Discovering the South

For my birthday this year my other half offered me a trip to the South of France. I'd been before as a child but not for many years so we booked some time off together and decided to take a break from the hustle and bustle of Paris and our lives here. It was much needed, as was a bit of sun!

We left Paris early on Wednesday morning, 6.20am to be exact, and took the train down to Montpellier. Luckily Gui had been working and I didn't sleep a lot at my friend's (I was paranoid I would miss my alarm) so we both slept like babies on the train, waking up 3 hours later just before arriving at the station. We had a quick changeover onto a smaller train headed to Carcassonne and viola before midday we had arrived in the south, don't you just love the TGV?

Fast and futuristic trains in France, my favourite way to travel.

We'd decided to stay in Carcassonne overnight so we had time to explore the Medieval City which was beautiful. Our hotel was incredible with an enormous bed which felt like sleeping on a marshmallow mattress, a cute little balcony and even a swimming pool. We quickly freshened up and headed out to check out the city and soak up some sun. The city itself was beautiful with cobbled stone walls and floors, a huge well, arena and garden plus a beautiful view of the surrounding area. The sun was blazing down on us by one 'o' clock and I could already feel myself burning a little, what a difference a day makes - from gloomy Paris to the sunny south. Gui had a restaurant in mind for lunch  which we located in a beautiful little terrace area covered in sunlight. We both took  the same meal lamb shank with couscous and red peppers which was absolutely delicious! We'd only been in the south a few hours and we already knew we wouldn't want to leave when the time came. After exploring the city for a few hours we headed back to the hotel, I went for a swim while Gui took a nap and we both thoroughly relaxed. Unfortunately it was a bank holiday so when we tried to go for dinner most things were closed! So we grabbed a sandwich and an early night as we knew we would have to be up early to check out and pick up the car! Time to drive!

The view from our hotel

Yummy lunch

View from the medieval city