Interesting final full day of this trip, to say the least! Today we were supposed to be taking the train from Lourdes to Paris, giving us a change to take a nap or review photos and at the very least update the diary entries here a lot better! But when the train was cancelled we were left scrambling for alternative means to get to Paris, settling on a 145 Euro cab ride to the Pau airport and three $300 each one-way tickets to Paris. That cost will be partially offset by the expected refund of $125 each for the cancelled train; sure wish I could get something more from the train cancellation because it would have been a lot less expensive had we made plans to fly earlier!

No problem arriving in Paris and taking a cab to our hotel except our driver decides that 4 or 5 blocks is close enough when he encounters a bit of construction work. Really? This was a new one for me. Still, we got to the hotel before 2pm, at least an hour earlier than we would have had we actually arrived by train. And, good news, our room had been upgraded! Bad news, it had just one large bed. Umm… no, Kevin needs as much distance as he can get from me, to mute the sound of my snoring. Not a big deal, Lee, our friend traveling with us, had no similar issues with his room so we stored out luggage there and headed off to see the race!

If you haven’t done a Trek Travel gig, let me tell you, they do it in style. For $525 for the day you have the Paris Auto Club at your disposal with food to die for, anything you might want, probably the sort of thing that someone might spend $100+ for at a restaurant. But what you really get is behind-the-lines access to the final stage of the Tour de France! No standing for hours 5 deep behind barriers, wishing you had a ladder. You are literally on the tarmac!