Sunday April 22, 2018     Posting April 6 & 7 Lourdes to Pau

We looked around Lourdes again in the morning and Sue bought the proper container for the Holy Water we are bringing back.  We filled up our bottle and then we were next stop in Pao.  It was a short drive, and the museum and church were very close to the hotel.  I had never been able to confirm that our 1001 painting would be on display, so we just had to hope it would be there.  I’m writing this on the train without the internet, so I don’t have access the Google Photo Albums.  The commentary may be more disjointed than usual, hard to believe I know.

Our painting was on display at the museum: “The End of Madame Gardenia” by Jacques Monory.  It is a big piece, so they must not move it very often.  We saw a poster for a Tatoo Convention that was happening in Pau, so of course we had to check it out.  On our walk to the Convention Center a young lady stopped us from behind and asked if we were from the USA.  She had heard us talking, probably like we did on the Mallau Viaduct.  She is from Arizona and was in Pau for a semester (?) as part of her learning to speak French.  She missed speaking English to English speakers.  All the French students wanted to practice their English with her.  After our chat we made it to the center.  There was a line to buy tickets, and then an even longer line to get into the center.  We didn’t go in.   We probably wouldn’t have gone in anyway as there also was a concert, so it was probably expensive.  We got smart on the way back and took a bus.

What we did notice as we walked through the town center on Saturday was that the town was pretty dead.  Most shops were closed and there were not many people walking around.  We found the church and went to Mass, and then went back to the hotel to rest a bit before dinner.  There were two restaurants very close to the hotel.  The first one was closed and the second one was hosting a special dinner for an organization of 60+ people, so it was closed to us.  The owner directed us around the corner to a café that “might” be open.  It was open and we had an amazing meal.  We sat at a long table and the guy next to Sue had a plate that she wanted.  Sue may add a better description before I post this, but here is mine.  You picked the kind of meat/steak, the type of sauce and the sides you wanted.  I had a steak and I don’t remember the sauce, except that it was delicious.  There were way too many potatoes, but it was all delicious, and of course there was beer.  Pau is decent size city, but you could have shot a cannon down the street and not hit anyone.

 Lourdes