Pau and Bordeaux

After my day touring the HC climbs in the Pyrenees, I stayed in Pau, where we've seen several Tour stages finish over the years. I think Phil Liggett always talks about the "nasty little climb" into the town. Indeed, there is a really steep road into town that would be incredibly hard to ascend after a long long long day riding across Bordeaux.

Pau's a really sweet little town, lots of twisty, narrow pedestrian streets, a beautiful Chateau, flowers everywhere. There are also lots of plaques memorializing Portuguese, Spanish Resistance, and American fighters who died in WWI, fighting and dying for France. It was the first time the *fact* of the German occupation of France and almost all of the rest of Europe hit home.

My hotel sits on the Place du Garamond, in the heart of the city. My room had a little balcony overlooking the square, and across the way, a really good singer/guitarist (American) and a bassist sang and played for almost hours at an outdoor cafe. I sat on my balcony, listened to the show, ate my peanut butter, crackers, and banana dinner, and drank a beer.

I took small roads from Pau to Bordeaux, winding through tiny villages, all with their own characters, rivers, flowers, and festivals. A nice, relaxing day.