Despite the unexpected nature of our stay here, we are excited that we will get to see the Tour de France today. It will come right through town!

We start the day with French breakfast, which seems to be just coffee. We pick up some treats from the bakery next door to the hotel restaurant and try to get online. The internet is terrible. Finally we move over to the tapas place we found for lunch yesterday, and the internet is so good! Hurray! This seems small and silly, but right now it feels big.

We spend the morning having more coffee and orange juice at this little spot while I catch up on some blog stuff. There’s a large group of Australian cyclists here. They have been following some of the Tour de France route. We have some good conversation with a couple. It’s nice to have a bit of social interaction with fellow English-speakers.

Around noon, we gather with everyone else in town along the edge of the road. A couple hours before the cyclists come, the sponsors drive through. We don’t know quite what to expect, but it’s a fantastic parade, with people throwing our goodies from the cars. It’s a lot of fun! The kids could not be more excited. The Haribo trucks tossing out candy were a favorite, along with seeing Mickey Mouse on top of another car. Some trucks had people swinging on top of them. It was cool.

//Stefan Note: I got a sweet new hat from the Skoda team

People are a little intense at this thing. There are lots of kids, but there are far more adults without children. They are jumping and fighting for the loot thrown from cars .One guy next to us keeps jumping over and grabbing things off the ground in front of Oly that the people on the trucks are very intentionally throwing at Oly’s feet for him. It’s a little frustrating, but Oly doesn’t care because there is so much going on. The kids are more than happy with their haul.

The whole parade takes maybe 20 minutes. It’s awesome. The cyclists won’t be coming through for another hour and a half, so we go have lunch. The kids are too excited to eat lunch (or maybe it’s the candy and madeleines from the parade). Or maybe Lillian is just sick of our affinity for meat and cheese plates. Who knows. Everyone is super excited when the  news crew starts interviewing a local around the corner form where we are seated. Directly outside our hotel, in fact. The locals are having so much fun with it. Okay, Stefan is too.

Then we line back up for the cyclists. It’ very exciting. Oly is way more into it than Lillian is. She already received her treats from the parade, so bikes are far less interesting. At almost exactly 2pm, the first of the cyclists come whizzing around the corner! They are so fast and accompanied by many cars packed with bicycles on top. There are several groups of cyclists, and then it’s over. Just like that. They come and go, and we are left feeling a bit let down that it took all of 5 minutes to watch the Tour de France. We still feel privileged to get to see these incredible athletes and witness such an event, but it is quick. I wouldn’t travel just for that.

We go back to the room for a bit of rest time and then head out to check out the spas. There are two in town with hot springs. Since it’s the town’s biggest attraction, we figure we have to check it out while here on our extended stay. The larger location closes at 1:15, so we make our way to the second. You have to be 5 to enter. Guess it’s a girls’ day!
Lillian and I enjoy the bath house for two hours (our allotted time). There are many pools/baths, with different types of jets. Most are inside, but there’s a large area outside as well. Lillian’s favorite part is a circular pool that spins the water clockwise, fairly quickly. She holds onto my back as we circle the pool. There is also a waterfall we get to go beneath. My favorite part is a section where you rest on a bar while jets massage the bottoms of your feet. Amazing. And there’s another place where you hang on and the jets push your body up to a horizontal position. It’s super relaxing.

I think Lillian and I both needed this time for just the two of us. It’s a lot to be all together all the time. And I know Lillian can get jealous of the attention I show Oly. She mentions many times how much she loves having this time with me. We’ll have to make sure to prioritize it more often.

Oly and Stefan had a nice time together as well. They relax in the room a bit, then go play in the hot spring outside our hotel. Oly is super happy. I think he too likes having one-on-one time.

After showers, we go out for one last night on the town. We actually want to go back to the place we had dinner the first night. Unfortunately nothing opens fr another hour, and Lillian is starving. Luckily our favorite bakery has a piece of quiche left! We go to the hot spring over near the square and rest our feet in. This one can actually be very hot, but it’s perfect right now. Lillian and Oly put their feet in, then they want to walk around in it, and next thing we know they are soaking wet. Of course.

So back home to change and then finally out to dinner. It’s raining, again, so the patio is closed. The inside of this restaurant is a very different vibe from the lovely patio we sat on last time. It’s still very cool. We order the special, steak with foie gras for Stefan and some pork dish for me, and a bottle of red wine. It’s a wonderful meal.

Lillian takes great pride in paying the bill for us. We are all in a good mood, hoping this is our last day in Ax-les-Thermes.