Carcassonne: Aka Medieval Adventure Land

First a little catch up:  During the week things have been a little quiet.  Enjoying my classes and getting to know some really cool people.  Oh, and did I mention that the last two days have been in the mid 60's!!  So amazing!  I also had a chance to go ice skating with the program (lots of fun, but I forgot how much it can hurt your ankles) and a few friends and I saw "The King's Speech" (movie... in English).  And it was absolutely amazing (everyone should see this movie!).

On to the headline:

Went to Carcassonne yesterday with my friends Willow and Elizabeth and it was AWESOME!  We took the train (super inexpensive when you buy the age 12-25 discount card) out and it was only about an hour and 40 minute ride.  We got in and walked through the regular city to get to the Medieval one, looking at some of the shops and passing by a huge outdoor market.

Then we crossed a bridge and arrived at the walled in city (La Cité) which is at the top of a very large hill (the weather was gorgeous, but cool because of all the wind):

Little history on Carcassonne: It was created by the Romans, but like everything else, was eventually taken over at the fall of the Roman Empire.  It was a Middle Aged walled in city and inside has a palace (which was also protected by a moat) and a church.  It was kind of re-discovered and fixed in the early 1800's.

But it was really cool.  The stone work itself is really amazing looking and the views out onto the modern city is spectacular.  What surprised me is that, inside, there are lots of little shops, restaurants, even hotels (which kind of gave it a Disney feel)!  Best of all, because we have French student ID's, we got in for free!  (as my old band director would say, "Free, my favorite flavor").

We had lunch in la Cité (I brought lunch so I bought a nutella and banana crepe after), had fun wandering around taking tons of pictures, and then wandered back through the regular city back to the train (stopping along the way to get some coffee and postcards).

I also totally dodged two bullets because I forgot to bring my 12-25 card with me, but luckily my tickets never got checked in either direction, so I never got in trouble for it (not sure what would have happened... probably a fine).

Today I have some homework and I'm meeting a friend for a picnic at 1:30 to enjoy this amazing weather!

Check out more pictures from Carcassonne here!

Stay tuned for... What has two poles, two long and flat feet, and no idea what she's doing?