France, pt. neuf

The Carcasonne medieval cathedral was, of course, closed when we toured the medieval town. We went back to snap some pics that Friday.

France, pt. huit

After Collioure, we just went driving around hunting for castles. Many of these are spectacular ruins, but not enough restored to really look at. They like to charge admission for access, and then you have to walk about a mile straight up a cliff to get to it. Some of the castles had falconers doing their thing at certain times; Carcasonne even had jousting exhibitions, for a fee. Either way, the castles were cool to look at, and interesting to drive to.

Some of these pictured are the castles of Queribus and Peyrepetuse. We also found a delicious winery on this drive (Corbieres) and bought a few bottles for dinner.

France, pt. sept

I confess, this is my "money" shot. Probably the best one I took on the trip.

Collioure is on the Mediterranean coast in an area called the Vermillion Coast. Mom asked to see the Mediterranean sometime during the trip and Collioure is one of the most picturesque in the area. A few drawbacks: a bit of a drive, the heat almost slayed us, and Sean got splooshed by a pigeon at lunchtime. Aside from all that, it was an adorable town. We toured the local toured the local fortress/castle, as well, and I'm including some pictures of that.

France: Fireworks Edition

I saved the fireworks for a separate blog, since we have so many cool shots, courtesy of Dad.

All I'm here to say is, I have seen my preferred fireworks display and can die happy. Move over, Disney! Seriously, I cannot compute how much all those fireworks cost! We walked around the corner of our neighborhood and got a fantastic view along the canal. With the background of the medieval city, our view was spectacular.

I know you always lose something when you video record it, but in person, these fireworks were so amazing I actually teared up frequently during the 20 minute display. Enjoy.

France, pt. six

Due to high traffic predictions, and the coolness of the town where we were staying, we chose to stay put and tour Carcasonne for Tuesday, Bastille Day. Carcasonne boasts the largest fireworks display in all of France. But it also has one of the most restored castles in the area.

All the cool castles charge admission, but we didn't come all that way just to look at the outside. True, we drove to many castles on this trip, and some of them were accessed by a long, uphill climb. We usually drove to those, and then chose whether or not to pay to enter. Even ruins can look cool, but the restored castles were more up Mom's alley. Good thing we chose Carcasonne.

The city of Carcasonne is directly next to the Medieval Cité. I'm a bit rusty on my history, but I think the castle in the Medieval part was built around 1100-1200 in stages, and surrounded by two complete ramparts. The outer ring was built at a different time than the inner walls, and the narrow twisted streets became filled with city amenities like tanners and bakers and such. Currently, it houses shops and museums and restaurants, plus a hotel or two, such as the one pictured here. We wondered how you can drive up to it and park, since the town is entirely pedestrian. At times, the surrounding town (the Carcasonne area) was razed to the ground (almost completely) to rebuild a tighter controlled area.

The other picture is from a confectioner's store, where they had expensive and beautiful piles of cookies. So nice! We were all waiting on Sean to make a purchase across the way, and someone was giving away samples in this shop of these cookies; we were like moths to the flame! I would have bought some but they were super expensive. The free ones tastes great! However, Sean did not get to see or partake, as he did not see me wave to him from the store.

This last random picture was taken by my Dad. We spotted this kid in line for admission to the castle and thought it looked just like Chris circa 1982.

France, pt. cinq

At the very least, one bonus of taking a vacation with your dad is getting to take photographs of Dad taking photographs. Sometimes, we take photographs of each other taking photographs. Usually it worked out really well, as there was too much around us to photograph.