Kiwis en Europe: 2015

25 - 27 November 2015

We had two lovely sunny days in Montpellier.

Jesus on a cross... surrounded by everyone's rubbish

Boulevard of trees

Le château d'eau (the bit on the right is a pool full of water)

The bridge next to the château d'eau, and a cyclist

You can't go on the bridge, but people have made the effort with the graffiti

The view from the château

The fountain. It was windy!

Promenade de Peyrou

The view from the top

I wanted to find a green space. It turned out that this was a really big ask, this particular afternoon.

Caught a glimpse...

And again with the bars...

All these private gardens!

Behind big walls

And locked gates (this is the big park)

I kept walking. The plants looked like they wanted to escape

I found another entrance to the park, with the first gates wide open...

But this was as close as I got.

It was harder than I imagined to get in! But I persevered...

Another gate to the Jardin des Plantes

I found my way inside!

A corridor of tall trees

Richer de Belleval, who created the garden

Hobbit tunnels!

And some interesting buildings

Cathedral

Other side of the cathedral

The Court of Appeal

La Promenade de Peyrou

Super colourful buildings

24 - 25 November 2015

We only stayed in Carcassonne for a night, but it was long enough to visit the walled city :-)

The pedestrian-only bridge with the walled city in the background

The old city perches on top of the hill

Obligatory panorama shot

Lots of turrets! And the woman who guards the entrance

Jean-Pierre Cros-Mayrevieille singlehandedly campaigned to save and restore the castle in the 19th century

A close up of the detail around the base of the sculpture

More turrets!

Unfortunately we didn't have time to eat cassoulet, but the recipe looks good. The white bits are beans, but I don't know if they're still good to eat. If you want a picture big enough to read, let me know.

View from a window!

The rooftops (and grimy walls)

Another window view

Old bits

Sculpture of the old city - entrance way, castle, church (the bits that look bare are currently filled with tourist shops selling medieval costumes, and restaurants)

The rows of bits poking out of the wall is where there used to be another floor

The church in the background

Renovations. Due to this work, it was super complicated to get onto the ramparts and into the castle. Every time we spoke to someone they sent us to a different part of the city :-)

I love that they have horses in the diagrams

I think it's definitely more enjoyable on a sunny day

And of course a castle wouldn't be complete without a spiral staircase

Look out over (a restaurant and) the modern city

And more of the modern city down below

Weapons hidden around corners

Partially restored mural

Without much interpretation it was hard to really understand where these bits and pieces came from. They were salvaged from other parts of the city, but that's all I know.