Day 11 - Carcassonne

 We started the day with a lovely breakfast at our hotel/residence (it was actually a legitimate apartment. It had more than one outlet, it was awesome.), including Nutella, bread, and various pastries. We then trekked to the city center, where we discovered that the random bridge Miel had printed directions to happened to be right outside the train station at which we had arrived the night before. Thus, we ended up doing the walk we had previously taken a taxi to avoid. Regardless, the river area was lovely, and we discovered that the random tents in the square were set up for the Festival du Pain this weekend (which unfortunately we will be unable to attend). Miel stole some tour from a group of elderly people, and was able to inconspicuously hear some facts about la Cité. Our next planned stop was the bookstore Mots et Cie (Words & Co.), where Miel bought more French books and saw some that she had read in French class.

River area in Carcassonne

There was a cathedral right next to the bookstore, but unfortunately it was closed. As we had plenty of time, we decided to check out the main cathedral a bit farther down the street (which was being renovated, so we didn’t go in that one either). We found a Mediathèque (library) and spent a good forty-five minutes there, browsing translations of our favorite books and finding the scant few that were actually written in French. We found it amusing that the books either said “Traduit de l’américain” (Translated from American) or “anglais (Etats-Unis)” to distinguish between American and British English. The library kicked us out at noon for the daily siesta (or the French version thereof; Miel doesn’t know the word).

Main cathedral with lovely scaffolding

Our last attraction was the Cité, the ancient walled city for which Carcassonne is famous. We walked back across the river and eventually found the entrance, no thanks to Google Maps’s unclear directions and the inability of the French to properly label their streets. After hiking up the hill, we walked around the outside of the Cité, taking many pictures as we went. At one point there were stairs to an unrailinged wall, on which no American tourist destination would ever have let visitors walk.

We appreciated France's trust in our balance.

We took a self-guided tour of the main castle, learning about the various parts, when and by whom they were constructed, and what their purpose was. Some of the towers are from the fourth century, although in the sixties someone decided that they needed new roofs because not all of the original types of roofs were represented. Much of the castle was built in the mid thirteenth century, after the Cité was handed over to the French kings. We also got to take a guided tour of the ramparts (in French; Miel translated for me), allowing us to look down upon Carcassonne and the surrounding area.

Tower: 4th century. Roof: 60s.

After this tour, we visited the basilica within the Cité, which Viollet-le-Duc (remember him?) was hired to restore (he then went on to restore the rest of the Cité as well, although he died before it was completed). The basilica had lots of arches and stained glass, as one expects in a basilica. There was also a quartet singing something religious (we’re not sure what language it was in). We stole another bit of tour (in English) and heard about the basilica.

Stained glass!

La Cité

Currently, there is SOMEONE smoking on our train, and it is quite disgusting, both olifactorily and morally, as this is a nonsmoking train. We have already come across a situation that displays our differing personalities, as Miel wants me to find a RENFE representative and passively aggressively ask if smoking is permissible on this train, and when they answer “NO, of COURSE NOT, we’ve announced it multiple times in four languages,” I’m supposed to point out that someone else is smoking and could you please ask them to stop or, better, throw them off the train. This process would be easier if we could actually tell the identity or location of the smoker, rather than just having the generally smoky smelling atmosphere. UPDATE: Miel has SEEN SMOKE in the next car over, but there are no train employees to be found. I don’t know how you people survived when restaurants, airplanes, etc. permitted smoking. UPDATE: We’re moving. UPDATE: We’ve moved; there were plenty of seats in the next car over, it’s much better, our suitcases are closer anyway, and there are other nice American teenagers here who also moved because of the smoke.

Other random notes: Two French people attempted to speak to me today – one young man who was offering to help us with directions (we weren’t lost, but we were looking at a street sign), and a woman who wanted to know if the train was going to Perpignan (I used my one and only phrase, “Je ne parle pas le français,” and let Miel deal with it). Miel would like to note that she has been practicing her Spanish (“Quisiera un sandwich con jamón y queso,” “Tenemos una reserva,” “No entiendo,” “Salida,” etc.).

Kaitlin, we have ascended and descended various spiral staircases, and can report that they are not consistent. The one in Pierrefonds was counterclockwise (going down), and the two we descended in la Cité were different. Make of this what you will.

Barcelona Sants train station. "Man Toilets," right next to "Woman Toilets." 

Although this post is longer than my normal, it is nowhere near yesterday’s monstrosity, and so I shall leave you here, DEAR READERS. We’ll let you know if we have any adventures getting to our Barcelona hotel (if we find internet, that is).

-Sara & Miel

P.S. We have arrived at our hotel in Barcelona! We even have a balcony, which overlooks a square in which people are presently throwing colored lights into the air. Additionally, though I understood enough to know when to give the employee at reception my passport, clearly my vacant look tipped him off to the fact that I didn’t really know what was going on, as he asked Sara if I understood Spanish, to which I replied, “No entiendo,” and it was rather exciting. I wish I could understand more!