Kyriad Pau

Considered having one last night on the road, cracking our bottle or 9.99 Lidl champers (premier cru!). In the end, we opt to do the big dash & head for home. You reach that point where you just feel ready. Tedious... especially as the winds that blight SE France are blowing in full glory! However, the point has come, we decide, where there isn't much to be gained by staying out any longer. Feels good to be back on 'home' turf - but, as familiar ground ...

A brief stop over so that Mike could revisit Pau where he spent a month on a French exchange more than 50 years ago!
First we thought we should have a look at Lourdes as it was very near. It was difficult for us as dedicated athiests to understand the place. It is full of pilgrims but there did not seem to be any sense of joy. The buildings were magnificent and impressive,but the surrounding streets were full of very tacky souvenir shops all ...

... occurred. My rear wheel hit a rock, flipping the bike out from under me, and I crashed on the road, face first, then elbow, and hip. My left eye socket was fractured, the left side of my face abraded, and my hip dislocated, hitting and shattering my left pelvis.

This was the start of my own personal odyssey of self discovery and recovery, encountering the breadth & depth of ...

WHAT THE BROCHURE SAID: After a group dipping of our toes in the Atlantic, we depart at 09.00am and head up the coast road for a while before turning inland on a selection of beautifully quiet roads.

Today we pass through the Basque heartland with distinctive burgundy and white buildings, bullrings and pelot courts. Unfortunately we will not have much time for sightseeing as we undulate our way over the Col De St ...

So, nearly ready for the off! Thankfully, false alarm about arrival of guests to take over house in absence means we have one more day in which to prepare... much needed!
We will just about get there - I think.
Round about now it occurs to us we really ought to have assembled scooter on trailer and gone for little spin to test strapping arrangement, etc... just to make sure it all holds up. Oh well, the road will be a good test of all that... I guess.

We put on out bags and just aimlessly wander around Pau town, it looks just like any other city, how exciting. A chocolat choud (which I learnt is hot chocolate) and beer later we decide to sit in the park. Perfect, there is the most competitive games of bouls I have ever experienced happening right before us. Yes, I am exaggerating, but we sit on a near by bench watching old men play with metal balls for the next two hours, not one of my more daring moments in life. We soon ...

... 2%. What up with that?? And talk about bad timing, it's not such a big deal that he augmented his salary, but he really chose a winning time to do so. From what I gather, the people of France are not all too content with their leader of choice.... if he keeps it up, he might become just as populaire as our own prez!! So yes, conflict is alive and blazing here in France, which proves to be very interesting but also a bit inconvient at ...

... wine is cowly good". You should be pleased to note that the cow carries a completely positive connotation in this expression. Of course, being an adverb that simply serves to enhance the meaning of the succeeding adjective, we could construct an almost identical phrase in an equally negative context: " Berk! Cette vinasse est vachement dégueulasse! " More to come... just kidding. See you in January probably.

... No offense to them, of course. I love the students in our group, but I didn't come to France for the touristic appeal. And being as cheap as I am with money, it's tough to justify spending double a semester's tuition just so that I can hang out with a different group of English speakers in a slightly uncomfortable foreign environment. There is something about learning a second language and articulating the world from another culture's ...

... that this journal will be any different. So, I don't know what anyone expects out of a blog like this, but I can assure you that what I write on will only be the most inconsequential of my experiences in France. Cela dit, enjoy! Will ps. i probably won't update this for a few days. our group is taking a field trip to Spain this weekend.