Citè de Carcassonne

One of the highlights of our holiday in France was a visit to Citè de Carcassonne. It is another place we visited when our children were young. My Dad loved it, we have a lovely video of him walking round the cobbled streets with his stick.

Our son owns All Mana of Games and runs a table top focused social group which his girlfriend is also involved with. City de Carcassonne is one of their favourite games so they had an added interest to visit this amazing place.

The Cité is an UNESCO heritage site and dates back to pre-Roman times. Fortifications have been built here as it sits on an outcrop of rock overlooking the Aude valley and is a strategic location between the Mediterranean and Atlantic coast.

It has two enclosures that surround the houses, chateau and Gothic cathedral, these were first developed in the 13th century but after a fire in 1849 the Citè was extensively restored by Eugene Biollet-le-Duc in 1853 to 1879

The outer ramparts have 19 round towers and the inner has 26 such towers. The Citè would have been surrounded by a moat with two access points; Porte Narbonnaise which faces the Mediterranean and Porte de l'Aude to enter from the west. 

In 1096 Pope Urbsin II blessed the first stone laid for the cathedral, dedicated to Saint Michael it became a Basilica in 1898. The Cathedral has both Roman and Gothic features but the outstanding features for me is the stunning design glass window above the altar and the beautiful rose window.

We had a super time visiting Citè de Carcassonne, a day walking round this amazing mix of houses, hotels and towers remembering past times and making new memories to treasure.

The Longest Yarn

We saw this on BBC Breakfast and really wanted to see it in person especially after our recent holiday to visit the Normandy beaches. 

The Longest Yarn is a knitted tableau of 80 scenes from the D-Day landings. The work is incredible, so many clever knitters giving colour and texture to the scenes. 

Each scene is housed in a glass case giving a bit of reflection on photos but you can see the amazing skill from these I took on our visit to Southwell where it is on show until the end of September.

My favourite scene was Pegasus Bridge, it was amazing to see it knitted and looked exactly as we saw it. The scene with the full bridge, the cafe and the gliders brought a tear to my eye as I relived the story of those brave men. 

A massive congratulations to everyone involved in this stunning project, espevially the knitters. The web site has details of the companies that are helping move this important exhibition around the UK, there is also a list of dates of where it will be .... The Longest Yarn is definitely worth the long queue!

Rennes-le-chateau

Rennes-le-Chateau has always been a mysterious magical place to us since our first visit in 2002 when our children were young and my Dad was with us. At the time we knew very little about this intriguing village but for all of us it's story has captured our interest, as it has with many others including the author Dan Brown. 

The mystery surrounds Bèranger Saunière who in 1885 became the priest of this very poor village located at the top of a hill with access via one road. The story is that he discovered something in one of the church's pillars which made him very very rich.

What is was is still unclear but it believed to have been a parchment that would turn Christian religion upside down, did he find the Holy Grail? 

What is known it that after his discovery the priest visited the bishops in Paris and returned a wealthy man. He used the money to renovate the village church but in quite a unusual way ... how many churches have the Devil greeting you on entry?

Inside the church is decorated with statues and pictures depicting the stations of the cross and other statues but they all differ slightly from Christian beliefs. 

Many books have been written on the meaning behind Bèranger Saunière's decorations. It is rumoured he is telling the story of the Knight's Templar, Cathar treasure or the Ark of the Covenant, others say he was an imposter who gained his wealth by selling masses to worshippers. 

As well as renovating the church Bèranger also built Villa Béthanie complete with beautiful gardens, an orangery and Magdala Tower that looks over the vast valley below, some say to watch over who was coming to this remote village. It is certainly in a great position with a beautiful view over the Bals des Coleurs landscape.

In 1917 Bèranger Saunière died taking his secret with him. It is said that only his housekeeper Marie Dénarnaud knew and although she promised to tell she had a stroke a few years before her death in 1953 and so the secret remains.

The money Bèranger Saunière made or was given disappeared, he left everything to Marie but years after his death she was seen burning 1000s of bank notes: this was because when the French franc currency changed all paper money could be exchanged at a bank only with evidence of its source, something Marie could not, or would not, divulge.

We had a super day revisiting Rennes-le-Chateau, especially being able to share its mystery and intrigue with the new members of our family. 

It does however make me want to rematch The Da Vinci Code, reread The Holy Blood and The Holy Grail and watch Henry Lincoln's videos on YouTube. 

As well as Bèranger Saunière's life there are many theories about the geographical position of this mysterious village in line with other historic locations nearby .... but that's another story!

The Royal Mint - birthday treat

To start the final year of my 50s we stayed in Cardiff for a couple of days. It's always good to see our daughter and son-in-law and we do like Cardiff Bay.

I had a lovely birthday, and a second day celebrating with our son and girlfriend once home. It all began with a trip to the Royal Mint, somewhere we've had on our visit list for a while.

It must have been planned in the stars as whilst enjoying a coffee before our visit Hubby noticed he had a new £5 note in his wallet (now in my purse hee hee) It's lovely but a bit strange to see the King on our currency.

The Royal Mint tour was amazing, our guide explained which metal is used, how the designs are drawn and finally how the coins are pressed. The value of each coin is the value of the metal and the weight of each is relevant; two 1ps weigh one 2p, two 5ps weigh 10p. 

We were very lucky to see one of the machines being loaded and held one of the finished coins, still warm. The Royal Mint currently makes coins for other countries and these coins were for Malawi.

At the end of the tour there was an opportunity to forge your own coin, this was one of the special coins celebrating the RNIL's  200 years. The coin is legal tender but will not be in general circulation. Our guide wore special finger covers so now sealed in its display cover the coin has also never been touched.

For obvious reasons no photos were allowed within the tour. It was allowed in the foyer where the Penny Lane mini and Grommit stood shining bright in their coinage.

It was a super tour, so informative and amazing to see how coins are made. It was also astonishing just how much money (in value) is both on display and in storage, a coin may not seem much money on it's own in my purse but it certainly mounts up .... guess that's why we have money boxes and empty bottles for collecting lose change, I wonder how long we'll be able to do that.

And then it was time for birthday celebrations 🥳

We visited our favourite Cardiff micro brewery Zero Degrees followed by a new experience at Vermut Bar where we tried different vermouths. Thanks Philippa and Michael for introducing us to new flavours and styles, a lovely experience.

Hubby and I love Miller and Carter The Hayes, it was a real treat to have their 28oz sharing experience with lobster, mac n cheese and a delicious Argentinian Malbec - thank you Nick, it was superb

And back home the following day we had a super dinner at our son and girlfriend's. Such a lively surprise to have cake with candles ... never too old for birthday cake.

It's been a great few days celebrating my final year of my 50s .... 12 months to the big 60 🥳