Pic

The Pic de Midi du Bigorre is a veritable feat of engineering. The cable car swoops daringly to a wonderful vista over the whole Pyrenees-chain at almost 3000m. On clear nights one is supposed to be able to see the Biarritz lighthouse at the Atlantic coast to the West and the lights of Barcelona on the Mediterranean shores to the East: 400 km apart, 1% of the circumference of the Earth. The summit of the Pic is completely occupied by a extensive complex of astronomical observatories: a wonderfully playful ensemble of cupolas and antennas. 

We drove down in sunny weather to the Pyrenees but as we approached the mountains, the weather turned and we were up at the Col de Tourmalet in a spectacularly dense mist. Down in La Mongie we couldn't even find the cable car station. Eventually we managed to go up.  The effect of breaking through the cloud cover around 2500m to see the observatory gleaming on the summit like Klingor's castle was breathtaking. On the summit we had the most enchanting vista over an endless "mer de nuages" stretching tens of kilometers away. Only the highest peaksof the chain were visible.

This picture was taken whilst waiting for the cable car down. It is taken with the XPan and cropped to a 2:3 ratio.