day 6

les chouquettes!
The bakery is closed today---my first day off. I decided to take a trip to Carcassonne, but not before fortifying myself with my latest obsession since the nutella beignet---chouquettes! These were from the local grocery store, Monoprix, though the bakery makes the best ones in town. They are sold in a tiny bag for a euro or two, which is awesome for those of us on a budget. As you can probably tell from the name, chouquettes are tiny cream puffs made from a batter called pate a choux. They are covered with a special coarse sugar that I hope to be able to bring back to the States with me.

carcassonne
The train system here still mystifies me. Apparently it's possible to buy a ticket for a train that doesn't exist, which is what happened to me going to and coming from Carcassonne. When I got to the town, I was lucky enough to run into a few travellers from Boston, Addy, Ryan and Libby, and we walked up to the castle together. I wanted to buy the souvenir cross bow but I wasn't sure if airport security would let me through with it. It was either that or the mace which was SO AWESOME. The best thing I learned from visiting the castle was that stones were the weapon of choice for dropping down on the enemy from the ramparts, not boiling oil or water, both of which were too precious to waste. I also visited L'Art Gourmand, a chocolate shop outside the castle. I had a delicious piece of fig pate de fruit, or fruit jelly, a candied seckle pear and a linzer cookie.