ra, and the imposing and beautifully laid out Place des
Quinconces, with its sentinel pillars and its waterside traffic of
railway and shipping, blending into a whole which inspired one of the
world's greatest pictures of the feverish life of modern activity,
the painting by Eugene Boudin, known as the "Port de Bordeaux," in
the Luxembourg.

You may find a good low-priced hotel at Bordeaux, but you pay
inflated prices for your refreshments in the cafes; a _cafe-glace_
cost fifteen sous and a _glace a cafe_ twenty-five on the terrace of
the magnificent establishment opposite the Opera.

[Illustration: Map of Pyrenees]

Chapter II
A Little Tour In The Pyrenees

[Illustration: The Pyrenees]

We had been touring France _en automobile_ for many months--for
business purposes, one might say, and hence had followed no schedule
or itinerary, but had lingered by the way and made notes, and the
artist made sketches, and in general we acquired a knowledge of
France and things French that otherwise might not have been our lot.

The mere name of the Pyrenees had long had a magic sound for us. We
had seen them at a distance, from Carcassonne and Toulouse and Pau,
when we had made the conventional tour years ago, and had admired
them greatly, to the disparagement of the Swiss Alps. This may be
just, or unjust, but it is recorded here as a fact.

To climb mountains in an automobile appealed to us as a sport not yet
banal or overdone, and since Switzerland--so hospitable to most
classes of tourists--was treating automobilists badly just at the
time, we thought we would begin by making the itinerary of the
"_Coupe des Pyrenees;_" then, if we liked it, we could try the French
Alps in Dauphine and Savoie, delightful and little-known French
provinces which have all the advantages of Switzerland and few of its
disadvantages, inasmuch as the inhabitants of the valley hamlets and
mountain towns have not become so _commercant_ as their Swiss
brothers.

In August, 1905, was organized, by _La Vie en Grand Air_ and _La
Depeche de Toulouse_, a great contest for touring automobiles, for an
award to be known as the "_Coupe des Pyrenees._"

As a work of art the "_Coupe des Pyrenees_" is far and away ahead of
most "cups" of the sort. It was the work of the sculptor, Ducuing,
and the illustration herewith will show some of its charm. The
"_coupe_" itself has disappeared from mortal view, it having been
stolen from an automobile exposition