyrinth) which were set in the area. The medieval looking towers and surrounding buildings were quite ominous with such weather as a backdrop, and the wind was icy - so even though the air temperature was around 5 degrees it felt more like somewhere below zero.
Defenders of the castle:
Only the bravest people were out to tour the castle. Outside we pulled up our collars, hoods, hats and scarves and inside the rooms enjoyed the lack of whistling winds while viewing the interesting history and museum pieces on show. There were some large stones to hoist and catapult onto attacking enemies, slits through which you would fire your arrows at them, a gallery of important people (the family album?) carved in stone, many statues, sarcophagi and other interesting artefacts. There are lots of websites about La Cite so if you want to read more it shouldn't be too hard to find a good page or two.
Some shops were open and doing a slow but steady trade, but we made our way to a cosy cafe to enjoy a hot coffee before visiting the graveyard to view the ornate tombstones. Interesting how people look after loved ones when they have passed away - memories and personal messages, flowers, belongings, all on the tombs which are lovingly attended. Very sad but at the same time soothing.
The afternoon was complete after a couple of glasses of mulled wine in front of the fire mmmmmmm! and Wouter reminds me every day since how nice it was so maybe I have to make some more.
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