On Saturday, March 27th we decided to go back to see the Pyrénées again. We only had two weekends left in France and it was a choice between seeing the town of Bordeaux or venturing into the mountains. The Pyrénées are so close to Toulouse and so incredibly beautiful, it really became an easy choice, once we thought about it.On our way there we stopped at another Christian pilgrimage site, this one not being a medieval site like Rocamadour but a more modern one in Lourdes. Luckily for us,
this was the weekend before the masses will arrive for Easter. The town's fame started in 1858, when a 14-year-old girl named Bernadette, claimed a beautiful lady appeared to her in the remote grotto. The lady later identified herself as "the Immaculate Conception" and the faithful believe her to be the Blessed Virgin Mary. The lady appeared to Bernadette 18 times. I knew of the story from the movie 'Song of Bernadette' which won 4 Oscars in 1943. There were people there kissing the ground, touching the walls of the grotto, lighting giant candles and filling plastic bottles of the Virgin Mary with the miracle healing water, which conveniently comes out of multiple Kohler-like water facets right alongside the grotto. 
The whole thing seemed incredibly commercial and fake to me. I kept wondering..."what if Randi had a vision right now" ? Would she becomes a famous nun ? Would I fade out of the picture but end up selling little plastic bottles resembling her...possibly filled with holy red wine ? 
Wouldn't the public demand pics from her iphone ? Would they question whether she had instead, just discovered an excellent vintage of Bordeaux that day ? I doubt anyone would believe it at all now, in this modern world. Obviously, I don't know the whole Bernadette story enough to really comment on if there exists some true spirituality there. 
Even though I am skeptical, I do realize that there is some good from it. The Christians that go there feel closer to God, can spread their faith and provide hope for salvation for everyone...even if it comes out of a plastic bottle, bought on sale, at one of the many souvenir shops, just down the road from the holy grotto.
We continued on, up D921 into the mountains, all the way until the road ends, at the town of Garvarnie.
We came there to see the UNESCO site, Cirque de Garvarnie. This is a mountain range that legend has it was cut by Earl 
Roland's sword...the same sword that we saw stuck into the rock at Rocamadour. That sword can really cut through rock. As you stand facing the Cirque you feel like you are surrounded by the best nature has to offer. I kept thinking of how Niagara Falls wraps around you when you get to the base of it in the Maid of the Mist tourist boat. It was kinda like that but a lot different.We stayed at Le Gypaete. We checked in to our dual bunk bed room, with the WC located in the hallway, for 17 euros per person. We both choose a lower bunk on each side of the room to take a quick nap, before going back out to see the small town. I joked about possibly having a couple strangers check in to our room with us. To our disbelief, 15 minutes later the owner pushed our door open (no knock) and said "we have two more coming into this room". While we stood there, still slightly horrified with the possibilities, she returned again to say "no one will be joining you...at least not yet"
This made dinner interesting. We watched hikers and sheep herders stream in throughout the early evening.
The place was 
nearing capacity (sign said 45 person occupancy with all bunk beds full)...our top bunks being the only availability left. We tried not to make eye contact but we watched each one of them closely, as being our possible bunk partners. The thought of a couple dunken frenchmen joining us in the middle of the night kept us drinking. We ended up having fun playing out the scenarios of kind of a french version of 'Planes, Trains and Automobiles'...'Avions, trains et voitures'..."those aren't pillows!"..."how bout that Toulouse Rugby team".
On Sunday we set out to hike the Cirque in our city gear. As city folk don't need no backpacks, water bottles, survival gear or anything like that. We had our phones, our cameras and a pack of gum. It was really an incredible place to hike. It would definitely make an awesome destination for camping.After
the hike, we started our way back to Toulouse but first stopped in the scenic ski town of Cauterets for lunch. It looked like a typical mountain town in the Rockies. It's incredible how close God's country is to Toulouse. What a location it has been for our one year base camp.
