Carcassonne Cuisine

The walled French town of Carcassonne has been on our radar since 2005, when Bec's lovingly-constructed European tour itinerary included it as a stop between Bordeaux and Barcelona. Due to forces beyond our control, we never made it then, and have been meaning to "tick it off" ever since. We finally managed it over the first May bank holiday, taking our second RyanAir (boo! hiss!) flight of the year to the lovely South of France.

Carcassonne is famous for the lovely castle/château that looms over the river, quite literally lording it over the "New Town". And rightly so:


The Old Town is still fully-functional, albeit dominated by tourist traps and restaurants these days. Actually staying within the town's walls is possible but ludicrously expensive, so we took the economical option and stayed in the Ibis just over the other side of the Old Bridge, getting a great view and plenty of exercise climbing that hill!


We determined that two days in Carcassonne is exactly the right duration - you could potentially "do" the town and be gone in one day but then you would miss seeing the sun set over a scene that really hasn't changed much in hundreds of years. Also, you'd be depriving yourself of another 6-8 courses of delicious French food. Indeed, we seemed to spend most of our time deciding where to eat next! The local speciality (and hence centrepiece of countless prix-fixe menus) is Cassoulet, a slow-cooked white-bean casserole of duck and pork - delicious, but there were many other things to enjoy, the only exception being a very rough pork sausage that Bec chose as an entrée, which was a little too pig-sty-esque for our tastes!

We ate like nobles, we took a turn around the château with surely the finest view in all of France, and then we ate like nobles again. Life is tough...

Home Town Toy Time

The Easter break saw us heading to possibly the least exotic holiday destination ever featured in this blog - namely, the county of Rutland, in England's damp and grey East Midlands. Rutland's main claims to fame are:

• Being small - the smallest county in England
• (Possibly due to the first point) Being the only county to not have a McDonald's
  
• (Possibly due to above 2 points) Having the best-performing schools in the country

Fascinating. As you've probably guessed by now, Rutland is the county of Johnny's birth, and he had a long-overdue appointment with one of his best childhood mates, who still lives there. Despite being 6 months younger, James is putting Johnny to shame. He is the Chief Technical Officer of a very successful digital agency, husband to the lovely Emma and father to the adorable Annie-May and Millie.


We had a fantastic time, with James and John seamlessly picking up where they'd left off (after a twelve-year gap) and all the girls getting on like a house on fire. But there was another reason for being in the middle of nowhere. For his double-birthday present from Bec, Johnny was about to drive in a 4-way supercar shootout! Sunday morning saw an endlessly-patient Bec standing around a nearby ex-RAF base in the drizzle, with Johnny driving:

- A Porsche 911 Carrera S (996) - brilliant power and handling. Seemed like just caressing the throttle gave a glorious shove in the back, with the steering giving endless feedback. Lovely solid gearshift and stunning build quality. Truly a car to dream of.

- A Lotus Elise S2 - a road-legal go-kart, but even more fun. A really physical driving experience, with a small sueded wheel and a notchy gearshift. The engine is small and you wring its neck to make progress, but you can chuck it into the corners like nothing else. The greatest weekend-warrior/track day car ever.

- A Ferrari F360 - meh. Yes, believe it or not, the most expensive (by far) in this lineup was also the most disappointing. In the slippery conditions the car could not put its power down to the road (as the instructor said: "The Germans and Japanese are clever enough to properly do traction control, the British save weight by not doing it, and the Italians tried to do it, but made a mess of it"). The "F1-style" semi-automatic flappy-paddle gearbox is a complete waste of money and, literally, time. At full chat it took about 2 seconds to decide to obey a command to change gear! An expensive toy for non-drivers.

- A Subaru Impreza WRX (2006 edition). Driving the Subie was just like meeting up with James again - a great and trusted old friend. The Scoob's All-Wheel-Drive allowed it to carry much higher speed through the corners than anything else on the wet track, and Johnny's top speed at the end of the back straight was the same as in the Porsche. This version felt a little less nimble than Johnny's old "organ-donor express" 1998 model, but also much more solidly screwed together. Truly a giant-killing car.

We're hoping to catch up with James and the gang again very soon - Bec and Emma have now exchanged contact details so there won't be another 12-year radio-silence! And as for the supercars... Elise and Carrera, we'll be back for you later!