Our pit stop for lunch looked so much like Camelot that they filmed Kevin Costner's Robin Hood there. It is a good thing Carcassonne is a walled city and not a castle since the Webber's are done with castles! Therefore, it earned a thumbs up. Instead of exploring it, we basically walked through from the main gate - Porte Narbonnaise - to the other side.
Carcassonne
Porte Narbonnaise
You are not supposed to miss walking the "lists" (outer double walls) but the heat made that an unpleasant option.
We left through Porte d'Aude
Aix-en-Provence, France
I am so excited to be in Aix - in one place for so long! I can't wait to not live out of an overstuffed suitcase! We were able to finally empty out our car trunk's collected assortment. We will get to go grocery shopping and buy whatever we want without having to haul it or worry about refrigeration. We get to spread out and call it home. We get to assimilate and explore Aix! I get to have coffee when I wake up instead of when the cafe opens. This is awesome!
The winning feature of our apartment is its terrace, which towers five stories high over the center of the old city. Only the church steeples are taller. While the immediate view over rooftops isn't spectacular, the terrace is:
- large, peaceful and private
- rare, with hardly any other balconies in sight
- a relaxing retreat!
Terrace view over Aix rooftops. In the distance is the peak of Mont Sainte-Victoire - the mountain Cezanne painted a number of times
The first of many dinners on the terrace
Now that we are "living" in Aix, the blog posts will not necessarily be daily.
Logistics:
- Europe's "chip and pin" credit card: Rick Steves directed us to Andrews Credit Union for a real "chip and pin" credit card to use in Europe (we only had chip and sign cards). Until today, the Andrews card has been nothing special and has required a signature for every use. For some reason, even though we knew better, today on a whim Greg decided to try the credit card only toll booth. Thankfully he didn't do it at the toll station that had 20 minutes of cars waiting behind us! Of course the toll machine rejected our chip and sign card ("not valid on this network"). Panic began to creep in as we realized there is no way to eject the toll ticket from the machine. In desperation, Greg tried the Andrew's chip and pin card, and it actually worked!
- Our apartment is available on Homeaway (939964) from owner Fabienne Lacourty. During the high season, it is only available for rentals Saturday through Saturday.
