Day One: Carcassonne

Well our trip is underway and we are in France. We flew out of JFK yesterday evening and landed this morning in Toulouse about 1100 local time. From the airport we got in our two, eight passenger vans and headed out. Our GPS immediately went down and so we had to rely on Marc's navigation skills. He managed to get us out of the city and on the road to Carcassonne. Our trip from Toulouse to Carcassone was filled with some very beautiful terrain. We were traveling down in a valley at the base of the Pyrennes Mountains. From the road we were able to see several large and magnificant churches that appeared to be very old but were clearly the center piece of the small towns. Little did we know what was awaiting us in Carcassonne.

As we approached the town we looked up on the hill and saw a commanding structure. It was the old walled city and castle of Carcassonne. As we walked up to the walls, the only word to describe the structure was "awesome." The city has two main walls and then has several other defences that have been added on from the time it was built in 4th century and then to the rough shape we saw today in the 13th century and then final renovation in 1859. After beginning our cultural immersion with a very French 2 1/2 hour lunch, we were able to walk up in the towers and even into the beautiful cathedral that was built inside the walls in 1214. It is truly one of those places that you have to be standing there to really understand the presence and beauty of the walled city and castle over the river valley below. It was a very magnificent start to our trip and we are looking forward to our many stops to come.