Paris, Basque Country & Camino

We left Hotel Eugenie at 0930 hrs via Bus 74 to Gare Montparnasse which is large with 28 tracks. Found our way to the proper level for our train starting here and terminating in Hendaye, and we are getting off two stops before at Biarritz. It is surprising that most houses just outside of Paris had clay tile roofs. The landscape along the over 700 km was of fields of hay, wheat, and vineyards. We had a prolonged stop at one station, and by the clock we should have almost arrived at our destination. Nancy who had her head buried in Penguin updates, panicked momentarily as to whether we needed to get off. We laughed later as posted just our window the station was labeled Dax. Sadly, the interruption was due to an investigation of a death or accident on the tracks. We googled restaurants and noted it was a public holiday called Ascension, and many people were taking two days off. We arrived about two hours late, and then, due to the holiday, there was a prolonged wait with many other people for the bus. We finally arrived at Maison de Lierre at 8 pm. We found our way to dinner at California Kitchen, where Beth had fish and chips and Nancy fish tacos. We both decided pollock is a rather bland fish, but the dinner overall was good and we sat outside as it was warm with temperatures tomorrow of 30 degrees. Beth commented it felt more like she was on a holiday now. Walked part of the waterfront and viewed the last rays of sunset before heading home. There was quite a party atmosphere on the local streets and this is a hilly resort town with its roots of development in the era of Napoleon III and Empress Eugenie (1850s).Read more