It’s been just over a year in the making but last night was our first night as French residents in our new home in Carcassonne. We’ve been here for a few days already, staying at the Hotel des Trois Couronnes looking out across the Aude river at that magnificent fortress. Now that same castle looks down on us since this house is literally 100 yards below those crenelated walls. I can’t wait to take Heather on her first walk along a road where Romans once tread two thousand years ago.

Naturally we’ve been on walks along the river but we haven’t taken Heather up to the castle yet. That would be the fortress where the foundation was laid around 100 BC. Each year about 3 million people visit this castle making it the 3rd most visited site in France, just behind the Eiffel Tower and Mont St. Michel. With that many people milling about, our little dog might get lost in the high-season shuffle, so now in winter is probably the best time to take her up there.

Yesterday we came over here from the hotel just to look around and get an idea about what small appliances were here (electric tea kettle, coffee pot, etc.), what kind of coffee filters we would need, was there a supply of paper products, on and on. As luck would have it, while we were in the house the landlords showed up and we all surprised each other since we weren’t supposed to be there until the next day. They are such kind people and simply took our unexpected arrival in stride saying that they were happy to see us early and asking what they could do to make us more comfortable. How’s that for a welcome?