Le Reverbere Vic-en-Bigorre

... the ruins at Delphi - for a sense of the sheer reach of human history; the museum at Athens, with the see-through floor revealing something of those times.
Lows: all of Albania really - the sheer poverty of our near-neighbours. And, not to be too trivial, but the weather in Greece: hard to take the grey skies... especially when so sunny in UK! Having had it as a target since way back, it did tarnish the dream somewhat!!
And so life goes....on.

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 ...

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Auch, Midi-Pyrénées, France asalvaire

... Luz-St Sauveur. Next up
is the Col De Tourmalet (2115m), a mountain climb which needs no introduction. After a bit of
souvenir shopping at the top (where there is also a great café with some interesting Tour de
France artefacts), we descend to St Marie De Campan, and from here to our hotel in Campan.

WHAT I EXPERIENCED:

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.

... was especially nice because we were a short distance away from the wine regions of Madiran, St Mont and Pacherenc du vic Bihl. Three particularly good wineries were Château St Go, Monastère de Saint Mont, also there's a cooperative making some stylish wine called Plaimont (www.plaimont.com). Plaimont is also the easiest place to taste wine as it’s normally open.

You must also check out this small medieval town called Loupiac which is the ...

... PREPARING THE TRIP ...

... college. We have a choice of fish or beef for dinner, I picked the beef. The restaurant is very nice, very high class. This is also part of the college and the teacher is watching as the students serve the food, fill out waters, and take away our plates after each course. My main course was steak and fries. These are the best fries I've had in my life!

In the afternoon we headed out to the moutnains. It was very cloudy that day so we could not see anything. I was told normally you could see spain from the mountains. As we headed back home we stopped in the town of Lourdes. They say a young girl saw the Virgin Mary here. We saw a very large underground cathedral, and many people there to see the spot where the Virgin Mary was seen.

... head to Drakkar bar and meet up with the other Americans in our group. About half showed up with their host person. Our drink of the night was "gin cas". Around 10:30 we headed to a dance club, but since not everyone was 18 they would not let us in. Christian makes a few phone calls, and soon his buddy Arped arrives. He was able to get us in on the condition that everybody buys at least one drink. No problem!