Holy Moly!

---

Egg 2.

Hi all . We left Toulouse on the 14th September and drove South toward the Pyrenees (pair of knees). The landscape quickly became mountainous once we cleared the outskirts of Toulouse - its was stunningly lush and green and super hilly. Actually at times - were it not for the brilliant sunshine - you might have mistaken the surroundings for Scotland. We had a short lunch stop in Lourdes, just to see what it was like really, as the Senior eggs have been a few times.

The upper part of Lourdes seems just like any other southern French town. The area is gorgeous and has a lovely Swiss feel to it. We parked up and strolled down to toward the Grotto. Although I´m not a religous person myself, I found the experience relatively interesting. The walk to the Grotto (where the vision of Mary occured) is packed with what can only be described as tat shops selling an abundance of statues and postcards and a million other things of religous origin. To be honest its a bit much, athough once you get through all that, and arrive down at the Grotto itself, its incredibly pretty and serene. There are signs below the main church asking for silence, and the quietness adds to the atmosphere. We couldnt get over how busy it was, and I was blown away by how many people were being escorted around in wheel chairs. There were also some huge candles burning - they were for sale up the road in the tat shops for about €200 so we thought that people probably clubbed together for them.

After a rubbish lunch of underdone roast chicken in Lourdes, we drove onwards and literally upwards.......... in to the big mountains............

Sx

---