Carcassonne, France

This was our view driving into old Carcassonne.  The village has since grown into a big city, but they have kept the original Medeival town in tact by leaving it within the historic remparts. We stayed in the village the entire weekend. It is filled with hotels, shops, and cafes!

Our first day in Carcassonne got off to a rocky start.  We had some bad food, bad service, and it was a cold and rainy day.  We were both pretty bummed and I literally prayed for sunshine and a better attitude come Sunday morning, our actual anniversary. I am not trying to flatter myself by thinking that God parted those clouds for me, but I took it as a little anniversary gift/ answered prayer when I woke up to sunny skies! We also got an extra hour of sleep due to daylight savings time on Sunday- Yippee!  The pictures below are from our amazing hotel! The last one is the view from our hotel room window- pretty amazing huh? 





Sunday was in the 60's, not a cloud in the sky, and started off with breakfast in bed and a massage for me in our room! After that, we headed into town to search for some BETTER food and stumbled upon this gypsy looking place with live music.  We were contemplating and looking at the menu when an American lady who was sitting by herself said You MUST eat here, it is great! I eat here every time I am in town. We were sold! We sat next to a couple from Barcelona and by the end of our meals we were exchanging email addresses and phone numbers! I am itching to go to Spain now, anyone want to join? 



We spent the afternoon sight seeing and shopping around for little trinkets and Christmas gifts.  I got a few things but missed the most PERFECT leather handbag that I was "thinking about" all day, by a mere 5 minutes... I guess it wasn't meant to be. 








We went to the remparts (city walls) to watch the sunset over the mountains. It was beautiful! 





That evening we decided it was crucial that our meal be extraordinary, so we went on Trip Advisor and decided price aside, we would go to the #1 ranked restaurant in Carcassonne.  So we found La Maquerie. It was walking distance from our hotel and they had room for the 2 of us for dinner. The food was out of this world! The chef took time preparing every single thing from scratch and put a lot of effort into the gastronomy (design) of the dishes.  We opted for a menu that included a wine pairing with every single course - the aperitif, the entree, the main dish, the cheese, and the dessert! The waiter made sure we would be walking home :) 




Needless to say, our actual anniversary did a 180 degree turn from our first day and we ended up having a fantastic experience!