Wednesday, July 12

 One of the local residents at the top of the Col d'Aspin.  In the background is the Pic de Midi.

A relaxing day in the Pyrenees before we begin our Tour watching on Thursday and Friday.  After enjoying a breakfast of tartines with butter, croissants, and coffee at our hotel we took off in our car, driving over the Col d’Aspin and the Col du Tourmalet before stop in Luz Saint Saveur.   It was a blue dome morning and the views along both of these mountain passes were spectacular.  Usually the Tour de France goes over both of these cols, but not this year.  Nevertheless we passed many, many cyclists who were making their pilgrimage up these hallowed climbs.  Speaking of pilgrimages, we stopped for our second morning coffee at a café in Marie de Campan, a tiny village at the start of the climb up of the Tourmalet.

In Luz we had lunch at an outdoor café, Restaurant Les Templiers.  

The café stands in the plaza in front of a church built by the Knights Templars over 900 years ago.  From the outside it looks much more like a fort than a church, but considering how the Templars behaved, they probably needed such a fortress to protect themselves.

 Our meal was incredible; three courses that included a salad, veal dish, and dessert for 14 euros.  We added a ½ carafe of rose for effect, just the right amount for a midday meal.

After lunch we descended out of Luz and then drove up the 17 km climb to Hautacam, a frequent finish line for the Tour.  The drive up Hautacam was beautiful, but clouds rolled in as drove up this route, and by the time we reached the top we were actually looking down on the clouds which obscured the surrounding peaks.

We took the fast route back to Arreau through the cities of Lourdes and Tarbes, and made it to our hotel just in time to watch the final 5 km of the today’s Tour.  Another sprint victory for Marcel Kittel, his 5^th this year.

Dinner at the Hotel d'angleterre was again wonderful; however, the real highlight was meeting Paul Sherwin and Phil Liggett who are also staying here.  Joni first met them in the elevator and then when they came to dinner they stopped at our table, introduced themselves and chatted.  What a thrill.  They are true gentlemen.