Monday, 30 August, 2010
Bonjour!
Well! We have certainly had quite a day, and as we haven’t eaten dinner yet, I’m sure it will get even better!
Up around 7 a.m. and spent some time getting organized. Lots of “stuff” scattered around, and I didn’t want to leave anything behind! Out the door about 9 a.m. and in search of a Laundromat…today is “the” day – Monday, right?! Found our way to the Carrefour nearest the hotel; about 5 minutes away but very complicated to get to. Couldn’t see anything inside the mall, so asked an employee who told me: And I kid you not! – there was a place to wash BOTH cars AND clothes, just outside the Carrefour itself. Wound around the back entrances, and there it was! Have never seen anything like it! Killing two birds at the same time! However, the Laundromat was small, and there were only 4 machines, two of which were broken. So…on to Montpellier where I had not one but TWO addresses of Laundromats!
We stopped at a rest area between Montpellier and Nimes for diesel and some breakfast. R got a Panini which he didn’t really care for, but I had a wonderful baguette with jambon et fromage and was very happy! However, all was not without chaos, because the minute we got off the peage (toll way) at Montpellier, of course we ran in to MAJOR road construction! Poor Emmy (our GPS)! We are really testing her capabilities! However, being the wonderful Garmin that she is, she wound us around traffic and into the center of town! And the Laundromat! The only problem was that there were NO parking spaces in the area, but there was a “loading” zone…so, being the bad kids that we are, we parked in the loading zone, each minute expecting to have to move the car – but we actually did two loads of wash AND dried them without incident! The Laundromat also had wifi, and there was one young man who was working away – and, silly me! – I thought he was doing his laundry! Turns out, when all the laundry but ours was gone, he finally packed up his laptop, said “au revoir” to us, and out the door! Not a bad idea at all! We managed to get all laundry done and back into the car, and then we were on our way to Tarascon-sur-Ariege in the Pyrenees.
It was an absolutely stunningly beautiful drive! The Pyrenees are really lovely; a bit more rounded than the Alps perhaps, but I think even more beautiful! (I know there are multiple “beautiful” ‘s here, but sometimes it is necessary to repeat oneself…which can also get you into trouble by referring to yourself in the third person…just ask Dr. Sheldon Cooper!) We passed many, many fields of sunflowers that were way past their prime and waiting to be harvested, but finally came to one town, Vals, and the flowers were still blooming! Wow! Sunflowers make me smile! The roads were great, and we made terrific time, arriving in Tarascon around 2 p.m. We found our hotel, only to see on the door that it was “closed” until 5:30 p.m.! Whoa!
At this point we decided to see if we could do a cave tour, so picked Grotte de Bedeilhac at random. It was a few miles out of town, but we pulled up just in time for their 2:30 p.m. tour!! There were 6 of us plus the guide; a dad and his three incredibly well-behaved kids, probably 6, 8 and 11 years old. The guide was terrific, and explained a lot about the cave’s history. Turns out the cave has a HUGE entrance to it, and was actually used by the Germans in WWII as an airplane factory and air-strip! Imagine taxiing down the runway INSIDE a cave, and then popping out and taking off – quickly! Landings must have been really something!
We did a lot of walking, each one of us with our own flashlight. The cave is still living, and holds some of the largest formations we’ve ever seen! Also pretty drippy…we saw several different types of cave artwork, from bison painted on the walls to bison and aurochs literally carved out of the floor! Just amazing! At one point, we were asked to turn off all of our lights, and the guide (after ascertaining that everyone was “ok” with the dark) turned her lantern off – talk about pitch BLACK! Absolutely NOTHING was visible at all in any direction. She then lit a cigarette lighter, and talked about how the flickering light from the lighter was supposed to be roughly equivalent to what a cave artist had to draw by – and how he/she ever managed, I have no idea! It was a wonderful experience, that’s for sure! The tour was almost 2 hours long, and after that, we headed to another cave, Grotte de la Vache. Unfortunately, their tours were at 2 and 4, and we missed 4 p.m. However, our plan is to return to La Vache tomorrow after our 1 p.m. Grotte de Niaux tour.
Finally, we headed for the last big cave in the area, Grotte de Lombrieves. They have multiple tours during the day, so we’ve decided to try and get that one in on Wednesday morning before we head to Pau.
Back to the hotel, about 5 p.m. and still nobody at the hotel…we went across the street and had a glass of wine and looked at the map book to plan our route for Wednesday. (Apparently road construction happening outside of Ax-les-Thermes…) Finally, guy at hotel desk! Yea!! R says: What a difference a day makes! Yesterday we were luxuriating in 4 **** ‘s, tonight it’s 2**! [But the internet connection is much, much better! – R] Place interesting…haven’t seen Pepto Bismol walls in a long time! -- but very clean, and we have a room that overlooks the Ariege river. Besides, we’re not here to stay in the room! Walked around Tarascon – saw most of it I think, and now are relaxing before we head out to dinner!
Take care!
Much love and more later!
m
x
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