Mercure Lourdes Imperial 3m

... music that was headlining the first night of the town's "Festival of the Lamp chop" (that is actual translation...this is sheep-herding country...and they did have a lamp chop tasting area). Needless to say, it was tres rural :)

                                 
 

Tom drove Eva to the train station in Lordes and after lunch we all went for a hike to the base of the Cirque de Gavarnie. Impressive!! The walls are 1,000 meters up, 50% taller than El ...

The next morning we set off early-ish for our 6 hour walk back along the top ridge of the canyon. Beautiful! It was interesting to look at the Breche de Roland (a famous gap break in the ridge) knowing that just on the other side was the French valley were staying. 10 KM in a ...

... cute main town. Clearly, rock climbing is very popular in this area. In the photos, play "spot the climber."

                 

On Sunday, we checked into new home, Hotel Chili, which is all self-contained apartments. The accommodation was simple but was made up for by the giant lawn with Mini-Golf course, free range chickens, and playground within walking distance. And FREE LAUNDRY!!! Needless to say, Sue was in heaven. We played Mini-golf that night and Sue kicked Tom's butt. Embarrassing...

       

The next day, we took the kids for a lunch time hike along the GR10 to Lac du Gaube with a view of Vignemale the highest mountain in the French ...

We spent a lazy day in and around our hotel, casually visiting Luz Saint Sauveur, about 10 minutes from our hotel. We also drove up to Gavarnie, the famous Cirque in the region. There weren't much in the ways of views as the mountains were in the clouds.
 
 

... Tyler "slept" in the back of our Golf Station Wagon. By 7:30 we were all up and playing soccer in the parking lot. After freshening up, we went down into town and played in a great local playground (2 storey climbing structure with 2 "dark slides" as Tyler likes to call them). On the road by noon we were ...

... you all" "And also with you" would be in Latin (and put up on a big screen to be sure everyone knew what they were. The archbishop emeritus of Naples was visiting, so he presided and there was more Italian than anything else (at least it was a language I could more or less understand...if it had been German, Dutch, or Spanish I would have been lost). It was held in the undergound Basilique du Saint Pie X, which was very cool. All in all, a very good weekend - definitely worth the trip.

... human waste that runs into it. (Oh, it's not as bad as it sounds!) In the drier areas, semi-gobi there are wells and springs, but some of them have dried up and you will need a map and a water divining device to find them. Best bet is to camp near a ger as they will always be relatively close to a fresh water supply. Failing that you can ****************. Just kidding. Be careful drinking from the lakes, a hell of a lot of them are actually salt water lakes, not ...