Tag: Carcassonne

Life in France

Under construction

Fine Arts museum under cover
Fine Arts museum under cover

With two UNESCO World Heritage sites here within a stone’s throw of each other, you might find it curious that I would choose to post a photo of scaffolding to represent Carcassonne. This is the city’s Fine Arts museum currently encased in piping and netting as repairs are made to its block-long wall that faces the busy shopping street of rue de Verdun. In this part of the city that was founded in the 1200s it’s only inevitable that repairs will be necessary from time to time. That’s exactly what’s happening now, all over town, with the big construction project aptly named Opération Grand Site. Continue reading “Under construction”

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Life in France

Falling for fall

The castle above the Aude river
The castle above the Aude river

When we first arrived in France we had our dog Heather with us so naturally we went on lots of walks. In addition to the necessary reasons for those outings we sometimes continued for hours along the river or canal just because she kept pulling us along. We still walk a lot but since we no longer have Heather, our footsteps now typically take us to the other house to work, over to the market for fruits and vegetables, or out to one of the supermarkets for anything we can’t find right here in town. In other words, although we’re outside a lot, it’s been for our own necessary reasons and no one has pulled us any further. We did something about that recently. Continue reading “Falling for fall”

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Life in France

Satisfaction

Walking beside the Canal-du-Midi
Walking beside the Canal-du-Midi

Despite the title of the Rolling Stones’ 1965 hit song (and today’s blog post), according to the lyrics, they were never able to get any satisfaction. Luckily that’s not the case with overseas visitors who settle in France, according to a recent survey I read about last month. In fact, we find ourselves in a country that ranks 4th out of 45 countries when respondents were asked about the quality of life, and we totally agree. Continue reading “Satisfaction”

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Life in France

Scaredy cat

This cat was at the front gate
This cat was at the front gate

Since we walk a lot, we are always making discoveries that we probably wouldn’t ever see if we were driving. When you’re on foot it’s pretty easy to take a quick detour to literally smell the roses, take a photo, or stop into some place inviting since you never have to find a parking place. That’s exactly what happened when we were walking on a road beside the river on what I’ll call “Wharf Street” when it turned to go uphill and changed names to St. Michel’s Cemetery Drive. When we got to the entrance, Bill took this photo of who was there to greet us. Despite what seemed to be a less than warm welcome, and my allergy to cat fur, we ventured inside. Continue reading “Scaredy cat”

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Life in France

What goes around…

Wine festival poster from the city's website
Wine festival poster from the city’s website

We’ve only lived in France for 7 months and already we’re returning here to an annual event. How’s that possible? Once we had decided that Carcassonne was going to be our new hometown, we had to find a place to live. Thanks to Bill’s Internet searching skills and to the generosity of our landlords, that part was easy, although they insisted that we visit the property in-person before they would accept our rental deposit. Darn, that meant that we would have to fly over from Atlanta to France to cement the deal. I wondered at the time if there might be some kind of festival going on since we had been following the city’s website for quite a while and noticed that every weekend there seemed to be a party. How about the 2-day Fête du Vin wine festival? Continue reading “What goes around…”

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Life in France

Pizza here

No advertisements, merci!
No advertisements, merci!

A couple of times a week our mailbox is literally overflowing with advertisements from local businesses. Many (maybe most) of our neighbors post discreet little signs on their mailboxes saying Pas de Pubs meaning they don’t want all of these publicités but we figure these ads let us know what shops are near us and give us one more lesson in French. To be honest, we already look online at the weekly flyers from national chains anyway, but seeing what we think of as the mom-and-pops have to offer, who sometimes don’t have a website, is a real treat. Continue reading “Pizza here”

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Life in France

Buy one, sell one

Gastronomy Festival poster from the city's website
Gastronomy Festival poster from the city’s website

On Sundays most big stores are closed here. A few grocery stores might be open in the morning but by lunch time even those employees get to spend the rest of the day with their families. They do indeed get to go home but they might not stay there since there are often many other shopping opportunities available as there were last weekend. Continue reading “Buy one, sell one”

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