The plan for today was to stop in Toulouse for some lunch before heading on to fancy castles and such. We were in fact well enough prepared to have brought a fine lunch of cheese, bread and wine. We found a nice public square, got to the food, opened up the wine . . . we weren't exactly clear on public drinking laws, but nobody seemed to mind . . . even though we kind of forgot to bring cups . . . (as such, this entry is devoted to Ben).

Carcasonne, apart from being the name of a nice German board game I was introduced to in Saskatoon this past year, is a heavily fortified old town, which was far enough into French territory by the time cannons were invented to be preserved.

To get to Foix requires a drive down into the Pyrynees. We were partially retracing our steps from the Andorra trip here, but it was nicer to see things with some daylight available and no dense fog on the drive back.

There is a lovely gallery of this stuff here.