A Vacation From Our Vacation From Our Vacation, Day 2

We awoke on Friday and had a great (if somewhat overpriced) breakfast in the hotel, then went to see more of Narbonne. It turns out it is a very old city, having been established by the Romans during the second century B.C. It has an interesting history (which you can read here), which unfortunately has the heyday of the city occurring before the 14th century (it turns out that the city was originally on the coast, but in 1320 the harbor silted up due to severe flooding, and the River Aude, which had run through the city, changed course, leaving the city without ocean access).

The city has a remarkable old Gothic cathedral, the construction of which was begin in 1272 but never completed, due in part to a failure of the city council to give its consent to a destruction of a part of the city walls, which was necessary to the cathedral's construction.  The cathedral is the third-highest Gothic cathedral in France, and contains what are regarded as the most beautiful stained glass in all of Southern France. It was one of the neatest, most interesting, most beautiful churches we've seen in France.







In addition to the cathedral, parts of the old city walls remain, including a tower that you can climb up for 2 euros. It affords a great view of the cathedral, the plaza below, the city, and its surroundings.



Don't look at this picture if you have vertigo....



After that, we were (sadly) ready to leave Narbonne.



Our next stop was Carcassonne, which is famous for its still-completely-intact medieval city within still-completely-intact walls. Also established during Roman times, the walled city eventually fell into disrepair, but was restored in the mid-1800s. More on Carcassonne's history for those inclined can be found here. Unfortunately, while the old part of the city is very grand and impressive, it has been turned more or less into a tourist spot, and is crawling with people like ... well, people just like us! The highlights of our time there were the walk around the walls, and the visit to the very old, also very interesting church. Photos follow.









I took many, many pictures on this trip, some of which are even better than usual, and some are best viewed in either the large or original size. I couldn't post them all here, but you can see them all in the Narbonne and Carcassonne Set on Flickr, including many of Suzie and the kids. We really loved both places, but especially Narbonne.

Finally, for those inclined toward goofiness, I give you three Youtube links, to short video commentary provided by my son Andrew while in Carcassonne -- Carcassonne through the eyes of a 13-year old ... in 1-minute slices.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Y0O537xkFY&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6&border=1]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EPAPTgHaGYY&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6&border=1]

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9leyPbQVY50&hl=en&fs=1&rel=0&color1=0x2b405b&color2=0x6b8ab6&border=1]

The operative word is "yeah...."