Day 13
Woke up to dogs annoyingly barking in the valley below, but bright sunshine. Had 2 croissants and coffee for breakfast. Kristen just got up. Jill’s ironing as usual.
Left about 9:30 ,headed south at Axat into the mountains. Beautiful mountain road beside the River Aude (the beginnings of it). Passing a few towns but mostly driving through the shaded valley.
At the top you reach a wide plain and you’re near the top of the Pyrenees. Great views all around but a little hazy. The plan was to catch “Le Petit Train Jaune” (Little Yellow train) for a breathtaking ride. But once we got to the top we realized we would not make the 11:15 train from Villefranche.
So we consulted the schedule I had printed out from the internet and determined we could get a 2:30 train from Romeau / Odello going the opposite way.
So we walked around Font Romeau, a purpose-built ski town from the 1920’s (?) Judging from the number of A Vendre (For Sale) signs, it looks like there may be a bit of a depression in local real estate. But the town’s nice enough.
Had a leisurely lunch of salad and wood fired oven pizzas outside in perfect weather. Left around 1:30 and found the little train station about 3 km downhill.
One problem – the trains listed for the afternoon on my internet schedule did not appear on the door of the (closed for lunch) station. After consulting the schedule I had picked up in the tourist info office, we realized the train was not going to come.
This was depressing, as I did not want to spend another day driving. But we had no choice, so we headed back approximately along the train route, going downhill past Mont Louis for about 10-20 miles. But it was not very relaxing for the driver. So we headed back up the (steep) mountain after catching a glimpse of the train, viaducts, etc.
(We had stopping in Mont Louis earlier – before lunch – walked around, let Kristen go on the playset near the Commando Training Center.
So we went to Plan B, which was to visit the Parc Animalier in Les Angles. It was a nice park, the animals having many acres per species to roam around in. It was a pleasant hike – 1 ½ miles – and we saw deer, elk, bison, bear, wolf, etc. Kristen liked it and got a stuffed chipmunk. (Ed. Note: There was a comical moment when Kristen wanted to know if the wolves were going to huff and puff and blow the wooden observation hut down.)
Then back home for a dip in the pool, a cigar, and the bottle of Blanquette de Limoux the owner left for us (the local Champagne). Followed by dinner at Le Pierre Lys - Jill – salad, steak, citron vert sorbet. Dave – salad, langoustines (like a small lobster), cassoulet, and apple tart.
Day 14 >>>
Left about 9:30 ,headed south at Axat into the mountains. Beautiful mountain road beside the River Aude (the beginnings of it). Passing a few towns but mostly driving through the shaded valley.
At the top you reach a wide plain and you’re near the top of the Pyrenees. Great views all around but a little hazy. The plan was to catch “Le Petit Train Jaune” (Little Yellow train) for a breathtaking ride. But once we got to the top we realized we would not make the 11:15 train from Villefranche.
So we consulted the schedule I had printed out from the internet and determined we could get a 2:30 train from Romeau / Odello going the opposite way.
So we walked around Font Romeau, a purpose-built ski town from the 1920’s (?) Judging from the number of A Vendre (For Sale) signs, it looks like there may be a bit of a depression in local real estate. But the town’s nice enough.
Had a leisurely lunch of salad and wood fired oven pizzas outside in perfect weather. Left around 1:30 and found the little train station about 3 km downhill.
One problem – the trains listed for the afternoon on my internet schedule did not appear on the door of the (closed for lunch) station. After consulting the schedule I had picked up in the tourist info office, we realized the train was not going to come.
This was depressing, as I did not want to spend another day driving. But we had no choice, so we headed back approximately along the train route, going downhill past Mont Louis for about 10-20 miles. But it was not very relaxing for the driver. So we headed back up the (steep) mountain after catching a glimpse of the train, viaducts, etc.
(We had stopping in Mont Louis earlier – before lunch – walked around, let Kristen go on the playset near the Commando Training Center.
So we went to Plan B, which was to visit the Parc Animalier in Les Angles. It was a nice park, the animals having many acres per species to roam around in. It was a pleasant hike – 1 ½ miles – and we saw deer, elk, bison, bear, wolf, etc. Kristen liked it and got a stuffed chipmunk. (Ed. Note: There was a comical moment when Kristen wanted to know if the wolves were going to huff and puff and blow the wooden observation hut down.)
Then back home for a dip in the pool, a cigar, and the bottle of Blanquette de Limoux the owner left for us (the local Champagne). Followed by dinner at Le Pierre Lys - Jill – salad, steak, citron vert sorbet. Dave – salad, langoustines (like a small lobster), cassoulet, and apple tart.
Day 14 >>>
