Much has happened since our last update and we have been sans-wifi for a while too so here are our adventures since.
Our convoy, which now included Lana's brother Dane and his girlfriend Ali, headed south-west to the corner of France and over the Atlantic edge of the Pyrénées into Spain, for a few days in the beachside town of San Sebastián. Exploring the old town and tasting tapas was good fun, although being there on Sunday and Monday nights when Spaniards apparently close all their shops meant long walks attempting to find open restaurants. The long curved boardwalk promenade along the beach allowed for some beautiful views of the sunset, and it was very relaxing walking along there, at one point someone may have fallen asleep in the sun and started snoring too... (Damien). Lana and I took a day trip to Bilbao to see the impressively ugly, but still impressive Guggenheim Museum and a good temporary art exhibition about French art during Second World War was very interesting.
Next stop was the tiny little hamlet of Sos Del Rey Católico for an overnight stay, which is situated just on the southern side of the Pyrénées on the top of a hill. Excellent driving roads around this part of the world and several brand new but completely empty motorways too which were fun.
We next began our expedition to cross the Pyrénées through a treacherous mountain pass and back into France, as we gradually climbed the weather and visibility got worse until we were at the highest point just before the border and it started to snow! An impromptu snow ball fight ensued then we kept on going back down the other side, but was pretty incredible and surprising to have seen snow falling when that morning we awoke to quite dry temperate surroundings in Spain and were at the beach the day before! We arrived in the city of Pau just on the northern side of the Pyrénées for another overnight, and enjoyed a very non-European dinner of Vietnamese which was good for a change, and very delicious. Pau turned out to be a very beautiful university town, which was currently hosting a classic car festival and rally. Much to the boys disappointment, we missed the race by a few days.
Next up was Castres, where we stayed in a beautiful old medieval building covered in ivy right in the old town, and which had medieval themed rooms! Our room was 'imperial themed' which included a giant chandelier and even traditional oriental clothes and wigs (which were slightly creepy). The old town was good for exploring and had some cool buildings and gardens to look at too. We awoke here for Lana's birthday but had a full day of driving to get to Carcassonne, which we explored in the afternoon. Carcassonne is home to a beautiful Castle and had the all important 'fairy tale' factor with its curved turrets. We went out to an excellent restaurant, Chez Fred, for a birthday dinner which had the most delicious steak, baked whole Camembert, and garlicky vegetables.
The next part of our adventure was 5 days on the Canal du Midi, but that will have to wait for another update.....
Au revoir!
L + D
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