Total Spend: $7,361.00
Balance Remaining: $36,019.68
Yates-
Accommodations:
For our accommodations this week in Carcassonne, France I figured we could stay at Hotel Balladins. Balladins Carcassonne is located 4 miles from Carcassonne Airport and just 2.5 miles from the medieval part of town, which made it easy to gain access to. The hotel offers us air-conditioned rooms equipped with a TV with satellite channels. The rooms at the Balladins are decorated in a simple, modern style. Each room has a private bathroom with a shower, which was nice. A desk is provided and Wi-Fi is available throughout the property. The Wi-Fi is what we all liked because we could sent emails and talk with family from back home. The hotel for 7 nights is 868 Euro which is 1,167.90 dollars. The hotel offers us breakfast so we can eat there. Carcassonne is a very expensive city so the restaurants are expensive in price but they are very worth eating at. All restaurants are close by so we could walk or take a taxi.
Restaurants:
First night: Restaurant L ‘Ecurie. 6 people is $282.60. (210 Euros). We chose the 35 euro menu.
Second night: Le Sixieme Sens. 6 people is $177.62. (132 Euros). We chose the 22 Euro menu.
Third night: Restaurant Le Parc Franck Putelat. 6 people is $250.10. (186 Euros) We chose the 31 euro menu.
Fourth night: Restaurant La Marquière. 6 people is $243.15. (180 Euros) We chose from the 30 euro menu.
Fifth night: Restaurant Le pott'age. 6 people is $113.44. (84 Euros) We chose from the 14 euro menu.
Sixth night: Restaurant Le Magnac. 6 people is $121.48. (90 Euros) We chose from the 15 Euro menu.
Seventh night: Everyone was on their own for this night. We all went out and found a place where we want to go before we leave.
Total for everything is $2,356.29
Matt –
Build Monument:
During our trip into the fortified ancient city of Carcassonne, we made a stop at the main fountain within the fortress. This statue had a gigantic portrayal of Neptune on the top. Neptune was the Greek God of water and the sea. This statue had many streams of water coming out of it and flowed through channels through the streets in town. The water is recycled after coming out of the fountain. This fountain was huge. Check out the picture attached. Originally erected in 1673, the fountain and the rest of Place Carnot underwent extensive renovations in 1993, creating a great open-air market place with many vendors selling fruits, vegetables, and many other local goods.
A couple of the features on this built monument is that there is the town’s coat of arms sculpted on the north side, the arms of France on the south side, and an inscription on the east side reads: “Ut fugit unda fluens, fugiunt sic ludicra caecae munera fortunae, nec manet usque favens” (Just as this water flows past, so the precious gifts of blind fortune fade away) I thought this was a great monument and I was fascinated that something that was created so long ago could still be the centerpiece of a lively town square.
Ryan Metts –
Natural Site:
This week for the natural site portion of our trip to Carcassonne,
France I decided that we could go and visit a bird and wolf park. I
choose this because it was something different than the usual castles
that the city has to offer. The name of the bird and wolf park is
'LA CITÉ DES OISEAUX ET LES LOUPS DE CARCASSONNE' BIRD AND WOLF PARK.
This translated into English means "city of wolves and birds of
Carcassonne." At the beginning of the show we are taken to the
heights of the Colline de Pech Mary, home of the Cité des Oiseaux. I
immediately noticed the beautiful surrounding that we have been placed
in and before our group knew it we could see some crazy acrobatics
from Griffon vultures, white storks, eagles from America, marabou from
Africa and kookaburra from Australia. While they were doing these
flips and spins their highly trained bird trainers were telling us
everything about them. It was great to hear and see something that we
never have before. I soon learned that the owners in 2006 decided to
let wolves into the park as well. We were a bit nervous at first but
then noticed that they were trained as well and surprisingly, very
people friendly. At the end of the show I think our group was very
impressed and quite happy with the show. The show cost us 8.50 Euros
per person which totals out to be 69.90 US Dollars. We also needed to
take a taxi from our hotel which cost us around 10 Euros. This is
about 15 US Dollars so the total for our excursion costs $84.90. I
received my information from
http://www.easyvoyage.co.uk/france/-la-cite-des-oiseaux-et-les-loups-de-carcassonne-bird-and-wolf-park-4924.
I have also attached a picture of only a few of the birds that we got
to see.
Naz –
Recreation/Sport Activity
The trip to Carcassonne, France was unbelievable!. It was by far one of the best times I’ve had on our trips so far this year. I especially enjoyed our recreational/sport activity. Because the city of Carcassone is a city based almost completely on tourism, it was hard to find a recreation and sport attraction, but we finally figured it out and had an awesome time! The place we went to was known as Lac de la Cavayere, also known as Raymond Chesa Leisure Park. This park is located about 1.5 or 2 miles away from the main center of the medieval city of Carcassone, so we decided that it would be fun to have a nice little bike ride to the place. Price of rentals for the bike were 15 euros a day per person, which equals out to be around $21 dollars a day. The total for the bike rentals for the day is $126. When we got to the park, there were so many options we didn't know where to begin. We decided to start with the hike around their nature trail, this took us around an hour but we got to see many beautiful sights. Other then the walk around the lake, there were many other activities for us to partake in including water sports, fishing, and much more. Swimming is allowed at this park, and it's almost exactly like a beach! My favorite part was when the six of us tried to challenge some locals in a game of water polo and we all got killed! I also enjoyed the little picnic we had, because when we brought food with us we didn't have to pay any money for food. Overall, I enjoyed the trip to Lac de la Cavayere very much, and because there is no entrance fee the only thing we had to pay for was the bike rentals for the day, which ended up being right around $126.
http://www.carcassonne-tourisme.com/Carcassonne_EN.nsf/vueTitre/docVisiterDetendre1Old?OpenDocument
http://www.creme-de-languedoc.com/Languedoc/activities/bike-hire-rentals.php
Erin: Cultural/Historic Site
The City of Carcassonne is filled with rich history and preserved culture, but for this leg of the trip we dicided to visit the Castle of Carcasssonne. This Castle is located in the center of the city, and is a massive reminder of the past. Knowing little about castles we opted to go for a 45 minute guided tour around the castle. We started out with this tour and learned quite a bit about the history of the city, and that it was strategically located to fend off their enemies, and it even has a Drawbridge! The tour guide explained that the French and others that conquered the city used it as a defence mechanism mainly against the spaniards. The tour guide explained which parts of the castle were modified and changed by each group that captured the castle. After the tour we spent a few hours wandering around the castle on our own and taking quite a bit of pictures! It was a really unique expereince, and a lot of fun to actually be able to say that we were in a Castle! To get to and from the castle we took a taxi that cost us 140 Euros Round Trip.
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/medieval/architecture/carcassonne.htm
http://carcassonne.monuments-nationaux.fr/en/
Castle Cost:
8.5 Euro/Person
$11.6551/Person
51 Euros/6 people
$69.934/People
Taxi:
140 Euros
$192.198
Total Cost Trip:
191 Euros
$262.26
Josh –
Transportation:
So there were no flights from Pisa to Carcassonne, so we had to fly into Toulouse airport just over an hour away. So we took flight LH317 from Pisa to Munich, and then Munich to Toulouse. Our flight leaves at 10:40 am, arrive at 12:20 in Munich, then we have a 40 minute layover. We leave at 1 and arrive in France at 2:50. The total flight is 4 hours and 10 minutes. The total for flight for the 6 of us is $4195.74 in USD, and 3,116.58 euro. We have to rent a car to get to Carcassonne, so we rent a small van Europcar, to book the car is 249,58 in euro and $335.81 in USD. Even though we had to drive an hour to the hotel, we took this time to really enjoy the beautiful scenery of France! It was absolutely amazing to see the rolling hills and pass by some wine vineyards! This may have have been my favorite part of the trip!
Total USD: $4531.55
Total euro: 3,366.16
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