From Paris to Pau . . .

I love traveling - the months of planning, the actual vacation and then reliving each adventure through photos.

Once we settled on Paris as our destination, I contacted a high school friend who has lived in the south of France since 1970. 

Our core group of high school friends gets together once a year (this is from a 2014 gathering at our house), but I am the last of the friends to visit Linda (in the black shirt) in France.

We arrived in Paris on Thursday and Saturday morning we flew to Pau - we could see the Pyrenees off in the distance from Linda and Gerard's deck.

From this zoomed in shot, you can see a dusting of snow on the mountain tops.

The grounds of their chateau are lovely, 

but Gerard asked that I not put any photos of their gorgeous home on social media.

Linda and Gerard live in the little village of Serres Castet and after lunch Linda drove us into Pau to walk around while Gerard set up for a guitar performance and casual dinner party that evening.

Chateau de Pau sits in the middle of the town - it was the birthplace of Henry IV of France and Napoleon once used it as a holiday home.

I didn't write down the names of any of the buildings so I have no idea the history behind them.

Saturday night's party was so much fun (no pics allowed) - 5 different friends played the guitar, we ate amazing food and looked out at the gorgeous scenery until late in the evening because the sun sets about 10 p.m. at this time of year.

Sunday morning we rose early and drove to Saint Jean de Luz on the Atlantic coast.

It is the the French Basque region 

and we were intrigued by the Basque alphabet and font on the signs.

While Steve was enjoying his beer, I was admiring the Basque linens, but sadly we didn't have time to shop.

When we saw people crowding around the square in town, we realized it was Pentecost Sunday and many people were dressed in beautiful Basque costumes for a variety of events.

These young ladies were my favorites

We went on a little walk around the charming town.

 I spotted lovely gardens here and there

and I enjoyed the distinctive Basque architecture.

We continued our drive south along the Atlantic coast to Hendaya for a quick visit to Gerard's cousin.

Living right on the border between France and Spain,

she speaks both languages and I was able to chat with her in Spanish.

This was one of the first houses I saw in the Basque region of Spain.

We merely drove around the towns of Irun

and Hondarribia, Spain

because everyone was out celebrating Pentecost Sunday and we could not find a single parking place.

Our time was limited

and too quickly our brief visit with Linda and Gerard was at an end,

but the streets of Paris awaited us.