Day 1. Nothing Toulouse...
Bonjour! Bienvenue! We have arrived in Carcassonne. The journey was a little bit of a schlep...We flew into Toulouse, and then got the bus from the airport to the train station, and then got the train from Toulouse to Carcassone, and then walked from the train station to the hotel...but it was ok! The train journey was slightly anxious though as we hadn't validated our tickets. In France you are supposed to punch your tickets in a little validation machine before boarding the train, but we didn't realise this...Imagjnjng all kinds of fines and prison sentences, we sat trembling as the conductor slowly worked his way up the carriage. Andrew was working out his best French apologetic phrases, we acted out scenarios, the conductor was upon us and then...he couldn't have cared less. Hooray! Narrowly avoiding jail, we emerged from the station into the French sun and proceeded to walk to the hotel. Our promenade took us through the most French looking streets I've ever seen! We are staying in La Bastide, the lower part of town which is next to La Cité, and it's a compact grid of narrow cobbled streets with restaurants and bistrot spilling over the pavements. We found our hotel, Les Chambres d'Aime, and it is BEAUTIFUL. It's a restored nineteenth century building with roomy high ceilings and a very pretty garden and pool. The owner is a very chatty, VERY French man, and our room is spacious, comfortable and pretty gorgeous. So far so good!
After settling in to our room, we went for a stroll through La Bastide heading for a restaurant we read about called Au Lard et au Cochon. Sadly there were no tables available, and then we discovered most of the restaurants' last bookings are before 9:30, so things were winding down a bit by the time we were out and about. We headed to the main square called Place Carnot, and there were some places still bustling so we settled on one called Le Longchamps. It was a lovely setting in the square next to the fountain, and the service was good, but the food was only ok. I had opted for cassoulet, a local dish, but it was burnt to a crisp! But hey ho, there are loads of good restaurants around (some Michelin starred - SWANKY!) so I'm sure our gastronomic experience will improve.
After dinner we explored the town a bit further, and caught our first glimpse of the famous medieval Cité. It is lit up at night, and even from our distant view from the Pont Vieux it is an impressive sight. Can't wait to explore it tomorrow!
A brief introduction! More tomorrow - see you then, blog-readers!x