In Foix: In recovery, Day 3

October 7, 2017

Overnight it seems that a small miracle has occurred, and I awake feeling nearly normal - a dramatic improvement over the last 24 hours. There were signs of this last night, when I risked things a bit with a wonderful dish of pasta and sea bream with tapenade and a baked potato without a setback.

What a wonderful pairing: the right treatment plan and a great meal. I think I'm going to live.

I'm ready to try a normal French breakfast, so I join Rachael in visiting the nice artisan bakery she ate at two days back. It's perfect - fresh quiche and a good assortment of pastries. I have tea, but if I'm still improving tomorrow I'm ready to bring coffee back into my diet.

Stepping out the door, Rachael looks up and sees the moon, completely full and centered between two towers of the chateau. We're lucky she looked up - thirty yards down the street it was no longer visible.

Full moon over Foix: an amazing sight as we stepped out of our hotel this morning.

This artisan bakery seemed like the best breakfast spot in Foix to us. We plan to revisit it before leaving town tomorrow.

After breakfast we went our own way for awhile, on errands to restart the tour. Focusing on avoiding the risk of contamination, Rachael took our clothes to a laundromat and I walked a mile upriver to the bike store to buy replacements for all of our water bottles. As long as I was in motion anyway I took the camera along for a few shots from a different angle. I'm feeling well enough that it's starting to chafe a bit looking at all of this splendid weather passing by unbiked.

Looking north up the Ariege from the old bridge

Upriver on the Ariege, toward the Pyrenees. Our hotel and its dining area we ate at two days back is the nearest building on the right.

The eccentricity and prominence of Foix's chateau results in many striking views of it, all quite different. This one from the south end of town across the Ariege is one of the best.

After a so-so cafe lunch, we returned to the room for awhile and then went out for a walk up the hill to tour the castle. It's about time - we had meant to visit it in our first visit to Foix. We stayed two nights then, but events kept interfering and we left town without ever really seeing it. It was a great way to spend the rest of the afternoon, with enough to show and tell about that I'm throwing it into its own subfolder.

For dinner, we ate at the same spot we had lunch yesterday, Restaurant Le Grilladeau. It's a very popular diner, on the central road through the historical core of the city. Reasonably priced, good quality, amazing team running the restaurant - it feels like it must be a family affair. Everyone is in constant, efficient, coordinated, fast paced motion. It's almost like watching a good dance performance.

After dinner, as we did last night, we took a few minutes to look up at the hill, where the chateau of course is illuminated for the evening. It's a great site. And Foix has been as good a place to hang out and recover in as we could wish for, but it's time to move on.

A great place for a meal in Foix; the most popular restaurant in town

He's the man - greets and seats, takes orders, keeps an eye on the arena, takes the lead. Very alert and smart - recognized us when he saw us on the street, told us what we had ordered. He remembered again tonight, and conversed with us in English. Very good natured, warm but efficient. Also in constant motion - I'm surprised I got such a good shot here, catching him in a rare still moment.

The Chateau de Foix, from the city center

Chateau de Foix, from across the old bridge

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