Carcassonne Castle

For Misty, wife, mother, NICU nurse, aka super hero. Any mom, such as myself, who has been unfortunate enough to have a child in the NICU, knows these nurses are angels among us. Bless you. And Misty has seen me at Cinderella's castle, and knows how easy going I am on vacation (I hope the sarcasm translates well via the blog).
Today we rented a car (it was not Curtis sized) and drove about and hour south to the fortified city of Carcassonne. It isn't just a castle, but an entire city inside walls. It is built on top of a big hill and had a beautiful view (although I think their concern was more for safety from rivals more than a pretty view). Three locals recommended we go, so we did! It is the largest fortified medieval city in Europe and the castle is 12th century. The cathedral on site was began 1,000 years ago!
There wasnt a ton of historical info that I noticed. Almost all of my info on it came from Wikipedia.  So if you're interested, Google it! It may be because I wouldnt pay the $8 per person to go inside the Chateau part. The whole place was very touristy and most every building had arts and craps for sale and restraunts were everywhere. 
I will admit, there was a LOT of anxiety in my part about the trio, but I promise it was justified, and I'm a therapist, I would know. Curtis' driving+my control freak personality=oh my. Curtis had to take the Oklahoma drivers test at age 20 when his Missouri license expired and all of his friends and my family and I told him he would fail it and he did! When he drove me around LA last year my right hamstring was sore for days from stomping my invisible break. Within 3 minutes of driving in France someone honked at us and then rolled down their window to curse at us... the person was a POLICE OFFICER!! That isnt the only honks we got, but it was my favorite. Two hours into driving with him I asked what a French stop sign looked like and he said "Hmm, I don't know. I wonder...?" I seriously was so stressed out that for long periods I would just close my eyes and hope for the best. Oh, Curtis, God love him. I know I do.
The drive was very pretty. Mostly rural farms and vineyards. I was surprised to see snow capped mountains in the distance (the Pyrenees Mountains)!