Carcassonne

So after the tent-shaking episode of the night before we were all feeling a bit unwanted and slightly on the glum side. It was 8 in the morning and we were up and ready for another day trip. To be honest simply leaving the campsite was a huge relief. But worry not, our daily dose of croissant soon cheered us all up and on to Carcassonne we went.

After driving around the new town of Carcassonne we managed to work our way up into the old walled city. Parked up we walked though the castle gates and it all felt very old medieval France. We had a wonder, had a drink (non-alcoholic of course due to the old sun yard arm thing) and found our self in a biscuit/sweet shop. I honestly don’t know how it happened but it did and we perhaps spent a little too long ogling. At 11 we made our way up to the castle for an hour-long lecture on 2,500 years of history. I conclude it was interesting. Our guide, Sebastian, was eccentric to say the least and just a little bit excitable. Due to this it was impossible to catch all of what he said. This was also due to the fact he consistently used the present sense. For 2,500 years of history this can become a little confusing. In fact, at one point after talking about his conversion with a long dead king, he suddenly exclaimed ‘I need water’. We all shuffled a little, felt confused, looked to other people for the answer. After a short silence a little voice piped up ‘I think Brian has some’ to which Brian started routing around in his rucksack. Sebastian, who couldn’t really understand our confusion, then had to point out he meant it for the moat.

After the talk we had some lunch. I had cuttlefish. It was very nice but quite rich and think it may not have agreed with me completely. In fact I may have had a little case of South of France Belly Dance.

The afternoon was predictably hot so Helen and I headed to a couple of museums while Lukas wondered around the castle grounds some more. The first museum was a torture museum. It would make even the strongest of stomachs turn and as you may remember mine was not at its best. Still it never fails to amaze me how evil one person can be to another. At the end of the museum they had a little note on the wall asking us to remember that torture unfortunately does not remain in the past and still exists in our society today. And while the socialist in me would have had them name and shame the governments I was somewhat pleasantly surprised at the little thought provoking sentence.

The second museum wasn’t technically a museum. Ok, it was a haunted house. But a very good one. The doors worked on an automatic system so you were effectively trapped in each room until they had scared you efficiently. The rooms were often pitch black and in some of the rooms a French man or two lurked in a black robe. And oh they were quiet, that is until they growled. Helen and me jumped and screamed and laughed our way round.