Mum and Dad came to visit and we went to Carcassonne

 Mum and Dad standing on the bridge which crosses the river separating the old town from the "new town".

 The grassy banks which boarded the path leading up to the walled old town where resplendent with red poppies and other wild flowers.

 View of the new town from the castle, which dominates the old town. There are parts of the rampants that go back to Roman times, around 70bc.

 Speculoos tiramisu! (Speculoos is a type of biscuit very popular here in France, though it is in fact Belgian. I'd never come across it before. It's a cross between maybe a ginger biscuit and a digestive, perhaps. The tiramisu was absolutely delicious, they also sell speculoos paste and speculoos ice cream.)

 I found the new town had it's own beauty, and there were some really interesting buildings that we came across on our way to the old town. (See above and below)

I was fascinated by this building, it seemed a little out of place with the other buildings surrounding it. I had no idea what it was, but I liked how Eastern it looked, beautiful windows, and I liked the palm trees that surrounded it.

A very beautiful mossy roof which made up part of the castle, though probably wasn't there in Roman times!

Lots of people are a bit cynical about Carcassonne, it can, I think be very touristy-in fact it is meant to be the most visited city after Paris! But I really like it. I guess I'm lucky enough to have caught it just out of season. The views across the landscape are fantastic and I really like the lively but very relaxed ambiance of the place and the architecture of both the old and the new parts of the town.

Also while we were waiting to enter the castle a plane display team closely resembling the red arrows zoomed past overhead! We had hoped they would come back and do an impromptu display but alas they did not. However they created much excitement amongst us and the other English tourists behind us!