Castles and Cassoulet

What an amazing weekend! Tom and I went to the Pyrenees on a bit of a lark and were blown away at every turn. We stayed 30 minutes straight up the mountains from the town of Foix, in a small inn owned by a young husband and wife pair, their dog and nine month old daughter. He cooked delicious dinners -- reminded me how good shallots are in a vinegarette -- of simple, regional French food, which we ate in the restaurant before promptly falling to sleep to the sound of crickets. And the stars!! Here are some photos and some additional commentary.

Completely random figure outside a small church in a tiny town filled with random figures like this. Dressed in a WWI uniform, this soldier stood beside the town war memorial and held a faded French flag. Other characters included a priest, a bride and groom and a pair of old people sitting on a bench. Facinating. And creepy.

Us outside the Niaux Cave and trying to get in the same frame on a hillside

Jesus at the entrance to Sigeur

Sigeur

Sigeur

The Carcassonne Cathedral

Foix

Super foxy bread guy in Mirepoix

Carcassonne

Our view outside the door to our room.

Highlights:
- the Niaux Caves where we saw paintings from 14,000BC inside a 200,000BC cave. Truely exquisite.
- Castles! Castles! Castles!
- Crosses and Jesus and churches everywhere!
- This beautiful, charming surprising town called Sigeur in the Ariege that we stumbled on and walked around galking for an hour or so.
- Carcassonne was impressive -- an entire mideval city inside the battlements that is a bit of a tourist mecca, but still completely unique and facinating. Outside the walls there was a fete where people in town had a giant garage sale. I lingered over the junk, which led directly to us missing our flight back to Amsterdam. Not by best moment. But really, French junk is just much cooler than other junk.

Carcassonne fete and cool things for sale.