In the morning, Alan and I visited the new part of Carcassone. It is very pretty, but nothing exceptionally special. The Canal de Midi is interesting and I had hoped to take a canal boat ride, but time was not on our side. Since this whole part of France is lovely and easy to get to, as long as Ryanair continues to fly here, I was not too upset to miss the canal. I am sure we will be back.
The four of us planned our day a bit better and the first thing we did was to buy provisions for lunch! Rene and Jim's hotel is near the shopping area - complete with bakeries. I got a baguette with brie, walnuts tomato and lettuce. It looked as good as it tasted!
Our first stop was the Abbaye de Caunes Minervois, where we had our picnic lunch on the side of what looked like a canal before visiting the actual abbey. There is a "passport" you can purchase for 2 Euro and it gives you 1 Euro off the 20 various sites in this area. We had already used it for the 2 castles we saw yesterday, so we were well in profit! The abbey was also included in this passport. I, personally, was not very impressed with the cloisters, etc. It was a much more modern feeling abbey than I have ever seen and did not feel comfortable and cozy, which is what cloisters and abbeys usually feel like to me.
The attached church had an altar with martyrs and their relics displayed. Across from it was sort of wooden stage like things. We all began to wonder what these were for and then we realized - they were for the ceremonial processions on holy days to carry the Martyrs! Sure enough we looked further and discovered pictures of these processions. And we also found how you can access the back of the altar and get these relics out without distrubing the church. I don't associate religious processions down the street as French, but we are so close to Spain that it is possible some traditions have crossed borders.
Enough culture then, off to find ice cream! On the way we stopped too many times to count to take pictures. This is one huge hazard of being in a car, in an interesting place, with Alan. But Rene and Jim were very gracious. So much so that I noticed Jim taking lots of pictures too. Was he just being polite? After all they did ask us back today and would be aware of Alan's picture taking fetish! Could it be that after all these years of me suffering with Alan stopping to take pictures at every bend in the road, that he is actually normal? All these questions!
When you can't beat them, you have to join them and I also have a really nice camera. On this trip I took loads of pictures of flowers, but today I mainly concentrated on the beautiful Irises blooming all along the roads. I was especially aware of Irises becuase I had left one just about to bloom in Scotland. I bought it 3 years ago at a plant stall. All I knew was it was a bearded Iris.....no blooms since then until now. As we were leaving our house on Wednesday, there it was just ready to bloom and I was afraid I would not see it! Hence, photos of Irises. (when I got home it was fine and stunning! I still can't decide if it is brown or a deep shade of purple! Many thanks to Martin for taking pictures of it just in case it did not last long enough for me to see!)
French Iris
My Iris
Finally found ice cream at a pub in Mazument! It looked really odd to order cones from a pub, but the ice cream was fabulous. I got a dark chocolate and coffee cone. (dark chocolate ice cream is wonderful!)Time to mention the other couple we know who were also on the plane on Wednesday! Barbara and Peter - Barbara is Lynsey's mother. Lynsey is my son's girlfriend! I was looking forward to spending some time with them while we were on this trip, but time was slipping away so quickly. So I organized for the 6 of us to meet for dinner! And we had a great time. Even though no one knew each other very well, we all seemed to gel nicely. Any onlooker would have assumed it was a gathering of old friends. I don't know what possessed me, but I ordered something safe - lasagne! Not like me, but nothing really stood out on the menu and I was craving pasta. However, Peter ordered salmon and then very kindly shared it with me when I saw his and almost cried! Alan and Rene got chicken and chips and it looked so good, Alan and I came back to this restaurant the next evening so I could order it! Topping off the dinner with a Grand Marnier crepe and Calvados!
The only other time I tried Calvados was actually in Carsassone, about 50 yards from where we were sitting. Mom and I had shared a book that she thought was good, and I really, really hated. I think it was called Arc de Triomphe and was about a German doctor who was in hiding in France during WWII. All I could remember about the book was he and his girlfriend drank alot of Calvados. While Mom and I were travelling together 33 years ago, the subject of this book came up and I told her how I struggled through it. We laughed, but decided we really had to try Calvados. It is a sort of apple brandy. Well, I didn't like it 33 years ago, and with more mature tastes this time around.....I still didn't like it!!!
View from bridge going into Carcassone
Two different types of tripods!
The actual colors on this bridge are not this brilliant, I was just lucky.
"The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page." St. Augustine
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