Badminton season started a few weeks ago. KP, AA, JZ, and IS all came to “try out” badminton this week. Since JZ didn’t have his own racquet, KP brought along two of his racquets from a $20 “badminton” toy set that he picked up at Canadian Tire.
I had just come off from a game. AA, who was using KP’s toy racquet, asked to borrow mine. A few minutes later, I was up for another game. I thought about asking for my racquet back, but decided I could play a game with this toy racquet. In the warm-up rallies, the racquet balance felt totally off in my hands; I thought I was just too used to my own racquet. The grip (or lack thereof) was hard plastic; I totally expect that with the sweat build up in my palms, the racquet would sooner or later fly out of my hands. The strings had no tension at all; at least I will not hit the birdie out of bounds with this racquet.
This is a story about this toy racquet. Boy, this thing was making me work for my points. Since I couldn’t really get too much speed on the birdie, I had to really focus on the placements of my shots. After a while, I felt the racquet handle cutting into my palm. I just assumed it was the hard plastic. Little did I know, fractures had begun to develop in the handle.
Then, as I got the perfect lob return shot from my opponents. My body arched up, hips and shoulders rotated, racquet head sailed over my head for a smash onto the birdie… at the moment of contact, the handle of the racquet just exploded in my hand. The frame of the racquet flew off into the next court. I had half the handle left in my hand, the rest were shattered into bits and pieces all over the floor.
W.T.F.
“Holy Cow!!!” “What happened?!?!” “OMG!!!” “I’ve never seen a racquet break like that!!” were the general reactions from the crowd. I was so embarrassed and glad that the racquet frame did not hit anyone.
JEEZ.
I picked up the pieces and went back to AA to ask for a trade of my own racquet. He and JZ almost fell over laughing seeing the broken racquet.
My hand was traumatized by the experience. For the next few shots, whenever my racquet made contact with the birdie, I subconsciously expected the racquet to explode in my hand again and felt surprised when it didn’t explode. I can totally understand why people suffer from post-traumatic disorders after a disturbing experience – the reactions are totally involuntary, even if you mentally try to convince your body everything is okay. Don’t worry, I recovered pretty much after a dozen shots.
This experience made me realize other things. Good racquets are an engineering marvel! I always just focused on racquet head angle and speed, and never really thought about the transfer of kinetic energy through the racquet during a shot. It totally makes sense now that I think about it – just never considered how much force goes through the handle and up the frame. Dang.
My trusty Yonex never felt so good in my hands.
To avoid any rigging inquiries by the stewards or backlash regarding certain cities having gained an unfair advantage, I hereby declare the entire Côte d'Azur, by definition, to be 5/5. Côte d'Azur, also referred to as the French Riviera, is arguably the most beautiful and one of the most posh regions of France. I have been told of countless wonders and stories of the French Riviera from various sources over the years, so this has always been one of my must-visit places in the world. Naturally, the many incarnations of E08 itinerary always included Côte d'Azur - guaranteed success! Our plans call for several days in this area, with the first stop in Cannes.
Now… the planning of this E08 trip has, at times, been frustrating. We originally had more people, but various conflicts in schedule forced some to bail out –.-; In the end, we had settled on these two weeks in May which overlaps with Victoria Day and Memorial Day long weekends. When it came time to book accommodations, I realized something was fishy when hostel/hotel prices were up to 10 times more expensive during these two weeks than any other time of the year. What we did not realize when we initially picked the dates is that our visit to Côte d'Azur coincides with two of the most celebrated spectacles in the world – the first of which is the famous Festival de Cannes.
We spent the night in Nice and took an early morning train into Cannes for a day trip. The scene at Nice’s station was a mess. We did not expect such a big crowd! BlueOrca was smart with our EuroPasses; we skipped the lines and jumped onto the next train to Cannes. 40 minute ride from Nice to Cannes.
Having grown up around another major film festival for the better part of my life and knowing how it transforms Toronto for two weeks every year, I was really curious what Cannes would be like. BlueOrca also hyped it up by telling me about a giant Indiana Jones façade adorning some building’s exterior.
The train station was only a few blocks away from the main pavilion of the 61st annual Festival de Cannes. Unfortunately, unlike TIFF, most of the festival’s viewings and activities were held in a private, secluded section of the water front. Only accredited film and media members were allowed in. Too bad I forgot to register myself as a reporter for Tochi Media Conglomerate. :(
What does one do at a film festival? Watch movies, see the stars, interact with well dressed people, ogle at all the fancy cars. :D We had to see at least one movie while at the film festival. Our first pick was Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, which had came out two days prior. However, Indy was only being shown at a regular theatre, so we opted for the Festival-sanctioned Director’s Fortnight showing of independent films later in the evening.
We took a stroll along the water front promenade, Boulevard de la Croisette, to check out the beaches, booths, boutiques and palaces. We passed by a row of white roof huts (classic Cannes Film Festival icon) that showcased various countries and their films. I really love film festivals because you get to see films that are “non-Hollywood”. So few of these movies ever make it to mainstream theatres back home. Take Pan’s Labyrinth for example – Hollywood would never create such a film. It really is a pity that there is so much art and culture we are missing. Anyway, Cannes is an important showcase for such films, especially those of European origin.
This product of Ukraine was particularly interesting – Sappho – Love Without Limit. Where can you highlight and celebrate such a provocative, erotic film besides a film festival? What made it more amusing for me was that the subtitle resembled the second Umizaru movie Limit of Love.
We made a brief stop at the official boutique store, where BlueOrca picked up a t-shirt to wear at home and I brought the most expensive key chain of my life. There were many performers showing off their arts and crafts along the street. At various times, there were groups of people dancing to music coming out of a boom box. :P
It seems like there was a contingent of adoring fans outside every single hotel, waiting for their idols to come out. BlueOrca and I hung around for a few minutes, but didn't really see the point of wasting our time like this. Chances are, I won't even recognize the stars anyway - although, Harrison Ford was rumoured to be in town. XD We did manage to see a lot of nice cars - Lamborghinis, Ferraris, you name it, they have it. I've never seen so many different colour Ferraris in my life. Also got my first close up look of a Tesla. Too bad Segamatic was not here yet. lol.
The atmosphere here really epitomize the lifestyle of Côte d'Azur - definitely a place for the rich, lavish and carefree. If I ever become super rich, I’d love to get a yacht and sail into Cannes (and probably Monaco and Marseille too), dock and just party.
There were many giant billboards and decorations advertising the latest and upcoming films. Here is the one outside of Intercontinental Carlton that got BlueOrca all excited.
After a quick lunch, we explored a hill that rises above the western part of Cannes. There was a cache there with the longest log ever. Good thing I found it first, so BlueOrca had to roll it back. XD
From the hill, you get a pretty spectacular view of the city. We could see the pavilion and convention centre where the Festival was taking place. On the deck of the helicopter landing pad like building, someone famous must have been holding a press conference. From our super far vantage point, all we could see was a constellation of camera flashes going off every couple minutes. Too bad we didn’t have a super long telephoto. We raided the tail end of a wedding party at this restaurant near the top. All the guests went home with a bottle of wine. :P
There was some church at the top of the hill that we visited briefly. My memory is kind of fuzzy from this point on, as I started feeling the worst of my cold. I seem to get sick at least once on every trip. :( On our way back to downtown Cannes, we passed by a façade of the bus terminal that I particularly liked.
We decided to go through the shopping district (I think this is the first time on the trip where we’ve gone “shopping”. lol). Two of the memorable shops were a pirate candy store, where the loot was literally barrels full of candy and a souvenir shop where BlueOrca spotted an inflatable Orca (or whale, I still cannot tell the difference). BlueOrca was contemplating on starting a pin collection on her slingshot backpack, the first being the palm logo of the Festival. She debated for the better part of an hour – considering factors such as cost, usage, future and anything else you can think of. I was to the point where if she did not buy this darn pin, I would have brought it for her. We ended up heading back to the official festival boutique store where BlueOrca picked up her pin, while I got a postcard. After she paid for it, we found out it was not a pin. Good thing the cashier was kind enough to give BlueOrca a refund.
With some time left before our movie viewing at 7pm (had to get in line by 6pm), we decide to hit the beach. This is, by far, the liveliest beach on our entire trip. The sun had returned. My only problem was that my bathing suit was back in Nice. :( We just took off our shoes and went for a stroll along the water. BlueOrca drew her trademark logo and an unflattering (fatter than irl) version of Tappy in the sand. My attempt at an Orca ended up looking more like a dolphin (in my defense, Orcas are dolphins). I apparently missed some critical part in my design - a part that I still cannot remember. Footprints in the sand. :)
We had some quiches for dinner. Saw a few very spectacular sand sculptures that were nearly completion.
We brought these 7 euro tickets to watch the prestigious independent film guild known as Directors’ Fortnight. I do not think I have ever watched these so-called amateur films. Perhaps the closest would have been Blair Witch. From the program we were expecting to watch a 1hr 20min feature film, timed perfectly to give us some time to walk over to the beach to catch the late night outdoor movie at 9pm.
Everyone took their seats and the show started. This dude in an all white suit and a lady in a colourful dress took the stage and started explaining the mission and purpose of the Directors’ Fortnight. I was like.. wtf. ._.; The show then turned into an awards presentation, kind of like a mini Oscars. Tonight was apparently their closing night gala.
The experience of witnessing the awards presentation in person was quite unreal. You can sense in the atmosphere that this evening was very special for many in attendance. The winners were like any awards show, ranging from some really animated ones to some very humble ones. However, they were all very honoured with and proud of the awards and the guild. I totally felt like an outsider experiencing something truly special, something truly great. The colourful lady I’d mentioned earlier was an interpreter, translating from French to English and vice versa. She was the best part of the show. At various times, after a long speech by the speaker, she would summarize everything in one sentence, much to the pleasure of the crowd.
After the fun stuff was taken care of, the show transitioned to the feature films of the night. The short film was Benny Safdie’s The Acquaintance of a Lonely John. It was the life of one guy (John) as he goes about a day of his life. A little sloppy, John is pretty much the type of person you would not even notice on the street. However, his little actions and gestures of kindnesses are beautifully captured in the film. For example, arriving home one day, he finds a little bird trapped inside his air conditioner. Instead of dismantling his air conditioner to take care of the darn bird, he feeds it some seeds. While subbing in for a friend at a gas station, he accidentally overfills someone’s tank. He tries to make up for the extra with his own money. His friend also pulls a prank on him by “robbing” the gas station and he took it all in stride. The film, while only like 15 minutes long, makes one appreciate the small wonders and joys of the people and life around us.
The next film is the feature of the night entitled “The Pleasures of Being Robbed” by Josh Safdie, Benny’s brother. Story is about this girl, Eléonore, who goes about her life stealing miscellaneous things from people. Film starts of with this girl seeing another girl that she knows (the other girl doesn’t really know her). Eléonore gives her “friend” a hug and picks her purse. Similarly, she goes stealing some DVDs, some grapes, and a basket of baby kittens, the latter gets tossed onto her bed, to the joy and horror of BlueOrca. The weirdest part is that this girl isn’t stealing for money, greed, etc. There is really no reason given for her actions. She just does it. The description for the film states “A curious and lost Eléonore looks for something everywhere, even in the bags of strangers who find themselves sadly smiling only well after she's left their lives. They owe her their thanks.” Unfortunately, with the awards ceremony, we were running late, and the film at the beach was about to start. We decided to leave early, so I never figured out how the people ended up being better off after Eléonore pickpockets them. Even now, as I’m summarizing this, I’m aching to see the rest of the film.
So yeah, the closing night with the Directors’ Fortnight was a pretty cool film festival experience. However, we were heading off to the beach, where every night of the festival, the festival committee selects one film to show to the public on a giant projection screen by the beach. Woot. We were going to see an official film from the festival!
Before that though, we made a quick run to the train station to check the schedule for the last train to Nice. On the way, we saw a mini Hummer, which sounds like an oxymoron until you see one. We got back to the beach and found a good spot on the ledge.
So, why was the film we were watching black and white? We then realized this was a showing of a 1962 psycho-thriller What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? The Festival was not picking a film from this year’s film roster! Argh. Anyway, I would have never watched this film had it not been this festival. The movie was quite a nail biter. The plot is about a pair of sisters: Blanche, a former movie queen who was crippled to a wheelchair due to an accident and Jane, a former child star. Blanche is trapped in a house with her sister who is a little messed up in her head. Her successful childhood stardom which was overshadowed by her sister’s fame and her involvement in her sister’s accident led Jane to her sadistic torture of her crippled sister. Both a horror story and a thriller, I was pretty much glued to my seat the entire time. My favourite character was poor old Edwin. He was only trying to make a buck. In the scene where Jane shows Edwin her doll, that “WTF” look on his face was priceless.
Halfway through the show, fireworks went off out in the sea. It was such a pretty sight… how can one not love Cannes? :) Ironically, we had to leave before the movie finished in order to catch our train. I finished watching the rest of the movie on YouTube after the trip. The movie wraps itself up quite nicely. Many questions including the title of the film are answered. Glad the Festival stewards made a great choice. :)
We caught the last train back to Nice. A ticket officer on the train came awfully close to checking our Europass tickets, but never ended up getting to us. Got back into Nice after midnight and after a walk towards the Promenade, we checked into our Hotel. We’re exploring Nice the next day, so that means we can sleep in a bit!
This Cannes experience has been a most memorable one, to say the least. Even though we didn’t end up seeing any movie stars, Cannes gets a well deserved 5/5. I told you so. :P
Marseille. Legend has it that 2600 years ago, sailors from Phocea in Minor Asia, led by commander Protis landed in Lacydon creek. It just so happens that the native tribe of Lacydon shores was having a festival to allow the tribal chief’s daughter, Gyptis, to pick her husband. Gyptis offered the bowl to Phocea and the northern part of Lacydon was given as a wedding gift. Marseille is born from a love story.
We arrived into Marseille in late evening and took us a while to find our hostel, the Vertigo. The hostel was very clean with a pretty lively lobby. Internet actually costs money here. BlueOrca and I got separate rooms again (though we should have asked for the same one). My room consisted of three bunked beds, and by the time I got into the room, two of the girls were asleep already. Wtf. It was just 9pm!
We went to a nearby restaurant, Sur Le Pouce, for some Couscous and two platters of MEAT (as some would say). The couscous was okay, but the meats were just what we needed after a day of practically no food. yum. There were fans watching an UEFA Champions League match at the restaurant.
After dinner, BlueOrca was tired and wanted to retire early. I wanted to go out to the Old Port area to grab some night shots. Dropped BlueOrca off at the hostel before I headed out. She ended up having a most interesting experience spending the night with her fellow countryman/druggie. :)
The area around the hostel / train station was kind of sketchy. There were some weird people doing something against a window or half hiding in the alleyways. I sped through this area and finally got to Cours Belsunce, the outskirts of Vieux Port. Vieux Port at night was definitely quite a sight, with many historical buildings all lit up along La Canebière. This is the France that I expected to see. :)
I made my way out to the Vieux Port harbour area, which is essentially a rectangular inlet into the heart of the city. The harbour is guarded by two forts at its entrance: Fort St Nicolas and Fort Saint-Jean. All the yachts and sailboats are docked neatly in rows inside the harbour. Here's a view of Quai du Port side of the harbour.
I set up camp at the end of the port, which happens to be the location of the first stage of a multi. Some officers were randomly pulling over cars near while I was taking pictures of the Fort St Nicolas. During one of the lulls, one of them came by for a chat. Fort St Nicolas, while not Carcassonne, is still quite beautiful at night. It just has such a presence above the gentle sway of the water and boats.
Spent quite a bit of time roaming around Marseille, taking photos of her many cooly lit up buildings. Managed to grab the cache minutes before midnight (timed perfectly), to keep my streak alive. Perhaps it was because this was a weekday, but the city seemed very quiet at night. Where are all the party goers?!? Little did I know, the party was going to be…
The next morning, we got up and decided to head to train station (since it was only a few minutes from our hostel) to reserve our train tickets to Nice later that day. I mean, for once, we are not going to leave this to the last 30 minutes! :D Now, this gare is my favourite of the entire trip. A very modern, open-concept design, with trees inside! :P
Anyway, we got to what we thought was the ticketing office, only to find that it was closed, despite its business hours being 24 hours / day. Yeah right. A fairly long line was spilling out of the information centre, so I presumed that’s where they were selling tickets. While BlueOrca waited in line, I scoured the rest of the station to see if there were other ticketing counters. BlueOrca came back saying there’s only ONE train to Nice and it’s at 11 something. WTF?!? They were running only limited trains today, apparently.
Well, what were we going to do? We haven’t explored Marseille yet.. it was 9 something… we would have at most an hour in downtown before coming back to the train station. We fooled around with the ticket vending machines to no avail (well, I know my CC won’t work without the PIN). Ended up getting back in line at the info centre to double check the train schedule. Got to the front and BlueOrca started conversing this guy in French. Now, BlueOrca is quite fluent in French. While I can follow a little, but I could hardly speak a word. We were having trouble understanding the answer to our ultimate question. WTF is going on?!?!
As BlueOrca was conversing, I noticed the unmistakable UNION JACK icon on his name tag. DUDE!!! He can speak English!!! The guy’s English wasn’t perfect, but it was a heck a lot better than our French. lol. Long story short, there was a national strike today (aka public holiday), hence, very limited train service. BlueOrca came up with the brilliant idea of taking a bus to Nice (it was not that far) and to our great fortune, the buses were still running! We scurried along to the bus ticket counter and grabbed tickets for an afternoon/evening ride to Nice. Woot.
Now that we had our day in Marseille back, our first stop was back to Vieux Port and its fish market. Maybe it’s the Hong Kong influence, but I just love visiting fish markets. As we got near Vieux Port, we ran into the procession of union workers on strike - essentially a parade of people cheerfully marching along to music, chanting some french slogans, waving colourful flags, setting off a few flares. Quite the party! Really resembled more of a carnival than a strike. There weren’t really any picketing signs. lol.
Contrasting this to the strikes in North America, the Frenchies definitely know how to do it. This is more or less a national holiday, as if they don’t already get enough. The union workers were apparently demonstrating to protest changes to the state pension system. The people marching in the street were cheered on by folks on the balconies of nearby buildings, including the Chamber of Commerce!
Shooting the protest gave me a weird feeling as a photographer. I didn’t want to be too obvious when taking photos, as some people might not be too happy having their picture taken – plus, the mob vastly outnumbered me. It was also difficult getting a good perspective of the crowd. I guess this is as close to “embedded” photography as I’ll get. If I had my P&S, I would have turned on video mode and interviewed Anderson Cooper, I meant BlueOrca, with the protestors marching behind. I guess I need to find a mic, a helmet and a bulletproof vest too, just to make it authentic. lol.
The protestors continued up La Canebière, while we decided we’ve had enough and headed for the famous Marseille fish market. I bet it was due to the strike, but the market was very lacklustre. A dozen stands selling miscellaneous fish, eels, shells and sea creatures. It was cool to see fishing boats come in to deliver the fresh catch of the day. I really wanted to buy a fish and if we were staying in Marseille for another night, I probably would have. Unfortunately, we were taking a bus to Nice this evening and nothing will get you kicked off the bus faster than a smelly fish.
The tourist guide showed us 3 possible routes to explore Marseille. The first follows La Canbière towards the government centre and palace. That option probably wasn’t the best idea, since it’ll lead us right back to the protestors. We elected to do the other two, each route covering one side of the port. Picked the north side first, which is known as Le Panier, the historical section of Marseille. Along the way, we saw so many seafood restaurants lining the coast. mmm. We saw some armoured guards outside of some building. Why weren’t they at the protest? :P BlueOrca found a sticker for me somewhere along the way too.
Here’s a view back into Marseille harbour. I just love the architecture of the city, starting from the warehouses along the port to the multi-story trading houses with red rooftops that dot the harbour. There was a funky little church near where I took this photo. Location verification pending BlueOrca Research.
We did a quick loop beside Fort St. Jean before heading to Cathédrale Sainte-Marie-Majeure de Marseille. For some reason that I cannot remember, we did not bother going into this cathedral. There is a major avenue that leads right up to the front of the church, which gives it a very strong dominance.
We then cut into the inner streets of old Marseille before reaching Centre de la Veille Charité, which was built between 1671 and 1745. There is a baroque style elliptical domed chapel in the middle of the courtyard. Surrounding the courtyard is a three storied building with very beautiful open balconies and arcades. This place was built as a housing project to provide shelter for the poor. Marseille must have been quite a rich city to afford such housing.
We stopped at a little restaurant in a “village square” style courtyard. Got a table outside and I think I ordered some sardine, which was suppose to be a regional delicacy. While the fish was definitely good, I’m not a big fan of sardines or any fish with small bones. I know it’s safe to eat the bones of sardines, but still… :| Sometime during the day, I had asked BlueOrca whether she wanted to get Bouillabaisse, since it was one of the dishes she wanted to try on the trip. She told me that she can wait till Nice. :|
After lunch, we headed over to the other side of the harbour. Our first stop would be Fort St. Nicolas, the same fort that I took a night shot of above. We came up one of the ramps to the top of the fort. At the top, there was a turret with a giant sword in front of the gate. It had the weathered look of a sword of legend.
Today turned out to be a beautiful day. While I’d have a terribly hard time picking out the most beautiful spot on the trip, this view from the walls of Fort St. Nicolas would be my winner. A visually spectacular vista, a rich sense of history, a mixture of down-to-earth attitude and untold wealth, bustling metropolitan activities, all intertwined by the calm of a sea-side setting. It’s rare to be able to feel so completely at ease, mentally and physically. After taking some photos (happens to be where we took one of my favourite group shots. :P), we indulged ourselves to a super nice, super wonderful, super duper nap.
Boy, did we need that nap. What? Sleeping on the top of a fort wall, just a few feet from a drop to instant death? D80’s left by our side, open to any passerby’s taking!!! But dang, did that nap feel good!!!!!!!! (My CPL took a tumble here. >_<)
By the time we convinced ourselves to leave the fort, we continued down the street to Palais du Pharo. This was a seaside villa that was built for Napolean III, but he never ended up using it. Now it’s a great public space for families to come and relax. BlueOrca and I had a different purpose to be here of course. A young couple on a little used waterfront trail were smooching right by the cache. Kind of awkward, but after a little while, we just decide to go for it. lol.
A brief and fruitless stop by L'abbaye Saint Victor and we realized we were running really short on time! We needed to get back to the train station to catch our bus. We stopped by a supermarket to grab some water. By the time we got back to the fish market (still a good 15 minutes run to the station), BlueOrca asked whether we should take the subway. It wasn’t a hard choice, but as we got to the stairs down to the station and saw the closed gates, we realized … stupid STRIKE!!!! argh. Some French dude, who made the same realization as us, exclaimed “Fermé!!!!”
We made it back to the station in time and boarded our bus. Buses in France are no different than in North America. Some of the folks seated near us were Canadians. It was kind of weird hearing them talk about 407 ETR and Toronto area stuff. Not that I really miss home yet. :P I also fumbled around searching for our tickets when the staff came by to collect them on the bus. By the time I found them, she was gone. lol.
Recap. Marseille is a marvellous city. Almost a pity that our schedule did not allow us to stay longer. There were many more attractions I would have liked to visit. Despite our early misfortunes as a result of the strike, the strike was an experience in and of itself. Vieux Port was spectacular both day and night. Words just can’t describe this place. Marseille gets a well-deserved 5/5. (Don’t worry, not every place I visit will get 5/5, lol.)
Montpellier. A port city in Southern France. We briefly stopped in Montpellier to change trains to Marseille. Montpellier had been one of the stops on our itinerary, but got the axe as we started trimming down.
Well, we did not have much time to explore the city. My throat was really dry after the train ride from Carcassonne, so I needed to grab a drink. We spotted a McDonalds across the street from the train station. As we learned, McDonalds in France == Free Wiki Wi-fi. This is the only time I’ve brought just a drink from McDonalds.
Montpellier has some cool looking light rail. I was trying to see if it’s a Bombardier, just so I can say, “That’s my train”. lol. This particular flowery pattern on the train made me think of it as a giant caterpillar for some reason.
Here’s a picture the train station Gare De Montpellier Saint-Roch. Nothing very fancy, but it is a major hub in the area.
It’s a pity we did not have time to explore Montpellier. I’ll have to return on a future trip.
It’s been a while since my last Europe update. I’m already starting to forget stuff… sigh. Anyway, to refresh our collective memories, please read E08: Carcassonne – Part One.
After a night’s rest, BlueOrca and I had the morning and early afternoon to explore inner Carcassonne. BlueOrca and I spent the night in separate rooms because the reservation system said there were no co-ed rooms at this hostel. I found out that was not the case later, as some of BlueOrca’s roommates were of the heterogametic flavour. I was placed in a double’s room with one bunk bed and a private bathroom.
Anyway, my roommate got up quite early in the morning and since he woke me up, I decided to catch some sunrise photos. Unfortunately, as I was waiting for him to finish up in the bathroom, I dozed off again. Next time I woke up, it was my alarm going off. sigh.
I suspect a school was having a big field trip (how come I didn’t have such cool field trips when I was in elementary school). A good number of the kids stayed on my floor. I felt as if a freight train was running by my room as they ran through the hallway. One of the kids was playing with the door knob to my room while I was brushing my teeth. I almost wanted to open the door and have the kid fall into the room while I say BONJOUR with a toothbrush in my mouth. :D These kids ended up swamping the breakfast room. We were forced to sit in the common area to eat.
My room was on the 3rd floor and from my window, I could have climbed up onto the roof. It would have definitely make for some interesting shots, but I didn’t risk it. Above is a shot towards the keep from the 3rd floor hallway. I love the rooftop tiles and how the keep rises above all else in Carcassonne.
After tucking our packs at the base of the stairwell, BlueOrca and I explored the city. We stopped by the keep first, which was just around the corner from the hostel. The sign on the left asked that we use the entrance to the right. For some reason, we didn’t realize that the closed gate meant the keep wasn’t opened yet. We saw people inside, so we incorrectly presumed there must be another entrance! We walked down the street to the right searching for the entrance. Came back 15 minutes later to find this gate opened. :)
It was nearing 10am in the morning, so I'd expected the streets of this ancient city to be more busy. The keep wasn’t opened yet either, so maybe late starts are normal for this community. I also have a thing for clobberstone streets. Strolling along these Carcassonne streets totally reminded me of Rothenburg (still my favourite medieval town). Both cities have an awesome medieval feel.
We somehow found our way down to what used to be the moat protecting the keep. The water’s all gone now leaving rough patches of grass that seems to not have been maintained for a while. There were weeds growing all over, kind of like my front lawn. :P
The photo on the right is the bridge over the moat leading into the keep. Now that I know more about the fortifications of the castle, it’s kind of scary to think of all the traps that await the unwelcome visitor. I had very little knowledge when I first took this photo. The keep is quite the engineering marvel now that I think about it.
We soon gained entrance to the keep. While I was crossing the bridge, some lady pointed at my tripod and said “forbidden”. Yes madam.
Once we got behind those towers, we entered a very big southern courtyard of Carcassonne. There were two giant trees in the middle providing shade for much of the courtyard - seemed like a wonderful place to relax. I had wondered what the courtyard was like in the past. Probably reeked of horse manure. :P
From this courtyard, we passed into a second one before going inside the main keep building. Saw a very cool video on the history of Carcassonne and the restoration efforts by Viollet-le-Duc. While some of the decisions Viollet made in certain aspects of the castle restoration were controversial, this man's mission and efforts to restore Carcassonne a hundred years ago is the reason why there’s still such an impressive castle left for me to visit today. What a great legacy.
After the video, we went through the rest of the building, seeing some drawings of Carcassonne at various points in its history. The fort has undergone a lot of additions and renovations over its storied 2,500 year history. The museum also had a very cool model of the entire fort.
The rest of the keep tour was essentially around the enclosures atop of the castle walls. This was my favourite part of the entire tour. First, you get these spectacular views of Carcassonne's surroundings. This is lower Carcassonne towards the river.
Second, you get an awesome view of the castle itself. After the history lessons, I started recognizing the different aspects of the castle. For example, in this photo, you see three different types of tops on the towers. The flat ones date back two millennia to the Roman days, the pyramid ones date to the 8th century, while the cones were the most recent (12-13th century). I cannot remember much more than that! lol.
Finally, along these walls, you get to see all the cool defenses of the castle! From the converging arrow loops, double portcullis in the hoardings over the entrance gates(so cool) to the semi circle entrance ring known as the barbican, it’s hard not to appreciate that this fort was built for protection of its inhabitants. Every single stone and design was laid out to provide a military advantage. This fort wasn’t built as a pretty attraction for Tochi to visit in the 21st century. I also found it cool that a lot of the defense mechanisms were duplicated as well, in case there are traitors within the castle.
I want to mention, this is one of several places on the trip where I had stopped taking photographs, and just sat back and took in the scenery and the moment. So cool.
We wrapped up our tour of the keep in the gift shop (surprise surprise!). BlueOrca and I both wanted to pick something from Carcassonne, but had a hard time finding something cool. I almost picked up a book on the history of Carcassonne (definitely fun reading for the long train rides), but I didn’t want to carry it. It’ll get crumpled in my backpack anyway. We ended up minting our own gold Carcassonne coins at one of those vending machines. Not a geocoin, but we’ll settle, just because this is Carcassonne.
After the visit to the keep, we strolled through the town visiting some of the little boutique shops and starring into some of the fancy little restaurants and bakeries. At one of the shops, I saw these bright plastic sword and shield combo. I really wanted to grab them and ask BlueOrca to take a picture. Unfortunately, I’m not meant to be a knight. I couldn’t figure out how to untangle the mess of string that tied the pair to the stand. :(
We also took a stop at Saint Nazaire and Saint-Celse Basilica, the main church within Carcassonne. It was rather dark inside the church and some folks were praying. I saw the Northern rosace in the cathedral, which made me think of Chrono Trigger and Zelda for some reason. I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a big circular stain-glass window before. With the deep history in this place, maybe this IS the long lost Temple of Time. I mean, this church is named after Saint-Celse, which must be the french spelling for Celes. Anyway, we spent quite a bit of time in the church. I found out that BlueOrca is very much a photographing-church person. :D
We stopped by the arena which happened to be closed to the public. Proceeded outside to the expanse between the inner and outer walls. Ran around in the opened area before looping back around the ramparts towards to entrance with the geocache. After some time, we still couldn’t find the darn thing.
Our train was leaving at 4:30pm, so we were forced to leave the fort and head back to the train station. On the way, we had to stop by the Aude gate to grab the corresponding daytime shot. Within the 10 second timer on my camera, I had to run 20-30ft and get into my my pose, all while carrying my backpack. Not an easy feat! A bunch of ladies watching all this action applauded my efforts after the picture was taken. I felt a bit embarrassed that I forgot to bow. lol.
We traversed back across the old bridge towards the current town of Carcassonne. There used to be a big rivalry in the past between the town by the river with the folks in the castle. As the strategic importance of Carcassonne diminished with the signing of Treaty of the Pyrenees (Carcassonne was no longer on the French-Spanish border), the fort was not really necessary for protection and hence people started moving closer to the river.
BlueOrca needed to exchange her traveler cheques again, but we were cutting super close to our train’s departure time (we hadn’t gotten tickets yet!). Found out that in France, the post office is the place to cash traveler cheques. There was quite a line at the post office cashiers. A little bit anxious and worried, I strongly referenced the time, or the lack thereof, to BlueOrca several times. However, BlueOrca seemed adamant about getting cash. –_-; I don’t know how she does it - leaving things down to the wire so often! I’d have a nervous breakdown if this continues. In the meantime, I went to buy some stamps for the various postcards we had collected. We would have mailed the fateful card here, but BlueOrca suggested we send it to someone’s workplace, for which we didn’t have the address yet. :P
We got to the train station and managed to pick up our tickets in time. Good thing we had First Class Europasses. Despite being 4:30pm, we did not have lunch yet, so we picked up some 1 Euro snacks (Hit) from the convenience store in the station. The train soon arrived and we were off to Montpellier onward to Marseille!
Final Thoughts
Carcassonne at night is truly a spectacular sight, with no parallels. This experience alone would have made the entire E08 trip worthwhile for me. Carcassonne is such a great exquisite little town in the French countryside. You can feel so much history in its lands. A full day and night at Carcassonne is enough to experience her treasures. Totally worth the small detour to pay a visit. Since Barcelona was 5/5, and Carcassonne, in different ways, was so much cooler, I must give her a 10/5. :D