carcassonne and flying pigs

the medieval town of carcassonne is a unesco world heritage site and a pretty impressive example of 13th century european architecture.  rick steves told us that some locals like to believe that the town got its name 1,200 years ago.  Charlemagne had besieged the town for several years and just as food was running out, a townsperson named madame carcas fed the last bits of grain to the last pig and tossed it over the wall.  charlemagne's exhausted and frustrated forces were so amazed that the town had enough food to throw a fat party pig over the wall that they decided they would never succeed in starving the people out and they ended the siege and left the town.

we stayed in converted monk's quarters called notre-dame de l'abbaye