Languedoc-Roussillon, Cassaignes, Espéraza, Rennes-le-Chateau, 13-15.6.2025: Closed Churches and Breakfast Oysters

Church of Mary Magdalene, Rennes-le-Chateau Languedoc-Roussillon

And now our final day in Cassaignes arrives: I’m writing on the 16th, before W. and K. drive us after lunch to Toulouse, from which we’ll fly early tomorrow to Paris and then from Paris to Atlanta. On Friday (the 13th), we spent the day at home in Cassaignes, since W. and K. expected his cousin M. and wife K. for an evening meal and spent part of the day preparing that meal. W.'s grandmother and M.'s grandmother were sisters in Alsace, with M.'s grandmother marrying and going to Paris and W.'s marrying and going to Frankfurt — so that there are both German and French branches of their family now. 

Languedoc-Roussillon, Cassaignes, Espéraza, Coustaussa, Leucate, 11-12.6.2025: Cathar Ruins and Mediterranean Seafood

Château d'Arques, Languedoc-Roussillon, France

I’m writing now on the 13th. On the 11th in the morning, W. took us with him on a shopping expedition to the village of Espéraza, where there’s a butcher he and K. especially like. He has planned to make a lamb shank dish, lamb marinated in red wine and herbs, this evening and wanted to buy the lamb from the butcher in Espéraza.