Has it really been that long?

After all the excitement of the holidays, life is slowly returning to normal. E went back to school on Monday and Al's in the UK at a meeting until sunday. The man from the Mairie has just taken down the Christmas decoration from the front of our house, so it really is all over.

We've been having brilliant weather here in Aniane - last sunday we went to the Pont de diable and lay in the sun. People have been wearing t-shirts. However it's very unusual I'm told and the past couple of days have cooled down quite a bit.

We had two trips away after Christmas. On Boxing Day we headed to Carcassonne, where we spent a couple of days in the freezing cold exploring the citadel and the town. Here's a pic of the Chateau Comtal, the residence of the Counts of Trencavel.


The citadel survived the centuries surprisingly well, and were restored by the French Government in the Victorian era. This appeared to involved mainly putting turrets back on, and topping off walls. Here you can see the old walls below the neat and tidy restoration work.


The citadel was built on top of a hill, of course, allowing a clear view of all the surrounding countryside. Pretty, isn't it. We could actually see snow-covered mountains in the way far distance. See the little people walking in the picture? That's to give you an idea of the scale of these magnificent towers and walls. It was very impressive.


We also visited Mirepoix, which is unusual here in the Languedoc because of the construction of many of the houses. They are wood-framed, like the half-timbered houses in places like Chester, and extend out over the footpaths to provide shelter for people walking below. Here's a picture


This is what it looks like from underneath


Incidentally we heard more English being spoken (by English people) in Mirepoix than in any other village we have been to (more even than Montpellier).

Near Mirepoix we checked out the Eglise rupestre at Vail. It's a church built into the rock - you enter it through a cave, and go up through a subterranean pre-Roman crypt. The main part of the church is built above ground though, and it supposedly sports some excellent Roman mosaics .... but these were undergoing travaux (works) and we couldn't see them.
First pic is the church itself


And here's the way in



On the way home we stopped at the Oppidum de Enserune, which is an archaeological excavation and museum of a Roman fortified town. However it was closed, unfortunately (note to self ... next time don't come in the off-season). Luckily there is another interesting thing at Enserune and it's this ... a swamp drained in the 13th century, with fields arranged like the spokes of a wheel. Why did they do it like this? Who knows. The Languedoc is full of interesting things.


I realise I have been remiss in not posting a picture of the Canal du Midi, whilst in this area. So here it is, the Canal du Midi, in Colombiers, where we enjoyed a good lunch at a canal-side restaurant. Those of you in the catering industry might be interested to know that the proprietress wore a very low-cut corset-style top, and the place was full to bursting with blokes while other restaurants were almost empty. Even my loyal and faithful husband left a larger than usual tip...