Where was that free parking?

So Sara and I went on a bit of a road trip through south-eastern France before we needed to return back for Christmas day.
We started out our trip by going to Carcasonne. Carcasonne, of "Robin Hood Prince of Theives was filmed here" fame. And also "the board game that Jennie loses against 9 year olds" fame.

And now also "worst directions to a hotel ever" fame. We knew that we'd be arriving somewhat late so we picked a hotel ahead of time, and called to make a reservation, and to ask for directions to the hotel. The directions were......"Take the main road into town and we have free parking". Uh huh. For some reason, the free parking down the road from the hotel didn't scream out at us "Turn here!" when we passed the almost blind entrance to the side street which the hotel was hidden on....4 or 5 times.

Once we found the hotel and settled in, found ourselves some dinner (much easier), we went to find the castle. Also much easier to find than the hotel--being lit up and on a hill.....and of course the free parking.


We explored a bit that night--enough to realize that we should make a trip back in the morning when it is light out to explore some more before heading on. Gargoyles are just as scary when it is light out.....



Here's Sara and I in the castle compound with one of our many "long-arm shots". Our course we could have gotten someone to take the picture for us, but these are more fun, no? We thought so, so the 'long-arm' came out many times during the trip.


After Carcasonne we headed to Aix-en-Provence. Many of the cities and towns we visited had Christmas markets on (which I loved) but Aix was the biggest. And more Christmas lights too--I had to wander the streets for a while looking at these.


In addition to Christmas markets, another thing that seems to be ubiquitous in France, as far as I can tell (and it's not wine or cheese as one might think) is cotton candy. Cotton candy of multiple flavours too. C'est formidable!
Again, another picture theme that repeats itself throughout our trip.


We finished off the day at a cafe in this courtyard, sitting under a heat lamp on the terrace and enjoying the view.