November 24, 2011 Château de Carcassonne, France

Woke up today and it was foggy, Alexia asked if I wanted to go to Albi or to  Chateau de Carcassonne, I wanted to see a castle so bad that it was kind of a no-brainer for me, and she was more than happy to take me there, so we started getting ready and jumped in the jeep and headed to “Carcassonne” the “Medieval City”. We drove for about an hour and I was watching her, she was looking to our left and then tapped me and said, “There” and wow, what a “magnifique" sight off in the distance as you could see the giant castle walls and turrets all around it, it was a breath taking sight and I had a smile on my face that has still not gone away.
 We pulled up to the castle and I was like a kid in Toys R Us parking lots, I couldn’t get out of the jeep fast enough, It was almost like I thought the castle was going to disappear in 10 minutes, I was filled with excitement and felt like a dream had truly come true for me....a real castle.
 Each step I took inside brought new awe to me, I was amazed by how large the castle was. This Chateau de Carcassonne was a fortress within a fortress, the city was built inside the walls and were protected on all sides form attackers, and if they happened to get past the walls in the city there were even higher walls, another moat and drawbridge to get into the castle itself.
  We went on a perfect day, it was sunny when we got there after waking up to a foggy morning, there were not many people there, I know everyone said that I should wait on my trip and go in summer when the weather was beautiful but I am glad I made the choice I did, I wouldn’t change a thing about my decisions so far, at times in the castle it would be 10 -15 minutes or longer before we saw another person. In summer it is a very busy place and you have a hard time getting a good picture without other people in them. My suggestion is to go in the off season, it is well worth it!! and as for beautiful weather I had a t-shirt on and was more than comfortable.
 We got some food in the castle and then went to the castles “Torture Museum” I dont have any pictures cause we were forbidden to take pictures inside, and looking at some of the torture devices I am glad we decided to not take pictures, they may still use some of those techniques on people that get caught. I can not describe to you how horrible some of those practices were, I am a pretty strong person, but some of the descriptions even made me cringe, I would go into detail, but I have some younger followers and I do not think it is appropriate, but trust me, if you ever get to the castle it is worth the 7€ to go see it.!! They had the “Iron Maiden” and it made my body hurt just looking at it..
 I could have spent all day in that castle, maybe the rest of my life and not gotten tired of seeing the things and architecture and learning about the history, one day was enough to see it, but not enough to understand it. I want to go back someday.. I highly recommend if you are in France that you take the time to go see this magnificent castle.
  Alexia asked if I would drive home, she was very tired, and relaxed while I drove, it was my first time driving in Europe, they do drive quite a bit differently here but it was easy to get used to. She wanted to cook for dinner so we stopped at the “Poissonerie”  (Seafood Market) and she got some (giant shrimp, these things are the size of mini lobsters), some oysters in the shell, and a bottle of white wine, she is going to make a specialty dish from south of France when we get home.
 When we got back to the farm, I sat on the couch and started to download the pictures and layed my head down and fell asleep, she woke me and asked if I was hungry and I was so tired I said I was going to take a short nap before we ate, she said she was going to take a hot bath and I took my nap..  I woke up at 8 a.m. this morning..lol, that castle took a lot out of me I guess, or maybe the jet lag finally caught up to me! Either way we are having a great seafood feast tonight!!!!  Bonjour for now everyone!!!