Day 99: Tarbes-The Sky, France

The mountains out my window looked beautiful this morning.  Good Omen.

So today was possibly the most memorable day of this entire trip.  It was absolutely amazing. Yesterday, Lauris asked me if I wanted to go fly with some guy in a plane over the Pyrenees.  Having no other information, I said yes.  Basically, this guy, Roman, posted in the couch surfing (if you don't know about this: www.google.com) group about discount flying times.  He is an aspiring pilot who needs to log more hours of flight time, but that is expensive, so he proposed that we split the cost of the plane rental, and he flies us around.  This came out to 45€ for us.  Normally these scenic flights are 160€ an hour!

This morning, I met Lauris and Becca at the train station, where we missed our 11h17 train.  We then had almost two hours to the next train, so we went into Pau for lunch.  I had this salmon pasta that was absolutely incredible.  It was basically Noodle & Co. Mac & Cheese with smoked salmon.  SO GOOD.  We then headed back to the gare for our train.

Where are the people?

They probably decided that since today was the day that every train time table in all of France completely changed, they had better hide out somewhere.  This is probably the only thing I don't like about France.  Nobody tells you anything.  Ever.

Here are Becca and Lauris on the train to Tarbes.

When we arrived in Tarbes(about 45 minutes south and west of Pau), Roman picked us up and drove us to the airport.  Roman flies a pretty small plane(just two seats), and I think Becca and Lauris were just a bit nervous, because I got volun-told to go first.  This turned out to be really great, because it got cloudy towards the end of my hour flight.  And for another reason.  Anyway, here are some pictures:

Mountains.

Mountains.

This is the Col du Tourmalet, one of the premier climbs in the Tour de France.

Pic du Midi Bigorre, one of the tallest peaks in the area, with an observatory on top.  It sits just above the Col du Tourmalet.

Mountains.

Other Tour de France summit.  I forgot the name. :(

Here come the clouds.

Roman, hard at work.

Fin.

Our plane.

My new plane.

 That's right.  New plane.  Because it was getting so cloudy, and the sun was going to sleep, Roman decided there was not enough time for two more flights.  So, he got his friend, who's name I forgot, who flies this other plane, to help.  Roman took Becca, up, and this guy took Lauris up.  However, since this plane holds more people, I got to go up again! It was amazing, and an entirely different experience with the clouds.

The French Air Force.

Me.

Lauris, looking out the window.

Hills.

Becca and Roman.

Clouds coming over the mountains as the sun sets.

Clouds and Mountains.

Clouds, mountains, Becca, and Roman.

Clouds and Mountains.

Each flight lasted almost exactly an hour, and was really, really incredible.  It was absolutely breathtaking, seeing these amazing views.  It was a really incredible experience.

After they finished parking their planes, we went to The Big Ben, in la centre ville de Tarbes, for a beer.  We sat and talked for probably an hour, and had a great time.  I had a cool moment here where I realized I was conversing in French and not really thinking about it.  It made me happy.   It was really cool getting to meet some new people.  This is why Couch Surfing is so great.  

Here is a neat fountain in the town center.

After our beer, we decided to get some dinner.  Roman and friend wanted kebabs.  What else would they have wanted...?? We went back and ate at Roman's apartment, it was very small, but nice.  We just chatted some more, looked at some photos form the day and listened to some music.  It was a nice evening.

Here is Friend, Roman, Becca, Lauris and me.

Roman, then drove to the train station to go back to Pau.  I was the first to buy my ticket, and I say to the man, in my very best French, "When is the next train to Pau?".  He tells me, as he points condescendingly to the schedule on the wall behind me, that there is a train that stops in Pau on the way to Bayonne that leaves at 20h35, or there is a train departing at 21h42 that terminates in Pau.  I tell him I'd like the earlier, and he says ok, takes my money and hands me a ticket.  I look at my ticket, and it says "Tarbes--->Pau" "20H32" "DEPART EN BLEU".  This was very surprising to me.  'Depart en bleu" is French for, "Your train is actually a bus." Now, why did my train turn into a bus? It turns out there was a problem with the tracks.  You may be wondering why the very friendly ticket agent didn't inform me of this.  The answer is, probably because I didn't ask, "Hey, are these trains that are displayed on the schedule just pointed at as "on time" in fact, cancelled?" So, finally, we all get out bus tickets, and we go to the side of the train station, where we find four, unmarked in any way, charter buses.  We decided we better ask, because it is 20h30 and it is almost time to leave.  So, Lauris steps on to a bus to verify it's destination.  "Is the bus going to Pau?" He didn't know.  Welcome to France.

Riding to Pau in the lap of luxury.

Back in Pau, it was raining, but Becca got her host mom to give me a ride home.  Awesome.

Today was a really incredible day, and I'm so glad I decided to go.  I'm sure it is something I will always remember.