Yup so well technically this is more of a france wrap up (for now) then a spainish one but we call all deal with it. So it has been a lil while, long while for the weak hearted. Well that afternoon after booking the overnight train i decided to hit up some walking and just kinda looking around rather then try to actually do another museum or whatnot. Now this was really due to two reasons; first being that i didnt want to spend too much more money in the bloodsucking town and it was bastille day so nothing of that sort was open to even go to. There definatly were a few things i wish i had time for including but not limited to a bike tour around the city, monet museum, versiallies, and i am sure more. Paris had a ton to offer but i didnt want to spend all of two months there. I also wish i had known about the museum pass. A three day pass is about 35 dollars and i prolly spent a lil less then that on such museums but ti woulda given me more flexiblity. I could go in and if i wasnt feeling it (ie the louve that day) i coulda left and come back another time. Also the museum for the arc de triumph that was insanly expensive i woulda been able to do. We live and learn. Post this entry i am gonna head to barcelona's tourist office to be make sure i get in the know before venturing out too much. Like this internet i get it for a week for free, after i pd 10 dollars so not really free, unlimited would be the word i was looking for. Maybe i can sell it for 5 bucks or something after my stint and have gotten a lot of internet for a little money. Cause it is expensive per hr. Anyway back on topic. So i walked around and found severial little parks dog free that were nice to chill in and read a bit. Then i figured i should try to find festivities for cause ti was this huge holiday. For those not in the know it is kinda like their indipendance day but it happen in the day of the king where the people protested and it was kinda the turning point at which it was clear the power was in the people and no long in the king. So bastille day i figure i should head to bastillie metro stop and monument. Well was i freakin wrong. One would expect some festivities here but notta. In fact the only things happening all over paris from what i could find was people walking all over cause no one has to work and they shop. They eat and shop and then at 1030 because france is so late getting dark they have fireworks. Well i really needed to hit my train at 1000ish to get my bags out of the hard core security lockdown and get a good seat on the train. So no festivities for me, and shopping would be anti conserve money so just lots of walking. Which was cool cause i had not actually walked down the champs elysee. Well yeh ritzy as hell but cool to see. In fact as i passed this enormous huge grand the place to be perfume store i had to laugh. It wa clear that was prolly the place to go to buy that kinda stuff if you are anyone. I went so far as to take a pic cause i thought it would be funny to tell this girl i know ;-) ......so continued on and i got hungry doing so much walking, litterally 3 hrs of straight walking wandering and just being curieux about everything so i ate another one of those great wraps and a small slice o pizza. Oh yeh so in the above mentioned train storage insanity it was so hard core. Like had to go through metal detectors and searched and such then i could store it for the low price of 6 euros. But technically i guess you can leave it there for monthes according to the guy running the deal (though the signs said 72hrs) so the high price then becomes slightly more worth it. But yeh so my critique is if there is dangerous things in my bag i can at anypoint in time walk on the train stash it and leave without getting checked, but to leave it in the station it gets the full airport deal. Seemed like a waste of manpower but the guy was cool so he deseved the job i suppose. So after the champs i hit the seine. I dont know how to describe it but it is just a relaxing. It is all cobblestone and set down near the riverlevel. In fact an hr of that wandering included the seine. It is long and not that packed especially considering it was bastillie day and it would be perfect veiwing of the fireworks. Watching the cute couples and the dog walkers and the families was just cool to see. Well the watch was getting late and the crowds were arriving to see the fireworks so it became my que to leave. I made it to the station in good time grabbed the bag and found a perfect spot on the train. Got a seat facing the 'right'way and at the end so it had slightly more feet room. Further more no one in front me putting their seat back but that wouldnt be an issue cause the train wasnt to packed. I read for about 2 hrs and then had a pretty decent nigth sleep considering it was basically a low end recliner and on a train that stopped on occasion and such. Busted out the sleeping bag as a blanket and the great red fleece i seem to be wearing in every picture as a pillow.

Well then i was in toulouse and it was early. 7am in fact. So with limited stores open i grabbed a crossant and found a nice little bench to read, more.....so i had two issues i needed to figure out. First was that i needed a lock. I would be heading to sketchier areas and really need one cause the one i had bought in london broke. Well i also needed internet to research where the tour de france was going and how to get there. So in needing all this i thought i found internet from the looks of the outside of the door but it ended up being a lock smith as i walked in. Really weird cause i needed such as well. They only had really nice locks for 8 euros and up. But it would work so i got it not wanting to waste time searching other places. Then as i walked i found a bookstore with insane amounts of maps. Now i was finishing france (again for now) and so it was rough to need a map but i figured if i wanted to figure out the tour i would need one. And for 3,20 it was a perfect price. So map in hand i found an open internet cafe at the early hr. Most seemed to open around 10 and it was 9. Well post a bit of searching the largest town that seemed to match the train map was lannemezan. Good enough for me. Well the coolest thing because the night train was after 7pm it counts on the next days railpass meaning i could use the trains for free this day. I was psyched and planned to take full advantage. Found a train right into lannemezan and another 20 saved so i was doing great. So though i did not tour toulouse i didnt think i was missing too much and i needed to see the tour before it started heading places that were not convient. Well i had a hr and half to pass time which was enough to eat but not so much i coulda done anything productive so i ate at the train station. Being a nice day and not being used to such i definatly wanted to eat outside. So i bought the meal and sat outside outside of a "quick." It was essentially a french macdonalds. Well i am sitting eatting and looking over my map and there are a few people around me doing the same a table near me fills up with some of the works of the establishment i was eatting at. Now it was clear these seats were for the quick but the store i had got the sandwish had no seating. So i am sitting there eating and not really worried cause it is like 10am and there are plenty of empty tables. Well the lady notices me not eating their quality food and comes over asking me to leave. I wanted to play dumb and i wanted to point to the two people near me who were not eating anything and just using it as a sitting area but i didnt. I packed up my goodies and went to find a new seat somewhere. Well the food area was far away from the seating area for those waiting for trains, and i had food i needed to eat. Well not wanting to walk and eat aquardly i did something kinda imature but i made me laugh and solved evryones problem. I went to this fine "quick" and looked at the menu finding the lowest number possible. 1,30 for a yogart. Good enough one of them please and i took it back to my seat placed my tray down and reclaimed my space. I was just frustrated with the lady and didnt even look at her or her recation to my little maneuvor. Finished my sandwich and then waited out the remaining time as i milked eating this little cup of yogart. It was just anoying that the others could sit there, it wasnt busy, and she had to do what came off to me as a power tipish kinda things cause she did it in front of her friends she was sitting with. Whom coinsidently worked at the place i bought my sandwich from. Ah whatever. So did that then got on the train. Short ride of reading and i was in the smallest town of france. Not really but you can always tell the town size by the train station and this town was small. Now it was 230 and i could try to figure out how to get to le mangie where the race ended the following day or i could make acomodations. I decided i should base myself out of lannemazen cause the tour was definatly coming to the town on the following day and it was not in the pyrnennes which would be cold if i nighted it there in a tent most likly. Well i helped this older lady carry her bags under the station to the outside and then asked if she lived in the town hoping i could get some info as to where to stay. She spoke no english but was really appreciative of the helping had so was trying really hard to explain she wasnt from the town or knew of anywhere to stay. But she pointed to the hotel accross the street and i thought yeh i should see if they know. I went across the street and their rooms wee only 20 a night. A small little family run deal. In fact their family dining room was attatched to the reception area and they were all sitting down and snacking away. Not bad i might even do that. No shower or toilet but i dont get that with camping either if i am on the side of some road. Then i asked about campgrounds. After the family conversed a bit the son came and said to come with him. I thought he was pointing me in the right direction but he rbrings me to thier back yard. And he asks how is this. I ask how much and he says free. Well that was just not what i was expecting cause they are a hotel. It is their thing to make money. But hey i wasnt gonna fight em so i said sure thing. After thanking the parents i went to find out about getting to mongie and a grocery store. At the train station trying to get info from the guy was impossible cause my french wasnt doing it and he had no english working. That and he wasnt tryin to be very helpful. So eh but basically there was no train no bus no nothing to get to mongie due to the tour. He made it seem like they were not running because they didnt want tourists which seemed weird cause that is why it is is such a great thing for towns to get the tourism. Well then i went to find a grocery store and find out about when the tour came into the current town i was in. I stopped at a little souveneer shop and the lady made a photo copy of the pamphlet for me. Not for free but it had what i needed on it....i think it was in french. Well i got some groceries and went back tot he hotel where they have a huge area to sit and a small bar. In looking at the flier it seemed the tour was hitting this town twice. I was really confused and asked a biker that was also following the tour and he explained that yeh it was going through this town tom as well as starting in the town on the next day. Well that was great no need to go to mongie. So with everything solved i tried to patronize the bar a bit but they had limited selection. For food it was ham on a roll or cheese on a roll. Then they had the ussual bar stuff. Not expensive which was a nice change. So i went with their makesift dinner and a drink and read a lot more. Note the pattern of reading forming. Went to bed and had a great night sleep and got up all ready for the tour. Though it didnt come through til 3ish....Well i could maybe find something to do. I went to the train station and washed my clothes in the sink as i didnt want to ask to use anything else at the hotel. Made a makeshift clothesline near my tent and i would have clean clothes in time enough. Then into town as i thought i should scope out what lennimezen had to offer. It has nothing. It is a tourist town but more of a basecamp for the pyrenees. Prolly much more so in winter ski season. Right now it had some extended day trips into the mountain but all pretty pricy and i nothing i could fit in between the tour. So then i found what i thought was the ambulance. Well no it definatly was and i was reluctant to go in. I just had this horrible thought of going in and having it be like campion and a vinny like guy there all stressed out cause the tour was nearing and dealing with crap and it scared me. Or worse yet a joe gadamski or fred rosa. eek. Well all was well cause no one was there. Apparently they were too busy to be stressed at base. So i made my way following a hospital sign thinking maybe i could visit one of them. Yeh once i followed it for 3km and nothing showing then seeing the sign that has lannemazan with a cross through it saying your leaving town i gave up and headed back. Hit the grocery store for cold things for lunch. The PB and honey way not doin it. Then i found a nice little spot of shade along the tour route that would be great. Sat down on the sidewalk and ate lunch. Well then i had more time to kill. I was thinking i needed to line up early. Not so much. I read and finally just before the carrovan of sponsers passes 2 hrs prior to the races people started coming out. But as i was sitting there reading every person that passed said hi, or bon appitte. It was just so friendly and nice. Well as i sat and read the sun moved so much that my prime shade spot was now prime sun. So i had to move across the street. But there was a nice older couple there and we chatted the whole time about the niffty little trinkets the caravan tosses out. Good times. Yeh there caravan is like 200 cars long of all these parade looking vehicals that the sponsers use to make their name known. Everyone else just tries ot get the free stuff. You know the drill kinda like going to a convention. Well i had no clue it would be so long or how much junk i would accumulate. Some of it cool but i gave a lot to the older couple tryin to think about the weight. I kept a select few items that will make for good memories and light on the feet. Well the free goodies ended and another hr before the racers come through. So back to the book. Lots of cars passed all looking officaial and it was insane how many cars and such that are involved and what goes into this thing. Like this whole town gets closed off streets cleaned specially. According tot he canadian that helped me out the night before it is really a huge political thing. That they put in bids to get the tour to pass through the town that yr as it is not the same each yr. They say oh well we will provide the tour with this this and this....the only example he could come up with was to clean the roads, cut the hedges, but i would imagine police enforcement as well as complimentary things...maybe housing for the racers or breakfast and such. Well yeh it means a lot to the towns whch makes sense cause their little city gets on the map and on wolrdwide television. Just gets depressing as yet again the politcal games run our lives and everythin in it. I read matt nathansons newest post about bush tryint to move the election. WHAT. I need to stay up on us news. Well anyway so yeh the race goes by and they are all in one huge pack going like 20mph prolly and it is over in about 20 seconds. So it was kinda depressing and i was wishing they had been spanned over maybe 2 minutes but not so much. I tried for some pics but nearly missed them passing in doing so. Well it was good cause a thunderstorm had clearly been approaching for about an hr so i needed to ge the clothes off the line. Hummm sounds like i am old......haha sorry. Oh actually i was wondering as the birds were soaring high in the am and i was stringing the line up do they go doodoo on your clothes ever. I mean how often does that happen to those who use clotheslines (laurie?). Well at this point i was hoping the rain would hold just 2 more minute til i returned and i thad started to sprinkle. I made it just about in time and they were basically dry from the days sun that far. Well then it was time to.....yup read more....now apparently post storm there was a little festival in town i didnt know about. I didn tfind out til after reading and heading to bed around 10. Oh yeh i had asked for another nights camping and they were totally cool about it. IN fact there were 3 more tents set up when i returned so this might not have been as rare as i thought. Well it was too late then and i was beat from reading too much. But i guess it wasnt that huge and was just lots of pricy food. So i wasnt too upset but still. The next day i needed to wake up early for the start and wanted a good place. The start was downtown so i knew it would e crowded but i had no idea. Well i woke around 8 or so and went to get some water and a juice and in asking for water in my nalgene i got a funny look. It dawned on me that this was europe and they do the bottle thing even though tap is fine. Well it was too late to say forget it as they were all tryin to figure out what i wanted at the bar. Well then this alaska native ame up and said yeh they ussually do water by bottles. He got the message across and i was grateful to be over with it and figured i would chat with him for a minute. Well he looked pretty sketchy. I dont know how to describe it. Kinda like an axe murderer maybe. Just looked sketchy. Well i talking with him he is one of the people that you cannot get a word in edgewise. Just when you think the conversation is winding down he had another comment and there was no escaping. And he was funny cause he was complain about how he drives 200 miles a week. 200 i drive 300 and i am a student working part time. IN continuing talking he talked all about evrything, his job, his trip, his camping, his everything. I wanted out and finally had to make my point known i was leaving. It took him a few minutes of more talking to accept this but i wasnt gonna miss the tour and a good seat for my axe wielding friend. After escaping i made it into town and it was packed. It had prolly been packed since 6am for the number of people. Nothing like the day before. Well they had barriers everywhere. So much so that i had no clue where the guys started or went or anything. Well i found a good place that was fairly close to the podium whee they sign the paperwork and announce the racers that day. As the caravan went by they threw nothing. Leading me to believe i was in the wring spot. BUt there were so many people lined up there how could it be. The tour buses came through and there was so much CO2 being released by this tour it is not funny. And for an enviromentally riendly sport...ironic. Well as race time approached the people got on their best. And by best i mean people suck sometimes. I had gotten thier decently early to get a good spot and then people come in and push in between, kinda like those at the concert who make their way to the front once the headlining band comes out. Angers me. Cause i am not a conflict guy and would never say anything. The part that was anoying is that for many we are all on vacation but get all selfish about. It is our time and we cannot think about others. Anoying. So no knowing if i was in the right spot and with my BP increasing i needed to leave. I was gonna go somewhere else with less people. I couldnt see the actual start where i was anyway so i might has well have moved. Down the road about 200 meters it thinned out nicely and i could breath again and had a great view. I even double check the route with one of the team cars that was parked. Sadly i dont even know what team. But he told me all about the tour. Liek the day before lance had almost gotten 1st but the other guy won it. Well he said that lance didnt go for the win caue that guys grandmother just went into the hospital so it was a curecy thing and he would ahve to deal with the reporters and the drug questions. Once again the politics, i was so happy to hear this, or not. Then he took off and the race began and i got to see em all go by. Some not even ready to get yet still staping up. It is intresting cause each day is a race but you have to do this for 3 weeks. Insane. So yeh after that i made it back and packed up my goodies in preparedness to going to spain. I needed to make sure i didnt have to wait another day in the town. That was because i had finished the 592 page divinchi code in about 48 hrs. Partly cause it was really good in the sense it kept you reading. It always eneded chapters at cliffhangers and you felt like you had to keep going. But it wa anoying cause it was essentially a perfect ending to a crazy little story. It had potential to have some great twists but eveything worked out. And it happens over about a day so some of the timeing doesnt seem like it would line up. I am tempted to read it again just to critique it more. He also does an imense job of adding in some factual history which is intresting but at the same time he didnt always weave it in very good and it would go from being really exciting to really dry. It also anoyed me cause you dont think at all. Teh book handed it all to you. There was no thinking involved just turning pages. Contrary to other books that have pink covers where you read a 8 page sotry 10 times and still dont understand it. I need some sort of in between. So that is book club. Umm but then i packe dup and on the way out bumped into an english speaking group. An older couple from californa i believe and a mid twenties couple from new zealand. They were doing a little lunch outside and talking and such. I wished i wasnt leaving but i needed to check the trains. The new zealanders were goign to spain but kinda the other way i had in mind so i needed to check the schedual. Well i get to the train and it is closed. Lunch time. I cannot really figure outt he crazy map of times and today was messed up anyway due to the tour. Well there was a bunch of looking college people there in a group goign to the san sabastian area. They knew no french and as one of the attendants left for lunch i helped them get a bit of info out of him using my madd french skills. More cuase they were being kinda rude and mad at him for taking lunch and not knowing english which was more why i jumped in to solve the fairly simple miscomunication. They invited me to stay with them and told me it was a great time and i could party with em. Well that made it easy, the guide said both barecelona (where the NZ were goign toward) and san sebastian were really touristy and busy but they said barcelona was not to be missed. And if these fine folk were more of what i could expect in san sabastian, barcelona was the easy choice. And the NZ couple seemed nice and i could follow their route and maybe chat a bit on the way. So i went back for lunch with em and the california guy was so nice. He was stuffing food and wine into everyones mouth. Thne dennis the guy from alaska came over. He was still an intresting character and we all noted it. He even let me help him roll up his tent and things. But the lunch deal was nice to pass the time. Then the goal seemed to be to see the tour on TV. Well there was none in the sitting area at the bar hotel deal but the owner brought one in for us and set it up so we could all see it. Ben (NZ, funny huh) let me borrow his ticket and i got a train that would follow toward barcelona. Wathced the race and then we were off to make the train. At the momment i dont want to type anymore and that concludes lannemezan so i will pick up in a bit or a long bit or something for more. For now i have a few chores to take care of. Liek finding my hostel, planning touring this city tom, planning the next week if i can, etc etc.....also the photo is of the alps but i was near mountains.....it looked nothing like those bit i was near mountains......til then benjamin