The Tour de France rode today from Pamiers to Bagneres-de-Luchon, but a few of us, with three days of hard riding in our legs, decided that Carcassonne was too lovely to leave quite so soon. Although the rest of our group left early in the morning for a long ride up to the Port de Bales, eight of us stayed behind and spent the morning wandering around the medieval walled city, doing all the exploring and shopping that could be done in three hours (which is just about the right amount of time). We had lunch in a delightful square that was filled with tables and umbrellas for several cafés, enjoying some wonderful sangria, cassoulet and paella, before leaving at about 2:00 p.m. for the three-hour drive to Lourdes. We got to Lourdes well before the rest of the group, so we had a couple of hours before dinner to look around a bit. We ended up at a café along the river, where we enjoyed some beers and chips in the setting sun, then went back to the hotel for dinner with the rest of the group.
Lourdes is a most interesting city. I don't think that I've ever seen a tourist city as busy; even Paris and London in the summer aren't like this. The streets are literally choked with thousands upon thousands of people, and the shops consist of one little storefront after another selling nothing but religious souvenirs. Wandering around are innumerable nurses (or perhaps they're also nuns), in old-fashioned white uniforms, and hundreds of other medical people of all nationalities.
Just before dinner, a nearly endless procession of wheelchairs, each pushed by a nurse or nun, glided silently down the street beside the hotel, where a specially marked lane for wheelchairs ran between the street and the sidewalk. After supper, the same procession was passing back in the opposite direction, presumably having been at an evening mass by the Grotto, which is no more than a few hundred yards from the hotel.
A few of us walked down to the Grotto after dinner. At 10:30 p.m., there were tens of thousands of people streaming up and down the long walkway to a big church, the Rosary Basilica, behind which we found the grotto where the Virgin Mary is said to have appeared to Bernadette Soubirous in 1858. Again, thousands of people were outside, yet it was absolutely silent. We got fairly close to the Grotto, where a long line of people passed inside, most of them touching the walls of the grotto as they passed by. It was curiously moving. 
David,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the great blog..sounds wonderful!! Got a question.....I was watching the Tour de France today(yes, you have me hooked) when Schleck had the mechanical problems with his bike and Contador was able to take the lead. There appears to be mixed opinions about Contador taking advantage of Schleck's misfortune to take the yellow jersey. How do you feel about it?
Mickey
PS thanks for the book....can't put it down.
July 20 (Telegraph) -- Alberto Contador, who took the yellow jersey from his friend Andy Schleck in acrimonious circumstances on Monday after taking advantage of the latter's mechanical problems, has posted a YouTube interview apologising for his actions.
ReplyDeleteThe Astana rider was visibly shaken at the torrent of post race criticism when he tried to defend his actions and after considering the matter further has decided that he made an error
of judgement in the heat of battle and has offered an olive branch to his great rival.
Contador posted his apology in an interview in Spanish at the Astana team hotel last night: “Today I managed to get on the
podium, which makes me happy. The problem with that was the circumstances,” said Contador. “Right when I attacked Andy had a mechanical on the last climb. The race was in full gear and,
well, maybe I made a mistake, I'm sorry.
“At a time like that all you think about is riding as fast as you can,” he continued. “I'm not happy, in the sense that, to me, fair play is very important. Just like I did in the Spa stage, when both Andy and Fränk were behind the pack, I didn't hesitate to stop the bunch so that they could catch up.
“Many people criticised me for doing that, especially after the stage on the cobbles, when the crash happened and the whole bunch split as a result, and it allowed Andy to take time on me, but I always settle it by saying I'd do it again. The kind of thing that happened today is not something I like, it's not my style and I hope my relationship with Andy will remain as good as before.”
The Tour organisers, although mindful that such a controversy and 'falling out' among friends only adds to the epic "story" of the 2010 Tour are also hoping the two superstars of
modern road cycling will make up publicly at the start line of today's massive mountain stage from Luchon to Pau.
Contador, now in yellow, and second placed Schleck, now reduced to wearing the white jersey of the U25 leader, are obliged to appear at the front rank of the peloton at the start
line for a daily photo along with the wearers of the green jersey (points competition) and the polka dotted jersey (Mountains competition)
Contador now leads Schleck by eight seconds with two mountain stages left for Schleck to try and regain the yellow jersey and establish a lead ahead of Saturday's time-trial when Contador would expect to beat his opponent by anything between one or two minutes.