You would think that visiting an actual castle that dates back to the 12th century would capture the imagination of a 10 year old boy, but I was met with a very French shrug and a "meh." What the French? Seriously kiddo... there was a dried up moat, small hatches for cross bows, holes in the floors to drop rocks on the marauding enemies, watch towers, portcullises (not one, but two!) with diagrams for pulleys (physics!) and this place wrote the book on Gothic Architecture! Displays of sculptures and Catholic icons and crap like that. He ran through that place (looking for a sword) and although he may have seemed a bit ambivalent, he also seemed to "know it all" and any time I tried to point out something "cool" he just nodded as if to say, "Yah, I know." Kid, listen, we don't have this back in the HV. Brat.
Here is the obviously non-interesting part. We stopped (so did the roiling in my stomach) at Le Chateau and Ramparts de lat City de Carcassone. This place has been around since the Gall-Romans protected the site 2,500 years ago. But, as expected, the Visigoths, Saracen and Frank assailants all took a turn at possession. So did the monarchists and Napoleon, and now it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. There is a long, apparently boring story about how the Pope took it against heresy and it was given to the viscounty of Carcassonne. Then it was restored by Eugene Viollet-le-Duc. Talk about your Duck Dynasty... JUST KIDDING. Horrible joke, I know (my father would have loved that joke, well at least laughed). The place has fallen into ruin and he convinced some guy named Napoleon (who used it has one of his many summer homes) that it was worth restoring. Or I think that I what happened. My French, not so good...
To sum up... we toured the Chateau and Ramparts. We got to run all over the place - up the narrow stairs, high into the towers and ramparts, across crazy bridges. The wind was blowing super hard, so of course, I was freaking out about the being up so high with the wind blowing on me. I sweated it out. The view is intense... on a clear day you can see all the way to the Pyrennees, over into Spain, which is valuable if you need to see the enemy marching towards you. I think you can see the Med too, but I didn't get that close to the hole in the tower to take a look. But what you can see is a pic of plexiglass...
The rest of the city was built around it, obviously, progressively moving outward. Inner wall (chateau and ramparts), city, outer wall. It's pretty cool, what with the giant gates, towers, super narrow roads. I wish we'd had more time there, but we still had hours to go on our road trip.
As I keep asking my kids, "How many of your friends get to tour a UNESCO World Heritage Site this summer?" *meh* I continually find myself taking a deep, deep *le sigh* kind of breath. I suppose, it's not like they asked to come on this trip. Some day they will say, "Remember when we spent seven weeks in France?"
"No."
"Me either. I remember the ice cream. And that time mom got sick and we rode that little train. And we swam in the ocean."
"It was the Mediterranean Sea."
"Oh yeah."
"Macarons. And baguettes. And tons of chocolate. OH! AND THE YOGURT IN THE LITTLE GLASS JARS!! I loved that stuff."
"And remember how Mom hated that rental car, and every time we got in it she said, 'I hate this car.' Hahahahaha!"
"M'AIDEZ! M'AIDEZ!!"
le ssssiiiiiiigh. Someday they can re-live it via this blahg.
Here is a link to UNESCO. Probably more correct info regarding La Cite de Carcassonne. Definitely better photos. Put it on your bucket list! It is just across the border from Barcelona, Spain too. Well, to those of us in the western US, a six hour drive is just a stone's throw, so you know what I mean.
http://whc.unesco.org/fr/list/345
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