Renovation Nightmares

Happily, no helicopters were needed for our renovations. But such are the challenges of maintaining ancient buildings that lie within walled cities whose streets were laid out a millennium before cars.

A few weeks ago, I was walking around la Cité and heard an incredible racket. With the narrow streets, the sound bounced around such that I wasn’t sure at first what it was or where it was coming from. Then I realized it was a helicopter and got a little worried about why it was so close to la Cité. Carcassonne is home to the Third Regiment of Parachutists of the Marine Infantry (RPIMa), so planes and helicopters are not unknown in skies around here. And when wildfires break out, we get some very low-flying planes that drop water.

Traffic blocked, too. Not that there was any traffic. The beams were picked up from a parking lot and carried inside the walls, like a stork with a newborn.

Outside la Cité’s walls I understood–the helicopter was making a special delivery of long beams for a renovation project. Such beams would have been too long to thread through the winding paths, not at all straight, of la Cité. Having gulped at the cost of delivery of renovation materials by truck (during certain times on certain days!), I imagined many zeroes popping up behind some number, like in a cartoon. Nothing is easy or cheap with old buildings.

The main street of la Cité on a busy winter morning.

Difficult access was intentional. Today’s weather–clear blue skies and flirting with 60 degrees–is nothing like this moody photo.

Ka-ching!

It made me reflect again on what we went through, putting in new wiring and plumbing in apartments built for neither.

Before

After

YIKES! Not to code!!!

All new wiring, heading toward the new fusebox.

Making a path for the new wiring through 2-foot-thick stone walls. 

Wiring in place.

Unexpected surprises: In some places, the walls were stuffed with straw and lime paste. Good insulation.

Not in good shape. Luckily, they covered a treasure!

We restored the original tomette tiles throughout the apartments.

It served its purpose, but as the architect says, “it has no historical value”

After

You can see the saga of our renovations under the heading Our Vacation Apartments. We hope you get to visit in person, too!