Journal Entry: Montsegur, Foix and Roquefixade

I am back late! I had a fantastic day. I returned to my room at L’Abbaye to find the cleaning lady had changed out my towels and made my bed! How nice is that? And to think this place had bad reviews on tripadvisor. It is grand for €18 a night!

 

View from Hostel Room

So I went to Le Trouvere for dinner. I had cassoulet. Yum! I had a whole pitcher of wine too, but was not as tipsy (see: drunk) as the other night. I think I drank too fast the other night. I was thirsty I figured out what their [the waiters] shirts said too. I asked Jan what “Pompiers” was because I kept seeing it. The waiters at Le Trouvere had shirts that said “Pompiers: Service Extinction de la Soif.” Which I think means something like, they’re firemen, and will serve you drinks to get rid of your thirst. 

I think wine must have anti-inflammatory properties, because my knees were hurting but not now!

And why were my knees hurting you ask? Because I climbed not only Montségur, but also Foix’s two towers and Roquefixade! 

 

Montségur from the Village

So I got to Montségur early. I went to the bathroom in the village. The Italians have been by. There were no toilet seats. [Hahah!] They didn’t open until 10a but I hiked up to where they sell tickets. I sat down because it’s quite a walk even to there. A few minutes later a German couple came by with a dog. She asked me something in French, about it being closed. I pointed out the obvious and I think she was annoyed by that LOL. [Annoyed that I suck at languages.] So I told her I didn’t know if you could go on up or not. There was no sign saying it was closed. So about a minute later, some Australians came down. They said you could go up without paying if you got there before 10a.

We went on up. The climb was much easier than before. The view amazing. Beautiful. I sat up there for a while contemplating things. (Life. Death. Rebirth. [redacted] Etc. Petty stuff really). That and admiring the scenery.

 

View from the Top

Beautiful!

A series of small walls...

The Memorial at the bottom of the mountain

A closer picture of the memorial

Montségur from the Parking Lot

On the way back down, I stopped at the guard house and paid for a ticket. I didn’t have to, but I want to support the site. 

 

Ticket Office

I then went to the village, and looked around the museum. Didn’t see anything I wanted to buy. I went to a trinket shop and bought two stamps. That was all she had. I used them to mail Andy and Jan a postcard from the village. I also bought a sticker. “OC”

Then I went to Foix. On the way I saw a sign for another chateau, Roquefixade. I thought I might go by there after Foix. 

I climbed both towers that are open to the public.  They were having a contemporary art exhibit in them. It was weird. The oldest tower, I think it may be Roman is not open to the public. It’s probably empty inside, and maybe unstable. I say it’s Roman because in the tour of Carcassonne’s towers, they said the Romans liked to use a layer of bricks to level a wall, and that tower had the same style as the Roman wall at Carcassonne. It’s on a hill by a River, great place to build. 

Towers at Foix

After Foix I was starving, and they, being like the Italians and Spanish, shut down the town in the afternoon, so there was nowhere to eat. So I went to the McDonalds near the highway. I think V. and I must have eaten there, as it looked familiar. 

After eating I was feeling awesome, so instead of going back to Carcassonne, I went to Roquefixade. Amazing drive! Words certainly don’t do it justice. Pictures neither.

I looked at the chateau and thought it didn’t look that high. Heh. About halfway up my knees started hurting and it was hot, with no shade. But finally there was shade. And on the way up, I saw the Germans with the dog from this morning. I said “bonjour” and the man said, I think, “une autre chateau” – another fortress! His dog barked at me. It was cute. 

 

The French don't care if you fall off the mountain

Beautiful!

Part of a wall

More walls

Then I made it up. While I was up there, two German girls with their dog “Baloo” came up. I had asked them if you could drive closer to the bottom [of the fortress while down below]. Baloo reminded me of Buffy. He was running around, about to fall off the cliff. Crazy dog. The chateau is all ruins. A few walls left standing. I thought I could see Montségur from there. Some castle could be seen anyway. Sorta south-east I think. 

Baloo the dog

Which chateau?

I made it back down in one piece. I saw Baloo had hurt his back paw tho. Poor puppy! 

I made it back to Carcassonne fine too. I’m tired. Bed. I need to pack in the morning. And get gas in the rental car too. Good night!

Journal Entry: Oxford Academia and Trebuchets

Better showers at Oxford Backpacker’s Hostel, but mattresses are quiet thin. I’m pretty exhausted.

First I walked all over Oxford looking for Billy a football jersey but couldn’t find one. When I was here before everyone had them. I guess they’re not in style now?

Then I took a train to Warwick. There is a castle there and I heard they fire a trebuchet, so I wanted to see it. But first I had to find lunch. I had eaten a sausage roll at the Bath Spa train station but was ravishingly hungry by this time because that had been hours ago and I had walked a couple of miles. I saw a pub called The Roebuck and it had a leaping deer on the sign. I looked at their menu and didn’t see anything that screamed out to me and I very nearly walked on, until I saw a thing that said they were the oldest pub in the town dating to 1475. Well that decided it. It was your typical medieval pub, awesome. I ordered fish and chips. With a fountain drink (with ice! no less) it cost £9.75. Not too bad. I enjoyed it thoroughly. 

Then I continued up the road and saw tourist info. I stopped in there and they called up the castle to check on what time the trebuchet was fired. It was at 2 and 4:30. At that point it was about one o’clock so I decided to pay the £15 to get in and go see the trebuchet fired.

There was a lot more to the castle but I didn’t get to see all of it. I got there in plenty of time to pick out a choice spot on the bank to watch them wind the trebuchet up, using four men in two wheels to lift a seven ton weight, and then lob a 15kg ball (they said it could do up to 150) across the lawn. It was pretty awesome and I got it all on video.

 Video Compilation - Backpacking Europe 2009

Then I was going to wander up to the castle and look at it, but I got side tracked by a large crowd gathered. I wondered what they were there for, so I decided to wait and see what was going on. It was a falconry show! It was amazing. They had eagles, a bald one, it’s child, a blue one and a white tailed hawk I think it was. I’m not sure of the actual types of the second two. I knew Andy would have loved to see it. It was very impressive. After the show hung around and listened to the guy answer questions. In the course of the conversation it came up that he offered hunting excursions! I was very interested at that point. He said it was £75 for half a day or £150 for a whole day I think. I told him I was only here until Saturday but I wanted his business card in case we ever came again. hawkexperience.co.uk

Then I went to the gift shop and bought bookmarks with my, and my parents-in-law’s surname on them. They were metal, thin and very cool.

At this point I was starting to get tired so I headed for the exit. There was a man giving an archery show, and I watched for a few minutes, but I was tired so I left.

Took the train back to Oxford. 

When I got back I was able to check in. They had held my bags for the day but it had been too early to check in.

Then I went back out thinking a ghost tour would be fun but not knowing if there was one. Tourist Info was closed. Everything closes really early here considering how late it stays light. I wound up half lost and wandered back down to one of the main streets. 

I was walking when I passed a sign for a ghost tour that was leaving in fifteen minutes. I had been hungry and thirsty but thought I could suspend my appetite long enough for the tour. 

I popped across the street for a soda and then came back and waited. It cost me £6 and only six people showed up. The guide was a bit stuffy, but I learned a lot. Most of the ghost stories were kinda lame. A couple were interesting.

By the time we got through I was really hungry so I stopped at the Pizza Hut on the way back, near the hostel. They had just closed their dining room but were doing take-away. I got a Mediterranean pizza with chorizo and bacon. Delish. Only £6.95 for an individual sized one and they gave me a medium because they were out of small crusts for the evening. I didn’t think I’d eat it all but I did because I was so hungry from all the walking. I brought it back to the hostel and ate in the common room. I bought a Peroni beer from the bar. Also Delish!

There was a long term guy from Qatar sitting across from me. We talked some. He almost got into how screwed up the US government is, to which I responded, most governments are screwed up. Luckily he changed the conversation.

The only other girl in my four bed room is from Basque country. She’s teaching (or tutoring?) at the college for four months.

I’ve had a shower, it’s late, I’m tired. I’m looking forward to seeing Andy in two nights.

And here’s a quote for the day, to pick up as before, “…aristocracy of fourth century Rome…empress…” These two men, who looked very astute walked by while I was waiting for the ghost tour and were having a very deep conversation. Only in Oxford could you overhear such an academic conversation on the street.

Journal Entry: Peyrepertuse and Queribus

8:36pm

Exhausted. But happy. It was an amazing day. First we went to Rennes-le-Chateau but the church didn't open until 10am. So we went to find food for lunch back in the prior village, Couiza. There was a patisserie there and we went in and bought food. Katy speaks French, and so she helped us order.

Then we went on an adventure to get gas. We stopped at three places and none of the machines would take my card. Either card. Even the American Express which has a chip in it. Finally we found a manned gas station in Limoux (having driven all the way back from Couiza) that did not have a card reader at the pump and that took cash, by a real person. Katy was a lifesaver. She asked them if they took cash and they did. We got diesel in the car finally, it cost almost €18. Not bad for all the running around we had done.

By this time we headed back to Rennes-le-Chateau, and the parking area that had been deserted when we first arrived was nearly full. I expected the church to be crowded but it wasn't. There was also a museum and the Tour Magdala that cost money to get into. We didn't care to see them, just the church. It was pretty and really weird. V. asked, "Why is Joseph holding a baby?" I can see why people think it's odd.


We only spent a little time there before heading to Peyrepertuse. Jan, the lady who runs the hostel, had told us to stop at the Galamus Gorge. I really wanted to see the castles, and since we got off a bit late because of the “gazole” fiasco.

Peyrepertuse was absolutely amazing. A lot of the walls are still left, and some rooms too. I really need to go and look up historical information on it. It was a long climb to the top, not as long or steep as Montségur, but I was already tired from the climb yesterday.



Quèribus was good too, but smaller than Peyrepertuse. There was a really cool ceiling in it. The climb up to Quèribus was much easier than the other two.



Then we went to see the Gorges, and they were really cool. We were very glad that Jan told us to go there. (That's Jan at the hostel, not Jan my mother-in-law).

There was an abbey, cut into the cliff, dedicated to San Antonio. (Saint Anthony/Antoine). I bought a post card for Jan (mother-in-law) since she's interested in places dedicated to him, and she's not even religious, so that's kinda funny.



The dorm really is like a dungeon, and quite damp. We had to hang our towels outside on the line because they weren't drying in the dorm. I really like the hostel otherwise, the common room is nice, the location is great, but the dorm is damp and cold.

Jan (of the hostel) said that she knows some people in the village that have an apartment they rent out, so if Andy and I ever come here, we should contact her about that. He hates sharing a bathroom and Sidsmum's doesn't have any accommodation with a private bath.

Now I go to take a shower and hit the hay. We leave for Paris tomorrow a little after noon.

The above picture reads:
"On this bare rock that pierces the Sabine
Where the eagle in his flight only dared to come
Dangling from a cord with a pickaxe
Man, like the birds, has found a way."

I sure hope I find a way back there, because it is a very beautiful place and I think I left a piece of my heart there...