Keeping Cool

Things have been heating up here the last few days, and keeping Aimy cool has been a priority. Fortunately she drinks water like a champion so no need to worry too much about that. She also loves bath time and her bath tub, so we thought we'd experiment and give her some cool play time in her tub outside to cool off. Proof that she loved it? See below.

(As a side note, I think Carlos and I had more fun with the toys than she did... and I'm happy to say that her new swim diaper passed the test. No disposable swim diapers for this family!)

This is all for me?!

The squirting toys were super fun.

Caught one!

Those darn teeth... chewing on everything

Super relaxed. How can you tell? Feet in the air.

Best bath ever!

The Tour de France

Carlos and I are both Tour de France followers and when we found out that the Tour was coming to Pau this year we knew we couldn't miss it. So, on Monday the 16th, we got together with Carlos's mom, our sister-in-law, and our niece and nephew, and drove to a spot about 3.4km before the finish line.

Amazingly, she slept through a lot of the honking and cheering

Awake and playing with her toys

Though the riders weren't due to arrive until around 5pm, we went there much earlier. As part of the Tour, there is a "caravan" starting about an hour and a half before the cyclists go through, and in it each of the sponsors of the Tour has a few cars that give out free stuff to the crowd. Since we had two young kids with us (7 and 6) we couldn't possibly miss the caravan. It was pretty fun to watch the special cars go by, and the kids were beside themselves with joy at all the cool things they caught. At first, though, people were nuts when the cars went by. A few teenage boys next to us kept running in front of the kids and grabbing things that had fallen at their feet... very rude. Fortunately, a lot of the next cars went slow enough to see that we had little kids, and threw more items in our direction.

Some of the photos of the caravan:

Very cool decor on some of the vehicles! This one is for the store that sponsors the 'Best Climber' jersey.

Wearing my "Best Climber" hat

                                             

Aimy had a "Best Climber" hat too!

Just after 5, the escape group flew past us. There were two that had gotten a bit ahead and they ended up sprinting for the finish, with a Frenchman coming out on top. The second group had one of my favourite cyclists in it, Thomas Voeckler, but they were going so fast that Carlos was unable to get a picture. But when the peloton came by 10 minutes later, Carlos snapped a great one of the yellow jersey going past.

Here they come!

And there they go!

The peloton, with the yellow jersey in the middle.

They really sped by!

The racers were going so fast we barely had time to register that they were right in front of us before they were gone again. Carlos didn't see the yellow jersey at all and I missed the best climber and best sprinters. But we still had a great time! Next time we go, though, I'd love to see a mountain stage and really be able to see the racers up close... maybe next year.

Hike in the Pyrénées

We left at 8:30 on Sunday morning from a drizzly Lescar and arrived an hour and a half later at 1700m in the sunny Pyrénées, which is unusual. Usually it's the other way around - rain in the mountains, sun in the valley. We were lucky to have sunny conditions the whole time we were in the mountains.

All bundled up and ready to go!

Our hiking path as seen from the road. Check out those switchbacks!

We hiked for about 3 hours in the Pyrénée National Park, and climbed 350m in the first hour of our hike. It was a bit challenging but we had beautiful views the whole way up. Our destination, the Pombie Refuge, sits at the foot of the Pic du Midi d'Ossau, a volcanic caldera from the formation of the mountain chain. It is also the emblem of Pau and is visible from the city's Pyrénée Boulevard. The first part of our hike had us passing herds of cows and sheep that pasture in the mountains during the summer.

Cows and sheep in the pasture

Looking back at what we had climbed so far - about halfway up.

Our car is waaaaay down there!

Looking at the hawk circling overhead. Photo also gives good impression of the steep climb

At the highest point! Looking at the Pic du Midi d'Ossau

We made it!

Lake at the base of the peak

The Refuge. Lots of other hikers there that day.

Aimy was snug in her backpack and comfortable enough to sleep most of the way up and half of the way down. We had lunch and fed her at the refuge, and though she seemed to be a bit cold when we were directly in the wind, she was happy for the rest of the trip - we could hear lots of babbling when she was awake. The backpack has been fantastic and I can't wait for us to use it again.

Yummy backpack

Lunch at the refuge!

And since we were right by the Spanish border, we made a quick hop into Spain just to say that we did! All in all, it was a nice trip.


More to come about the Tour de France!

Visit to Pau

We visited Carlos's family earlier in the month and I'm just now getting around to putting up the photos. We stayed for an extended weekend, which included a historical 14 juillet walk, hike in the Pyrénées, and an afternoon waiting for the Tour de France.

On the way there we had thought we would go renew my resident card but we arrived too late... not easy to get out of the door in time with a baby. So instead we took our time on the road and stopped for lunch. Aimy was a champ eating outdoor for the first time, though I think having her high chair helped.

Om nom nom!

Aimy was a bit hesitant at first but she warmed up quite quickly to her paternal family, especially to her cousins. What she didn't warm up to was sleeping in the travel bed. That made it a bit difficult for Carlos and I. Fortunately when we got back home she snapped right back to napping well and sleeping through the night.

On Saturday we went for a walk through the centre of Lescar, the city where Carlos's parents live. It is the site of a Roman city called Beneharnum that was founded in the 3rd century, and some of the medieval ramparts that exist today were built on the base of the original Roman fortifications.

12th century cathedral.

Different layers of bricks after additions/repairs to the cathedral

Fortification tower in the background.

Fortifications.

Stone sarcophagi, now cleverly turned into planters. 

Roman/Medieval wall

From another angle with medieval window

Roman fountain

Path down to the Roman fountain

While we were walking through the city we noticed a parade of people, and realized that the city hard organized a ceremony at the war memorial for the 14th of July/Bastille Day. We stopped to watch and took some photos, and though the police began to take down the flags, as soon as they saw that I was taking pictures, they put everything back up again... very sweet.

Putting away the flags...

...then back in place!

More about the rest of our trip in further entries.