After a good nights sleep, we were ready to explore Toulouse. Our first tourist spot was the Church of Les Jacobins. It was just at the end of the street that our hotel was located, so it was a short walk.

The Church of Jacobins is the burial grounds for Saint Thomas Aquinas

Cool mirror around a pillar in the Church of Jacobins

Beautiful stain glass windows all around the church

Our next stop was the Saint-Sernin basilica (the largest romanesque church in Europe). The floor plan is in the shape of a cross and it had parts that dated back to the 4th century. But most were from the 11th & 12th century.

This Romanesque building is considered to be the biggest in the western world

Toulouse has the 3rd largest university in all of France. So we saw many college students walking and riding their bikes or scooters. We let the kids run around in front of the Capitole de Toulouse a bit after they had to be quiet inside the churches and before we drove an hour to Carcassonne. Our first place to visit in Carcassonne was the castle.

Farleys in the front with our castle in the back

This castle was not like any other castle that I had visited. There was an outer defense wall with a mote around it and then a whole town inside. There were lodges and stores all along the street until you got to the actual castle. There was also a cathedral within the walls of this fortress where some priests were singing and they sounded amazing.

Map of the Carcassonne castle

After walking to and from the castle, we were all ready to have some lunch. We found the plaza and devoured our sandwiches and then let the kids run around and enjoy their time in Carcassonne.

This is how Mason enjoyed spending his time

We all loaded up in our car again and headed for our next location (3 hours away), Grignan, France

See more photos of Toulouse and Carcassonne