Carcassonne

.

Saturday we drove south, over the Black Mountains. We stopped at a picnic area, and a plaque commemorated a Resistance attack on the Germans. I was skeptical of the claim that they killed 50 Germans without losing a man; a lot of the claims about the Resistance fighters in France seem to be made up after the fact.

We drove to the hotel, which was not open yet, so we went to the walled city in Carcassone, and walked around. We ate lunch and later some ice cream. Sandi bought an Occitane cross from a jewelry maker in the reenactor camp. We also chatted with a bowman in the reenactor camp. On our way out, we chatted with a group of French Foreign Legion retirees, who were having a reunion.

Foreign Legion

 We headed out to find mass, but the Cathedral did not have a Saturday evening mass. The priest suggested Sacre—Coeur, which did have a 6 PM mass. We drove to the hotel, where Kathy was very helpful. The hotel is very nice, four stars. We had dinner at the Pampa Argentinian restaurant. Sandi ordered a hamburger, medium well, but it came almost raw, and Sandi could not eat it. The manager stopped by, and when he heard the story, said that the waitress did not really speak English, so there was a communication problem. He had them cook up another burger, well done. But well done in France is medium in the USA. So we had a lengthy chat about the differences in cooking in the US and France. We need to ask for “tres bien cuit”, very well done, but even that may be redder than we like. We were very tired at the end of the day, did too much.

Filling the lock.

Sunday we ate breakfast at the hotel, and took the boat tour on the Canal du Midi. The Canal du Midi is a Unesco World Heritage site, and was constructed around 1670, making it one of the oldest canals still in operation. (Using Google maps in town was frustrating, as the street signs did not match what Google said.) We enjoyed the tour, where we went through two locks, and listened to our guide give her talk seamlessly in French, Spanish, and English. We had lunch at La Rotunde near the canal.

Next we headed to Lastours, where there are four Cathar castles close together. A British couple lived next to the parking lot, and guided us to a very tiny road, where we could see the castles from a distance. We later drove to the Belvedere, where we were able to see them well, across the valley. We returned to Carcassonne, and had dinner at Ami Bagdad. The owners we loveable; they were refugees from Bagdad. They gave Sandi a mini cooking lesson.

Demon at church at Rennes-le-Chateau

Monday got off to a bad start when Richard turned down the breakfast buffet at the hotel. Many bakeries are closed on Monday, and even restaurants that are open for drinks may not serve food before noon. Sandi was very unhappy. We tried and failed to find a bakery, and went to the Basilica of Notre Dame de Marceille in Limoux, for the Black Madonna, but it was closed for lunch. We saw huge fields of grapevines as we drove. We headed for Rennes le Chateau, on the top of a hill, and ate a good lunch at La Escondida, with a great overlook. We visited the chateau and church, where the priest did a lot of building. There are many stories about where the money came from, including a lost treasure; signs prohibited digging within the city.  Reportedly Dan Brown got ideas from this story.

We returned to the Basilica, and found the Black Madonna. Many miracles are attributed to the Black Madonna. Richard wanted to see the exvotos, which are thank you notes to God; however, the museum and store are only open certain days in July and August. We continued to the abbey of St. Hilaire, which dates to the eighth century. We were tired when we got home; we went to the supermarket and picked up bread and cheese for dinner.

On Tuesday we said our goodbyes to Kathy, our host at the hotel. We started driving to Pezanas, in search of a Black Madonna. We found the Convent of the Ursulines, which the sign said had a 13^th century black Madonna statue. However, the church was closed. But we had a good lunch at a local street cafe. We continued to Avignon and found our hotel. We had dinner on the Plaza de Horlage, near our hotel, and wandered around a bit. It was a relatively easy day, partly because we were often on toll roads, not narrow country or mountain roads.