Medieval Adventures in Carcassonne

Well, I’ve just returned from the magical land of Carcassonne (well, it was magical to me at least) and I’ve got quite a bit to say. So, go ahead and grab a mug of hot cocoa or whatever it is that you drink, and settle down…because this is gonna be a long one.
We left Bourcefranc on Wednesday morning. Beatrice and I were lucky enough to get a ride with Aurelie to Rochefort…otherwise we would have had to spend a wretched two hours on a bus versus getting there in 30 minutes by car. The first leg of our journey took us to Bordeaux where we would change trains. Beatrice and I watched “You Got Served” in French on the train. If you’ve never seen you got served, you need to. Not for the extraordinary acting or the impressive dialogue (actually, I have no idea what was being said, seeing as it was in French), but for the predictability and the dancing. Actually, the movie is only watchable because of the dancing. And I already knew what was going to happen before we were 20 minutes into the movie. You know when you watch a movie and there is that one character that is just so sweet and charming? Or it’s an adorable child? They are always marked for death in the movies. Anyways, back to the train. We changed trains in Bordeaux with no problems. The second leg of our journey took us to Toulouse. In my mind, I see Toulouse as the Houston of France. Not because there are any actual similarities, but because when I travel, I always get stuck in Houston, which is reason enough to make me hate it. The same thing happened in Toulouse. We were only an hour and a half from Carcassonne, but we were stuck in Toulouse…for over 3 hours. And we changed trains…3 times. I’m not even kidding. When we got all settled down into one train, we would hear an announcement, “Attention, voyageurs…blah blah blah…your new train is now on track 5”. When we finally squeezed on a train bound for Marseille which would pass through Carcassonne, there weren’t any seats left. So, Beatrice and I hung out and lounged around the luggage rack. Finally, I sat down and squeezed myself into a corner and tried to sleep so that I wouldn’t be in the aisle as people passed us. We finally made it to Carcassonne, where we met Laurent, who had been waiting for us for two hours. He was on vacation with his family in Toulon, and it was much easier for him to meet us in Carcassonne, then to return to Bourcefranc and then voyage south again.
Well, I managed to convince Beatrice and Laurent that our auberge was within walking distance. The map said 2.5 km from the train station, but I think we may have walked a bit more seeing as how we were lost. Mind you, it is already 9 o’clock by this time and we are hungry. So, we stopped at a Chinese restaurant, ate dinner, and continued to follow the maps I had gotten off of Google maps. I should have learned my lesson from my futile attempts to follow Google maps in Poitiers. And on top of all of that, it started to rain. We crossed the Canal du Midi, and stopped and asked for directions every so often. Finally, we crossed the Aude and saw the medieval city of Carcassonne in all her glory on the hill across the river. She was beautiful and I probably would have stopped and stared for an hour or so except that Beatrice and Laurent were cold and wet. Well, we couldn’t really figure out how to get into the city (seeing as how it is a fortress), so we climbed into a catapult and vaulted ourselves over the walls, landing safely in a pile of hay on the other side. Ok, not really, but it would have been fun. We finally found a way into the city, climbing a steep, wet, cobblestoned hill through the outer wall. We now found ourselves in the lists between the two walls. But luckily, we found some Spanish high schoolers who were out playing in the rain and knew where our hostel was. We followed them through winding medieval streets and finally found our auberge! The guy working the front desk was Canadian, so lucky for him; he naturally speaks French and English. Welp, I forgot my passport and Laurent forgot his ID, so the guy used a few special four letter words, and decided to just let us stay even though we forgot our important papers. We quickly found our rooms and went to sleep. Well, tried to go to sleep, but there was an older woman in our room who snored like Satan. But at last I found my way to dreamland.

The next morning, Beatrice took off for Marseille. She was going to try to get a picture and autographs of the Marseille football team for her boyfriend in Martinique for his birthday. Which meant that me and Laurent explored the city all day. We started by walking out of our hostel and discovering that the main chateau, the lord’s residence, was right outside our hostel. How I missed that the night before, I have no idea. Maybe because it was behind a portcullis, who knows? We walked out of the inner city and into the lists, the spaces between the two walls. We climbed all over the walls and I took a bzillion pictures. And I saw the Pyrenees for the first time! They were covered in snow and were absolutely beautiful! But unfortunately, the temperature began to drop. By midmorning, I could no longer feel my hands. I was colder than I’ve ever been…with the exception of Paris and Normandy. Laurent and I paid to visit the ramparts in the inner city. For just 5 Euros, I took a three hour tour of the ramparts and the lord’s manor. It was sublime. Something like that in America, they would charge you an arm and a leg to see. Carcassonne used to be a frontier town between France and Spain. Before that, it was a roman fortress. You can still see the Gallo-Roman walls in some places. While occupied by the count of Trencavel, the pope and the King of France decided to launch a crusade against the Cathar region ( the region in which Carcassonne is found) because their theology was just a little bit different than the official canon of the Catholic church. So, after a long siege, Carcassonne was added into the kingdom of France. It was then turned into the major fortress that you see today. Through the ages, Carcassonne fell into disrepair and ruin, but Viollet-le-duc undertook a huge restoration project in the 19th century to restore Carcassonne to her former glory. Viollet-le-duc is kind of a personal hero of mine. I saw the castle of Pierrefonds that he restored in Northern France, and I also believe that he has restored parts of Versailles. But he certainly had a penchant for gothic architecture, which is fine with me.
After finishing the tour of the ramparts, Laurent and I went and searched for lunch. We ended up eating in a Boulangerie, but since they are my favorite, it was ok with me. Afterwards, we searched for the museum of chevalerie, but we couldn’t find it. Stupid medieval streets and their lack of logic. So, we left the city so that we could take pictures from across the river in the daylight. By this time, it had stopped raining and we enjoyed a leisurely hike down the hill to the river. Also, the temperature had risen considerably, allowing my mood to rise considerably as well. After we had finished exploring, we set about looking for a place to eat…we finally found the museum of chevalerie…but by this time it was closed. And so were all the restaurants. So, we returned to the Boulangerie for dinner. We also met up with Beatrice who had returned from Marseille. Her efforts had not been in vain as she secured free tickets to the match in Marseille next week. We then all went back to the hostel where I took a shower for the first time in two days. (Go ahead and say it…ew.) We then played Uno in the lounge in front of a roaring fire and in the company of other travelers. I love hostels. I love Carcassonne.
The next day was Halloween, and as I didn’t have a chance to celebrate, I could remark to myself with satisfaction that I had at least spent Halloween in a medieval city. We then returned to the train station, by taxi this time, as Beatrice frankly refused to walk again. But it wasn’t expensive, so it was ok. We got on our train without any problems and we were bound for Bordeaux within the hour, skipping the horrible town of Toulouse. At Bordeaux, we had some time before our next train, so we left the station and enjoyed some couscous and kebabs. We then returned to the station where I promptly fell asleep on the train and didn’t stir until we reached Rochefort. Aurelie came and picked us up again (I love her). We were all slightly delirious with tiredness, but it was a most excellent trip. When I returned, I checked my email to discover that I had basketball practice in an hour and they were going to pick me up in half an hour…crap! So, I scarfed a pb&j sandwich and threw on my bball clothes to catch a ride to the local gym for practice. But it was all good, because I got to scrimmage with the boy’s team…yay! It was a lot of fun and I think the only thing that could have induced me to leave my apartment after Carcassonne was basketball. I did manage to take a knee to my inner thigh, however, and consequently am very sore today. But it was worth it. So all in all, a most wonderful trip. Lessons to be learned (I just felt like I should include a moral at the end of a long story such as this, so bear with me).
1. Always bring your passport with you.
2. When you pack for your trip, make sure to bring lots of patience
3. An iPod or earplugs are handy things to bring to hostels
4. Don’t forget your mittens/gloves. I did. I now have two less fingers. Frostbite.