Well, that was a pleasant low stress day. We took the taxi to Cauterets, a medium size town (and not a new ski village), did laundry, went to the pools, and relaxed.
This was just one of those days when we'd had enough of the trail, and the not-so-great accommodations, and both of us were looking for something more than another night in a refuge (and the 1200m hike to get up there.) So the taxi whisked us away at 9am, and at 10am we had checked into the hotel and started laundry across the street, and went looking in the many many outdoors shops for a few things: a compact towel, since refuges don't have them, and sunglasses, and hiking shorts that didn't capture so much sweat. We found most all of them, and found the Carrefour, came back and our room was ready, and set about a hard day of folding clothes and napping.
There was a spa/bath thing out the back door, so we opted for that later in the afternoon. I do like a hot tub, but alas, these were tepid pools, even the hot one wasn't warmer than 36C/97F, I wanted a scorching hot water but nah.
Some drinks on the back patio, watching some tortises chase each other around, a yummy dinner, and a nice sound sleep. A good rest day.
Tomorrow we've decided to see Lourdes, the Catholic pilgrimage site/tourist trap. That should be interesting for sure.