France - Part 2

I notice the pictures from my previous post are mostly of people, and I suppose that's what this trip was primarily about for us -- seeing old friends. BUT, we did visit some beautiful places, namely Carcassonne, Narbonne, Lagrasse and Toulouse, all in the Languedoc area of the "sleepy south" of France. Here are some of my favorite shots of those places:

Carcassonne
Known for its medieval (and nicely restored) Cite that you can see behind Adrian and Julian in the first shot, Carcassonne also has a lovely (breaking my own rule here using lovely as an American, but hey) downtown shopping district that spreads out from the Place de Carnot where the market is held 3 times a week. The visit to the market on Saturday was a highlight of the trip.

Narbonne
Narbonne is just a 30-minute train ride toward the sea from Carcassonne, and we basically went for lunch and a stroll. We had a nice meal, actually, right on the main square at the restaurant right behind Adrian in the 3rd photo:

Lagrasse
We loved this little town about 35 km south-west of Carcassonne. Really beautiful and not over-riden with tourists and not a souvenir shop to be had (hurray!). The day we were there was a "clean out your attic" day and the main road was lined with people selling everything from toy dinosaurs to antique linens. I picked up a cute bronze key rack with 3 horses for the house.