Carcassonne and Montpelier

Every place we go, we are not quite sure what type of internet access we are going to get. Sometimes we are very lucky and have excellent access, other places, the computers are slower than molasses (when you compare the speed of molasses to that of a computer, its a very scientific process!)

We are so excited to show you the photos of Carcassonne, but the pictures just do not compare to how beautiful the city was. Carcassonne is the largest fortified city in Europe and is also the only one still inhabited. The fortified section of the city is on top of a hill that overlooks the lower part of the city. The medieval fortified city was started almost 2000 years ago by the Romans and portions of their towers can still be seen today. Throughout history it underwent many additions and in the 1800s a majore rennovation.
Here is a picturesque and perfect view of the medieval fortified section of Carcassonne. Yes, people still live there! There are around 50 homes and 130 people living within the walls. The people of Carcassonne like to believe that this was the inspiration for Cinderella's castel at Disneyworld.
Carcassonne has two walls, one around the entire city and one around the castle. We walked completely around the outer wall where we got fantastic views of the city below. We also got to walk around the castle where we were blessed with this view. On one side of the fortified city was the lower part of the tow, on the other side was vineyards on a hilly landscape! The fortification in its final stages was never taken.
Here is us from the top of a tower where archers would have been. Now, this is where we enjoyed a lunch of a nutella crepe and a steak and french fry sandwich, which is called American. After the city had its last addition, no one even bothered to attempt to overtake it, it was that intimidating and impossible to take. This castle once shared a border with Spain.
Here is a view of the castle as we are approaching it from inside the fortified medieval city.
We will leave you with one more beautiful view before we talk about Montpellier.

Last night we arrived in Montpellier and we are staying with our second couchsurfing host, Tamera. She is so delightful and sweet, we have already enjoyed two dinners with her and lots of good conversation and laughs. Tamera is a jeweler and she is currently concentrating on recreating historical pieces. We have been lucky enough to see some of her beautiful work.
The first spot on our tour of Montpellier today was a section of town called Antigone. An architect had designed this section of town to have strong Roman influence and named different buildings after gods and goddesses. It was incredibly beautiful, clean, lots of fountains, few cars, and a continuous design style throughout the entire place. AJ was in love, especially with the olympic sized natatorium and the many sculptures of gods and goddesses.
Another example of antique inspired architecture we stumbled upon today.
Montpellier's Arc de Triumph, not as grand as the one in Paris but it led into a beautiful park where we enjoyed our picnic lunch.
This place was so impressive but unfortunately we were not able to get inside. It was an enormous cathedral, these are just two pillars supporting the portico!
We were able to get inside another cathedral, a small but beautiful one. It was unusually ornate and had more color than the majority of gothic cathedrals. Overall a splendid day and definitely worthy of mention. Tomorrow we set off for a nice bikeride to a lake!