In and around Mirepoix (day one)

 First stop, unplanned, was Fanjeaux:

 Les Halles — 16th/17th century

Escapee from "The Little Shop of Horrors."

Mirepoix itself:

Lagarde:

Like every museum we had wanted to see in the Ariège-Pyrénées, the château was fermé: the downside of  being tourists in November. This is a photo from a poster in the village.

Camon, one of "les plus beaux villages de France":

One of the beautiful inhabitants (for Kate).

La Maison aux Symboles: triangle represents the trinity, the star hope, and the sacred heart christian charity.

A crack in the château-abbaye wall, which reveals . . .

. . . a secret garden.

Note the chrysanthemums, placed on graves on November 1st,  la fête de la Toussaint.