We started off the day with breakfast in the hostel's dining room. Very french, it consisted of nothing more than half a baguette each, a small sweet bread, jam, orange juice, and a bowl for coffee or tea. We're not in Kansas anymore.
Breakfast
The hostel's lobby
We had given ourselves enough time after breakfast to go buy groceries to bring with us on the hike to make a picnic lunch. Carl brought his own food, so Aleca and I split a thick loaf of "cereal" bread, slices of Gruyère cheese, turkey slices, two apples, and Aleca got a couple of Milka chocolate hazel nut bars for all of us. Once we had all of our groceries, we headed over to our meeting point with the tour guide and the rest of the group in front of the Bureau de Tourisme. Unfortunately, we held up the group a little bit because when Blandine (the tour guide) saw our boots she said that they wouldn't do and took us to a near buy store to rent some good ones for the day. But once we were all packed and in the car, there was nothing left to do but enjoy this fabulous day.
On our way out of the hostel
I see why people live here...
Beautiful.
Wow. This truly is a mountain town- the mountains are growing right on top of the town!
Cute, quaint Cauterets
Starting here, I have tons of pictures from up in the mountains, so I'm going to tell you about the rest of the day like a picture book. lol
On our way up into the mountains :)
You might recognize this place from some pictures back in January- on our way up the incredibly windy road to this parking lot, I suddenly realized that we were driving the exact same path that my family drove me up that day they took me hiking! We even parked in the exact same parking lot as back then. I thought I was going somewhere completely new today but we are actually in the same place that I came to with my family! I preferred this- being able to compare the mountains now to back in January was so cool.
Gettin' ready to go
XD
Snow shoes: check. Intense facial expressions: check and check ;)
I'm happy because I don't yet realize that Aleca is trying to kill me lol
SPC: I was here!
Once everyone had their snow shoes on and had used the restroom, we started the short trek to the base of our main path. It was a good practice run for getting used to the shoes. They weren't what I expected: you slide your foot onto this plastic platform, tighten the toe strap, buckle and synch a strap over your ankle, and then the actual shoe (the part that makes walking on snow easier) flaps loosely under your foot. You can clip it to the piece your foot is strapped in, but that is only recommended for walking through thick brush or shallow rivers so the shoe doesn't get stuck on anything. You might have guessed by now that trying to walk backwards with these on is not a good idea unless you really want to be laughed at when you fall on your butt.
We were greeted by this sign when we got to the foot of our main path. Something we chuckled at as we walked on by.
From here on it was gorgeous, perfect, untouched snow and glorious views for miles!
Hiking uphill, in snow, under sunlight really got our blood pumping and we all needed to take our jackets off
It was such a beautiful day :)
Our group! Blandine is the one in the beret of course
So lovely
Around this time, Blandine brought out a small tub of homemade quince and orange jelly. It was a big block that she then cut it into cubs, stuck them with a knife, and handed them out that way. It was actually very good
Us "Americans" were fondly grouped and photographed at every good picture spot :)
Wow.
=)
Holy moly
Now that's what I'm talking about! We had been seeing gorgeous nature all the way up here but we were also in thick forest area and the view was choked off. When we got to this spot and everything opened up, it was breathtaking.
SO breathtaking
Atta girl! ;)
Our group (don't you love Blandine's sunglasses tan?)
Umm, are you serious right now???
That has got to be some of the clearest water I have ever seen
Most of the hiking we did was through untouched snow so we left a lot of fresh paths. We were only on a designated trail for the first 20 minutes of the day and then we just wandered through nature in a general direction for the next few hours to find a good lunch spot.
Told you! Untouched.
Almost to the lake! I remember being in this area when it was green and brown with my host family in January :)
Carl was hired to carve some paths for us when the other guys were too exhausted by the task. As you can see, he was pretty good at it (where the heck did he go?)- it's probably his Navy experience
Finally made it to the lake, which I believe was actually a lake when I came here with my family. This is the Lac du Gaube
Time for lunch! The three of us found a bolder, climbed on top, and commenced to eating one of the greatest lunches of all time.
This is the life.
Blandine brought red wine to split between all of us :)
Just enjoying life!
=)
After our meal, Blandine also served us coffee and one of the other ladies in the group shared a homemade blueberry and quince cake. It was sooooo gooood!
After our meal, Blandine brought out a poem that has to do with this lake. It had just enough stanzas for each person in the group to read one, so it got passed around and Aleca, Carl, and I got to practice our pronunciation in front these incredibly friendly and generous French and Basque natives.
Loving life!
I remember liking this mountain for its grandiosity back in January. I had the same problem back then too: it just doesn't fit in my camera's lens
Time to start heading back. We had hiked for a good 3 hours to get to the lunch spot, spent at least an hour there, and were now a little behind schedule. Our bus back to Lourdes left at 5:55p and we still had to pick up our bags from the hostel. Not to mention, there was a great café that we passed by this morning advertising its hot wine and crêpes, and we had unanimously agreed that we needed to eat there after the hike.
Gorgeous.
Back to civilization!
Can't you just hear angels singing?
We finally made it back to the car, stripped off our shoes, chucked our poles in the back, and piled in. We somehow made it back to Cauterets just after 5p so we had plenty of time to send Carl to order snacks at the café and walk back to the hostel for our bags. First things first, though, we had to go return our shoes. When it was time to part with the group, we were each embraced and kissed on each cheek by every person in the group without hesitation. It made me kind of sad to think that I will probably never see any of these people again...
My legs were killing me by the time Aleca and I made it to the café (because we had jogged part of that) but I was thrilled to try the hot wine and have some Nutella crêpes. When we got inside, I was hit with the irony of the place: this is the EXACT SAME café where Lionel and Christine treated us to hot chocolates and chocolate crêpes in January. I can even point out which table we sat at and who sat in which chair. I even think that the three of us had the same waiter as my family and I did. You gotta be kidding me! =D
Hot wine tastes a lot like Sangria, and while it doesn't go great with Nutella crêpes, they were both spectacular in their own right.
On our way out, we passed right by our group who had just sat down to probably do the same thing we had just finished doing. You can see them just to the left of the main entrance.
Heading to the bus stop
Until next time beautiful Cauterets
On the bus, on our way to Lourdes
It was another beautiful bus ride and even prettier train ride back to Pau. We got in about 7:45p so it was too late for me to go to the store at that point. I was just keeping my fingers crossed that Christine had left me a note at home and that it was going to say something like, "help yourself to all of the food!" Aleca had decided that she was just going to eat at her place, shower, and then we could meet up. That ended up working out well because we actually got invited to meet up with some other USAC girls at a bar downtown. You might not believe it, but after all day hiking I actually went. Once at home, I hurried through a shower, got myself dressed and ready and realized there was no way I would make it at the time Aleca and I had planned. We texted back and forth a few times and eventually decided that she would go ahead of me to meet the girls because she lives so much closer to down town, and I would get there when I could. With that, I was able to read the note that Christine left me (which said that the two of us could help ourselves to everything in the fridge except the salad, that she had made up the guest bedroom for Aleca, to call if I had a single problem, and was signed "love") and enjoy my dinner. I had a lot of leftovers: the rest of the quiche cupcakes, the last slice of olive bread, bread with jam, and a yogurt. I closed all of the shutters in the house, turned the radio on to the classic music station and enjoyed the quiet time to myself.
When there were about 10 minutes left until my bus showed up, I put on my coat, locked the door, and headed out. I met up with Aleca in front of the bar and the two of us sat down with some drinks (we each had a Bailey's with milk) with all of the girls. Unfortunately, those girls were being too girly and were just kind of sitting there not wanting to talk much to anyone. And they all ended up leaving about 15 minutes later. Psh. Well, Aleca and I wanted to have fun so we stayed and hung out for a while. We moved downstairs at one point but we felt like we were in a little be of a fish tank (or a shark tank) so came back upstairs where it was quieter. Aleca also got in touch with Carl and him and some other guys ended up being just around the corner from us. We went outside to meet up with them and then we all came back in to hang out some more. Aleca has been here before so she ordered me the beer she has liked most so far. It was interesting because it tasted almost like beer and apple cider mixed together but it wasn't bad. About 20 minutes before the bar closed (1:40a) some other USAC guys showed up. When we all got kicked out, we were a group of at least 15 people just hanging out in the middle of the street laughing and joking around. We all got invited to a club around that time, but that was in the opposite direction that Aleca and I needed to walk in so we had to turn them down. About 3:15a (you gotta be kidding me), we started walking to my place. My calves and ankles were so sore from the hiking today and I actually had swollen rings around my ankles from the boots rubbing them funny, but someone we did it and we were in bed by 4:15a. Naturally, we were both very willing to sleep until whenever the next day.
We clean up nicely huh? ;)
Goodnight!
