Today will be our last full day in France. Tomorrow we fly from Toulouse to Montréal, where we'll spend Monday night, and then drive home to Cape Cod on Tuesday. So this will be the last edition of my blog.
Our morning routine today was similar to others here in Arreau: 1. Walk into town to buy l'Équipe, 2. Breakfast at the hotel.
Our hotel's breakfast buffet.
I'm certainly going to miss our French breakfasts. Between Le Mas Perreal and the Hôtel d'Angleterre I've probably gained 5-10 pounds. Reality returns on Tuesday.
We decided to revisit Bagnères du Luchon today, which means we'll travel yesterday's Stage 14 route over the Col de Peyresourde. It's a beautiful drive and we expected there would be very little traffic, so we were surprised to encounter a lot of cyclists and a lot of RV's along the way.
The scenery along this route is just plain spectacular. One of my favorite drives in all of France. I'm sure I've taken all these photos before, but I just can't help taking them again.
Luchon was our destination for today. Although we were there on Wednesday I always enjoy the tree lined main street with it shops, restaurants, and mountain views.
This is Luchon's post office, but the reason I took the picture was to show the path of the telecabine which takes you from downtown Luchon to the top of their ski area, Super Bagnères, where yesterday's Tour de France Stage14 ended.
At the end of main street is the thermal spa entrance whose columns are decorated in the red and white polka dots of the king of the mountains jersey.
Joni just scored a couple of items off her shopping list.
Our lunch today was at l'Arbesquens, (translation=the groves) which features traditional French mountain food.
We chose "La Classique" fondue and it was fabulous!
Throughout the Pyrenees we've encountered many upside down signs that announce the name of each hamlet, village, or town. The act is a protest by local farmers to raise visibility of the challenges they face. According to our waitress at l'Hôtel d'Angleterre, all of these signs throughout the country were turned upside down at the same time in the middle of the night!
We returned to Arreau around 3:30 pm and watched the end of Stage 15 of the Tour which ended in Carcasonne. We met an American couple from California who just moved to Arles this year. The move was an act of whimsy; they're both retired, and have always wanted to live in France, so they're doing it and having fun This was their first visit to the Pyrenees.
We then did some last minute shopping before going back to our room and relaxing before dinner.
After out last dinner, which was very good, we returned to our room. It was a stormy night, creating some fascinating cloud and lighting patterns in the skies.
Thank you, Rick, for the time and effort it took to publish this travel blog. We have so enjoyed coming along for the ride. Genuinely appreciated.
ReplyDeleteAnother fun follow. Always a good take. When you purchase L’Equipe is it in French? If so, you can read it?
ReplyDeleteHi Andy, Yes, it is in French, and I can read it, but I usually have to look up some words. My ability to read French is much better than my ability listen to French.
Delete