May 2, 2010 - Carcassonne - the famous castle

Up early and off by 8:30 AM or so. We couldn’t confirm that a Mass was actually going to happen in Homps so we drove toward Carcassonne planning to check churches on the way. We only found one church and it was locked and nothing was posted so we continued on into Carcassonne and accidentally entered a parking lot . . . so we parked. We walked up into the nearly deserted medieval cité and stopped at a boulangerie to ask about services. They directed us next door to the Tourist Office where a cheery woman was helping people in French, Spanish and English.

We got maps of the cité and of downtown Carcassonne and were told of a Mass in St. Hilaire right in the cité at 11:00 AM. Great! We walked up to the church to take photos before the service and were delighted to discover all the renovations taking place during our last visit were done and the church was ready for pictures. It looked glorious with sunlight streaming through the stained glass windows.

Carcassonne - the medieval Cité

Carcassonne - the medieval Cité

Carcassonne - view from the medieval Cité

Carcassonne - tourist shops in the medieval Cité

Carcassonne - the medieval Cité

Carcassonne - streets in the medieval Cité

We still had over an hour so went outside and walked all over town enjoying Carcassonne with very few other tourists. We eventually returned to the church and the organist was playing so we claimed seats to listen. In about 15 minutes a huge cacophony approached. It seemed to be a shawm band with drums and could be heard over the organ inside the church. The organist gave up . . . wisely . . . and I went outside to see what was going on. It was a Basque-looking group in costume, mainly children at least two of whom were handicapped. No signs or explanations and they all seemed happy so I went back inside and reclaimed my seat. Eventually the shawm band left, the organist returned and the service took place. We understood the hymn numbers so got to sing. After church, the organist spent a rousing ten minutes showing off his instrument . . . great fun!

Basilique des Saints Nazaire et Celse in Carcassonne - La Sainte Face by Thierry Lodziak

Basilique des Saints Nazaire et Celse in Carcassonne - Virgin and Child by Thierry Lodziak

Basilique des Saints Nazaire et Celse in Carcassonne - rose window

Basilique des Saints Nazaire et Celse in Carcassonne - rose window

Basilique des Saints Nazaire et Celse in Carcassonne - organ

Basilique des Saints Nazaire et Celse in Carcassonne - pieta

Basilique des Saints Nazaire et Celse in Carcassonne - reflections of stained glass

Basilique des Saints Nazaire et Celse in Carcassonne - exterior

Basilique des Saints Nazaire et Celse in Carcassonne - exterior

Carcassonne - the medieval Cité

Carcassonne - our favorite restaurant

Carcassonne - the Château Comtal

Carcassonne - restaurants in the main square

Carcassonne - the medieval Cité - Basque group outside the church

Carcassonne - Basilique des Saints Nazaire et Celse in the medieval Cité

Carcassonne - Basilique des Saints Nazaire et Celse in the medieval Cité

We left and checked a few restaurants but ended at the Brasserie le Donjon where we had eaten with Jean many years ago. Their cassoulet is as good as we remembered and the staff was excellent. We only got cassoulet and dessert and were stuffed. We chose a mascarpone with meringue and chocolate and loved it. Excellent meal. The only sore point was when a strange (to us) waiter brought the credit card machine over so we could pay and then told us the machine would not take our swipe credit card (as opposed to the European chip cards). We argued and he insisted. We resisted and finally the manager appeared and told the waiter to swipe our card. The manager said something to him about Spanish credit cards and the young man apologized and swiped our card. It worked . . . as we knew it would. I don’t know if he thought we were Spanish or just was clueless. He spoke French; we spoke French and usually our accent gives us away so he probably was clueless. [Brasserie le Donjon, 4 rue Port d’Aude, 11000 Carcassonne, +33 (0)4 6825-9572; Fax +33 (0)4 6825-0660, [email protected], Click here for the Brasserie le Donjon web site]

We took a few more Carcassonne cité photos and headed to downtown Carcassonne where we parked and took off on foot. It was Sunday so shops were closed. Buildings were dirty and in need of repair. We were not impressed. The area by the train station was nice but not much else was. We walked back via Blvd. Jean-Jaurés, a pretty walk under large plane trees . . . and fairly derelict grand houses. We found our way out of parking and back to the gite. It was pretty easy.

Carcassonne - the medieval Cité streets

Carcassonne - the medieval Cité between the double walls

Carcassonne - the medieval Cité - tours by carriage

Carcassonne - the medieval Cité - tours by carriage (they have little boots too)

Carcassonne - the medieval Cité - tours by carriage

The modern city of Carcassonne

The modern city of Carcassonne - the Chapelle des Dominicains, a museum now

The modern city of Carcassonne - the train station

Back at the gite, I turned on the computer and tried wifi out on the patio since it won’t work in our room . . . where the electric plug is! I couldn’t see the screen outside because of the sunlight so went into the “library” (of cheesy paperbacks) where there is also no electric plug but it does occasionally connect. It did not connect this time.

Jane, our loud landlady, came barreling in and I told her I was still having connection problems so she had me put the key code back in and I finally connected. While she was there, I asked for a dishcloth or sponge to do dishes and for a place I could connect to the Internet with electricity. She immediately had to go to the bathroom and disappeared. She is very good at that.

I checked e-mail (25 messages) and answered Peg, Jean and Edie. I cleaned my spam folder and checked and deleted suspect e-mail and by then the battery was nearly gone so I returned to our room, plugged in the computer and transferred photos from camera to disk. When the battery recharged a little, I returned to the library but couldn’t connect and Jane was yelling at something that presumably was a dog or dogs. She is very noisy. I gave up and returned to our room and plugged in again. After I recharged a bit and the yelling ceased, I went back and managed to log on again and e-mailed Charles, Vitelem, and put a brief update on Facebook and Virtual Tourist. That wiped out the battery again so I’ve given up on wifi for the day. Still no dishcloth! Jane and a friend traipsed through the back yard with two of the dogs and, we suspect, walked them along the canal to make their mess there.

Willow is our guard-cat and Shadow wanders past the door periodically. I haven’t seen Felix today but if we leave the room door open, all three quickly reclaim “their” room. It's a shame they haven't been trained to stay off tables and counters. We have no problem with our cat! If it gets warmer, keeping the door closed will be a problem since there are no windows that open, no fan and no air conditioning.

Oh yes, BBC this morning announced they had evacuated Times Square because they had found explosives. What a crazy world!