Biarritz

What a weird return to a language that I know, I master, and don't have to translate in my head before I say a few words......Ahhhhhh le francais, ma langue maternel, oooo la la ! It was so strange being able to read and understand the signs, listen and peer into neighbouring conversations without doing it on purpose, and just actually converse with others. I actually felt impressive for the other english tourists as I could order their stuff and tell them why people were bitching at them (to be elaborated later). It was a nice hop over the Pyrenees, to cross that imaginary line into France, home of the founding fathers of our country......uhhhhh......I mean province.

And what an entry it was, Biarritz for shit's sake.......what a great town, gorgeous beaches and surrounding coast. Again, on the cantabarian sea, just north of San Sebastien, about 45 minutes by train. The surf is great in SS, but there was too many people, you can't do diddly squat! There are jsut as many or more people in Biarritz yet the beaches are endless (right), and the surf is much bigger (left). The campsite I stayed at was a 7 minute walk from this particular beach, but the whole coast is lined with'em.

The town was nice but it was the people that I met and the fun I had partying with them that was the highlight for me. As I entered Biarritz, it was almost 10 pm and I had no place to stay, so I figured I would go sleep on the beach if I couldn't reach a particular campsite and I stopped in front of a huge city map thing to find my bearings. Some random Irish dude stops behind me and offers help and directions, but he never heard of the particular camping place and rightfully points out that the sky is angry and that it was going to puke out a storm tonight. He then offered a place in his tent, since he had a 2 person tent, at his campsite just a 5-10 walk away, and he was a good lad so I agreed and so I met Tom, this friggin great 18 year old with a great open armed personality. I had enough time to show up at the camping (left), put my bag away in his tent, meet his Irish buddy John on the same tent site, meet the three holland boys just across from our site, go buy some alcohol, come back and the heavens cracked open and hemorhaged down with no pity. It felt good to finally have some rain after over 2 months of a dry spell for me, it felt good because of the humidity and the ongoing French heat wave, it felt really good since Tom had offered and kept me and my stuff dry, but it was quite funny since as soon as I cross the border into France, it rains so hard you could drink standing (en bon quebecois). The sweetest and most amazing part was that Tom asked for no money, just a good kid doing his part onto the fellow traveller. Great f'n kid man !!!!! I wouldn't even worry about it ...

So, the bitching story I mentioned before. We did party quite a bit at the camping, in the communal toilets since it was pissing so hard two nights in a row. The holland boys took back a shopping cart full of booze to the campsite and brought it into the toilet, and so the Irish boys, the holland boys, qnd I drank, listened to music kinda loud, had a few cigarettes, and just weren't really good little boys. We were told to stop, clean up, and leave by 11 pm which we did, give or take 15 minutes, but then the next morning we were told to leave the campsite. So I diplomatically tried to rectify the situation, acting as the translator, but to no avail. It was this that gave me a kick in the ass to decide to leave for the Pyrenees one day early. The Holland boys took the blame and the Irish boys were able to stay, meaning I could've also but I decided to go. 2 days of partying was good but I needed some really fresh mountain air to clear my head.



Pyrenees (Cauterets)

I made my way to the Pyrenees and I wanted to get to Cauterets since it is the supposed gateway to the hiking, skiing, and all trails for the Pyrenees, seeing as it boasts the official Pyrenees National Park headquarters. I first had to go through Lourdes, a very nice touristy town at the edge of the mountains (right), with a castle (left) but there were no more buses to Cauterets that night so I slept in a park, and damn did I sleep well; a full 8 hours.

The next morning I went straight to Cauterets and found an amazing Gite d'étapes. An auberge / camping with all the fixins including kitchen, great shower, and TV where I watched the final two stages of the Tour de France (first TV since London), all for 6 euros 50 a night in a huge marabou tent (left). Check out the view I had to put up with every morning (right). It was so nice in the mountains because you can actually sleep well at night. It is colder at that altitude and the never ending heat wave was non-existent and thus tolerable in the evening and at night. The people at the gite were also amazing! I first met a hard core German outdoorsman named Falk who now lives in Norway and knows his way around the bush and camping out alone while touring on his bike (on left in pic). And there was also an awesome Aussie dude named Phil that is also touring on his bike and camping solo with just his tarp (right in pic). He's heading from Verona Italy to Santiago de Compostela on the pilgrimmage trail. F'n sweet ride......These guys know where it's at!!!

And oh my God ! The mountains! Just so prestine, clear, lush, green, and dense!!!!! Impeccable !!!!

There are so many crazy gorgeous valleys and trails and peaks that are intertwined that it is almost impossible to do them all in a lifetime. Cauterets is a great hub to set out on mid day, full day, and multiday hikes. There was also a hard core French hiker and mountainman named Michel who has done many of the trails and is extremely open and modest and helpful when it comes to suggesting trails to take and the conditions and all that jazz. Another impeccable person!! All of the people there are there for one thing, and that's nature! Being in that fresh air and in the clouds and feeling and trying to fit in the surrounding ecology really does make you take a step back and apprciate the true wonders of life, and the true wonders the earth can offer.

I was only able to muster one hiking trip, and it was a decent one, but holy shit was it ever gorgeous and perfect for my first taste of the Pyrenees. I luckily teamed up with Phil and we took the path up to Lac d'Estom; 4 hours up and 3 hours down. Simply amazing! The lush lime greens and the rest of the scenery just knocks you on your ass! And the hike is like on the photos the whole way up!!! (pic on right is Phil)

So we finally got to the lake (pic left is view down mountain, and pic right is the lake), and the whole time up it was sunny. You can see behind my back that there are some clouds........well they were on there way up. Phil and I had just enough time to jump in the glacial + crystal clear cold water, have our lower legs start to go numb, get out, and the cloud front had made its way onto us (pic left is of the lake again about 15 minutes after we had arrived). I stayed around the lake for almost 2 hours just to soak up the beautiful mountain air and splenderific views (pic right is the lake dropping off into the waterfall which drains down the river through the whole valley).



The whole trail is littered with the river that drains the lake, which is fed by the glaciers, and there are also many waterfalls (pic left). The most amazing part is that people really have a sense of keeping the trails and area and environment clean. You don't see any rubbish. It is so perfectly maintained and it should obviously be like that. Imfrigginpeccable !!!! Some of the grassy areas are so perfect, they look like golf greens! No joke!

Please !!!!! If you can, make your way out there, DO IT !! It is so worth it !!!



Carcassonne

Talk about a medieval city! A good old time of yore! Carcassonne is quite majetsic within "la Cité", the old medieval city surrounded by the castle walls. Really impressive !! (pic left)

The castle and Cité walls are impeccably upkept. It took about 1000 years to give the final product and you can see the different sizes of stones used in the walls. The more recent stone block additions being bigger as technology allowed displacement of heavier objects. I believe the Cité construction was initiated in 300 AD. One great apsect of my stay was the hostel as it is within the Cité walls, cost about 19€ a night, and had breakfast included, while the 2 or 3 hotels within the Cité were all over 100€ a night........Super sweet location ! And of course I met some awesome people: so many friggin quebecers, about 20 in 2 days, no joke! One couple from montreal, Simon and Chantal, are travelling through France for 2 years, working here and there. Just trippin. And it so happens that Chantal is the ex-girlfriend of a buddy of mine at the Douglas Hospital, Vinny Corbo! Naturally we found the link talking about medieval role playing camps and psychology research. The castle is quite impressive and any picture turns out to be pretty solid. It's hard to take a shitty picture. (pics)

I also met a really cool chick, Tammara, from Serbia. Man did I ever feel ignorant. I thought people from that whole area and regime, Bulgaria, Bosnia, Serbia, were kinda not up to date in international affairs and hadn't seen too many other cultures and weren't you know, cool or hip, but this girl has a hell of a head on her shoulders, and knows her stuff. She speaks about 4-5 languages and was quite a fresh look on things compared to the average quebecer mindset. She also gave me the lowdown on eastern europe, like places to check out and places to see......exactly what I need for my upcoming trip with Andréanne. We had alot of fun together (pics) and checked out the town, and went swimming in the little river beside the Cité to cool off since the canicule was still rampant. Pretty scenic area with the water, bridge, and castle.

Chantal and Simon really hit it up with the amazingly sympathetic cook at the hostel, Stephane, since she also is a cook, and he loves quebecers, and he took us around the town at night to get the best views of the castle. Now these are hot pics!



And check out the amazing pics I was able to muster with the reflection of the bridge over the river. Looks like stars at the end of a funky crescent moon hey? Rather celestial.


They also have a lot of medieval games exhibitions like joust, and great tours but I was content just relaxing and soaking in the scenery and sun. Save some dinheiro.

And next off to Avignon for a little family action!!!!!!!