Gotta Love a Tradie

Monday 22nd May

A quiet day planned with a drive to look at some of the mountain passes used on the Tour de France. We were very lucky with the weather yesterday for our train trip. Todays weather was cloudy and threatening rain. We didnt see the tops of the mountains at all today.

First stop was a little market in a tiny village we were passing through - Monein. There we found an Indian couple selling curries, so we bought some curry for dinner and snacked on a samosa. Also a lady selling baklava so that made its way home too. I much prefer these small markets with local producers, to the large commercial markets in bigger towns, and it can be interesting to strike up a stilted conversation with these local people.

Church in the town of Monein.

Heading onwards it was close to lunchtime so we were on the lookout for the tradies lunch place in the area. Came into a small town, round the corner, and there they were, tradies vans. U-turn and enjoyed a lovely lunch. 

We were headed for the Col de Marie Blanque which is to be used this year. Part of the road was closed as they are laying fresh bitumen along the whole length, 18k, in preparation for the tour. Beautiful surface now. Maybe we need a Tour de Victoria to get some of our roads fixed!

At the top - hope we get to see the downhill on TV.

Definitely not the day for the train. 

These TdeF cyclists are amazing athletes - our little car struggled with some of the steep bits.

Decided to use the ring road around Pau to come from the south of town to the north. Mistake! The traffic was horrible, knock off time we think, and so many roundabouts (they love them).

Tuesday 23rd May

Today we did a tour of the Chateau de Pau. The first incarnation of this was in 12th century but various people added to its size and importance. One of its main claims to fame is king Henry IV was born there, but never lived there as a king. Apparently he was one of the well liked kings of France. The tour was conducted in French but we did have an English information booklet.  There were a few other English speakers there including a couple from Sydney. It was a lovely Chateau and guided tours only so not thousands of people which meant we got a good look at everything. 

This is a model of how the chateau used to look with its surrounding buildings.

Kitchen. 

The highlight here was the tapestries. This is one of the best collections of tapestries in France. Most of them are Gobelin, and some purpose made to fit between windows. One room was a dining room with a table for 100 guests and every wall was covered with tapestries.  I didn't get the size of the room but imagine a table big enough for 100. I was able to get right up close to the tapestries and have a good look. They are in amazing condition and the colours, especially the reds, are still really vivid. We guesstimate there to be over 50 tapestries. 

See some of the border elements below.
Not even going to try and work out how many stitches. 
I'm going to say millions.

Each of these border elements are about 15" square.

After lunch it was time to visit a winery. Nothing to my taste in this area - mostly dry whites, though Rob found a very nice red. A couple of bottles to enjoy until the next wine shopping. After the tasting we did a scenic drive through the wine growing area - lots of small holdings up in the hills.  

Loved the patch on his eye. Called Pirate?

One of the chateaus we passed at one of the vineyards.