Moving on...

Yesterday was our last day in Paris until July 29.  Visited Notre-Dame, Saint-Chappelle, and a personal favorite:  Shakespeare and Company bookstore.  My daughter just rolled her eyes at that sentence - I guarantee it! Of course, by the time we had lunch at 3:30 pm, Lee had pulled a muscle and my knee had swollen up. That part sucked.

So, today began by checking out of the hotel in Paris and boarding a south-bound train for the walled city of Carcassonne, France.  I read about it in an article about the top 10 walled cities in the world.  We've been to #1 - Dubrovnik - and loved it.  So, we put Carcassonne on the itinerary for this trip.  I'm so glad we did - it's a cute town in the south of France, the wall is intact as is the castle it surrounds.  And best of all - our hotel is inside the castle!  So cool.  Of course, dragging the luggage across cobblestones?  Not particularly fun. But the place is so cool.

We arrived in town at about 2:45 this afternoon, but weren't allowed to check in until 6 pm.  We had lunch at a little outdoor cafe near the train station.  two hours later, we took a taxi to the hotel - or at least, to the castle entrance.  Then we walked to the hotel.  Since we couldn't drop our luggage off, we found a little outdoor pub across the alley from the hotel and had a couple of beers until it was 6.  In the meantime - we spoke with a few Brits here who were also imbibing.  One man, very into his cups, came over and told Lee he looked like Father Christmas - and asked was he coming to see him this year.  Lee asked him if he'd been nice - to which the man replied:  I tried.  Good enough.

So, tomorrow we hike through the castle.  The weather here is spectacular, and we should get some great pictures.  Will post some tomorrow night!

Aux Revoir.