Jinx lonely in France
Dear Jinxie .. heres dedicating a post in your name. Chanced upon a very old mail about your Carcassonne excursion. T'was well written just the treatment any travelog should deserve. Since stupid you dont blog, let it adorn my dark cyber sanctotum.
We visited Carcassonne on Saturday. I'd heard that South France is supposed to be one of the most beautiful places in Europe but I realized that day that it must be one of the most beautiful in the world.... the lovely country-side, the bright yellow sunflowers, the farms, the mountains, the huge triangular windmills.... it was just too good.
The roads are so smooth.... you don't come to know how fast you're going.... I thought we were going at 70 or 80, but when I checked, I saw that the speed was 140!!!!
Carcassonne has a very old castle. The land for that city was occupied perhaps in 300 BC and thereafter, the city + castle were built.... the entire city is like a fort surrounding the castle, with gates near the bridge, etc - which probably were closed when there were attacks - it resembles the castles and cities you get to see in Robin Hood and King Arthur movies.... the view from the windows on the top floor of castle was awesome - I bet you could see all of South France ;-)
They don't speak much English in Carcassonne because its a very small place. We tried some of the French which we learnt. When you want the waiter to get the bill for you at a restaurant, you say L'addition (spelt Lau-di-shion). On a toll bridge, when we paid the toll, we asked for L'addition. The lady happily smiled, gave us the bill and said that L'addition is asked for in restaurants - here its only a bill. The burst of laughter after that was probably even louder than the sound of vehicles zooming at 140. Luckily, we found one municipal tourism office near a board which said 'Information' (informa-shion), where we could get some direction (direc-shion).
All in all, a nice trip. Let's see what else is in store....
- Mayank Sridhar
Infosys-Bangalore
We visited Carcassonne on Saturday. I'd heard that South France is supposed to be one of the most beautiful places in Europe but I realized that day that it must be one of the most beautiful in the world.... the lovely country-side, the bright yellow sunflowers, the farms, the mountains, the huge triangular windmills.... it was just too good.
The roads are so smooth.... you don't come to know how fast you're going.... I thought we were going at 70 or 80, but when I checked, I saw that the speed was 140!!!!
Carcassonne has a very old castle. The land for that city was occupied perhaps in 300 BC and thereafter, the city + castle were built.... the entire city is like a fort surrounding the castle, with gates near the bridge, etc - which probably were closed when there were attacks - it resembles the castles and cities you get to see in Robin Hood and King Arthur movies.... the view from the windows on the top floor of castle was awesome - I bet you could see all of South France ;-)
They don't speak much English in Carcassonne because its a very small place. We tried some of the French which we learnt. When you want the waiter to get the bill for you at a restaurant, you say L'addition (spelt Lau-di-shion). On a toll bridge, when we paid the toll, we asked for L'addition. The lady happily smiled, gave us the bill and said that L'addition is asked for in restaurants - here its only a bill. The burst of laughter after that was probably even louder than the sound of vehicles zooming at 140. Luckily, we found one municipal tourism office near a board which said 'Information' (informa-shion), where we could get some direction (direc-shion).
All in all, a nice trip. Let's see what else is in store....
- Mayank Sridhar
Infosys-Bangalore
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