Adventures in Montpellier: Les estivales de Montpellier, Carcassonne et Toulouse!

Every friday night in August and the beginning of September Montpellier has les estivales de Montpellier. My friends Audrey, Mary, Dami and I went. It is right in the center of town and you can pay 4 euros, you get a wine glass which you can keep and then 3 tickets to taste any 3 wines you want and all these vendors are there from around the region with their delicious wines. There are also booths with delicious food like paella, sausages, and of course crepes. There were some street performers as well and it was a great way to spend a night especially with such a busy weekend ahead!

Mary, myself, Dami and Audrey enjoying our wine!

La Place de la Comedie

Over the weekend we had a program planned excursion to the medieval city of Carcassonne. We toured around the big castle there, we at the region specialty, Cassoulet, for lunch which is basically beans and usually pork and sausage or duck all mixed together with a really good sauce, it doesn't look very appetizing but it was actually delicious and so filling. We walked around all the shops which are all enclosed in the fortress walls of the castle and at the end of trip we visited the museum of torture which shows all the different torture techniques used in Carcassonne and some are still used today. We also saw an 11th century gothic cathedral in Carcassonne the Basilica of St. Nazarre et St. Celse.

Cassoulet!

My two friends Katy and Hannah being the guinea pigs at the torture museum.

Basilique de St. Nazare et St. Celse

After Carcassonne, 7 of my friends and I took the train from Carcassonne to Toulouse which was an adventure in itself. The second we left Carcassonne it started pouring rain and thundering and lightning and we had to navigate the confusing bus system to get from the medieval Carcassonne to the downtown where the train station was. Luckily we made it there with no problems got our tickets and even figured out how to "composter les billets" which means you have to have your ticket stamped in these little yellow machines before you get on the train. The train ride from Carcassonne to Toulouse was about 45 min but it was the most beautiful train ride ever just going by miles of french countryside and so many grape farms! And of course the train in Carcassonne got their exactly on time unlike America! When we got to Toulouse we were so tired and went to the hotel to shower in order to wake ourselves up!
Saturday night we decided to go out in Toulouse but most of the students aren't back yet so it was hard to find things to do but we found this one bar that was mostly older people like 30s but it was so crowded and so fun and only sold wine so we bought 2 whole bottles and drank them! Then on our way back to the hotel we encountered a few interesting people including this group of Polish guys who were fascinated that we were from America and many sightings of prostitutes just chillin on the street haha. My two friends Andre and I decided that we'd rather get up early and see all of Toulouse instead of sleep in so we left the group sleeping at the hotel and literally walked all over Toulouse I don't think I've ever walked so much in my life. We saw 2 flea markets and walked around those for awhile, but didn't find anything too exciting to purchase. The we went to the center of town and saw their immaculate capitol building which had an exhibit about St. Exupery and we read all about Toulouse's rich culture with aerospace technology. My favorite part of the trip was visiting Toulouse's many old churches. We saw Saint-Sernin Basilica, which is the largest romanesque church in Europe, Church of the Jacobins and St. Etienne cathedral. We also visited the museum of natural history in Toulouse, and walked around the gardens. At the end of the trip we were exhausted and saw this amazing candy and macaroon shop, which was delicious!!