Started typing this post multiple times and kept getting cut off. Here we go again!
Sorry I've been out of action for about a week, but we (thought we) didn't have internet access for a while there. Turns out that Freebox (the company they use for internet access) should stick to internet access and let people set up their own networks: wireless and this weird USB connexion Pascale uses to connect her computer weren't working, but as soon as I connected my laptop by USB, everything ran smoothly.
Anyway, here's what you missed...
Kelly s'en Va
Kelly was supposed to leave on Wednesday, but finally received an email from her host on Tuesday saying that he wouldn't be there and that she'd have to come Thursday. Fortunately, Christian took her to Le Buisson to change her ticket and (I don't think) they charged her anything for the exchange because she made it before the scheduled departure.
Of course we'd already planned a goodbye dinner, so Noriko prepared a Japanese dish and Jacques came by to say farewell to Kelly. Oh, and by "a Japanese dish" I meant curry prepared using a Japanese curry mix and (perhaps) cooking style.
Thursday morning Christian, Noriko, and I accompanied Kelly to the train station, where a bus picked her up. Hey, don't look at me--comprennez-vous les français?
Les Vélos Sont Dur
Apparently an uncle of Christian's is quite ill, so Friday evening Pascale and he went to Bordeaux (I believe) for the weekend, leaving Noriko and I to fend for ourselves in this strange land.
With the parents gone for the weekend, of course we had to have a party. By have a party, of course I mean plant strawberry plants in the garden like they'd asked us to, check on the animals, and take the bicycles for a spin.
About two o'clock we broke out the bikes, only to discover that the tires were flat on one and the seat too high on the other. Luckily, I'm a genius, so I solved those problems right away, and we were on our way.
The trip started out pretty well, being downhill and all that, but about a half kilometer into the ride we discovered that--lo and behold--France has hills, and fairly large ones at that, considering they have these things called valleys and whatnot. Also noteworthy at this point was the fact that we had to go another 9.5 km to get to Le Bugue.
The next two kilometers were uphill, followed by a short downhill stint, and a bit more uphill. After that it was pretty much downhill to the Bugue. I'm not gonna lie, rolling downhill for that long a period is pretty fantastic, especially in scenic Dordogne, not that I'm shamelessly plugging for the tourist bureau or anything.
Arriving at Le Bugue, we headed toward Intermarché, a run-of-the-mill super market, because Christian'd told us that we could find a wine-tasting-and-sales-type place there. We wandered around looking out of place for a while, trying to comprehend the massive variety of alcohol in the world, until one of the reps asked us if he could help. We tried five or six different wines from the region and got to practice our French. Half-an-hour (or some equally arbitrary amount of time less than two hours) later, we headed out with three bottles of wine and some little tin of some duck product that Noriko got for Christian and Pascale (I think). She bought one of the bottles of wine.
For those of you who're good at math, you've realised by now that I bought two bottles of wine, obviously with the best of intentions--no, seriously, one's a gift for Christian and Pascale, and I'm pretty sure I'm not allowed to bring wine back to the States, so the other's for us to drink before I leave.
Those of you who're good at math and logic and can hang onto a thought for more than 10 seconds have realised something else: six kilometres downhill heading to the Bugue means six going UP on the way back. Ouch. And I mean that--my rear still hurts because of that accursed seat.
On the cool side of things, though, we found the opening to a small cave along the roadside, and I wandered in to explore a little, though I'd left my flashlight at the house, so I couldn't go too far. As a keepsake from this cool little moment, I've got a few photos and a couple of exemplary stones from the cave. w007 ^^
Ils Reviennent et Je Suis Malade
Last night, for no apparent reason, I started to feel ill, possibly because the pigeonnier is colder than I'd like and I road a bike 20 km or so. Or something like that.
Anyway, today I was feeling kinda under the weather, which is saying something since it rained most of the day again today, but I'm doing fine and will probably be ready to continue working tomorrow. Yet again I was unable to make it to Mass this week, but I have a feeling that He'll understand if I didn't want to hop on that bike for another 20km trip today.
This evening Pascale and Christian returned as I was asleep on one of the beds they use like sofas here. We had a nice dinner, and I came upstairs to write this. Should be writing again tomorrow, hopefully with some retrospective stuff about the first (more than) half of my trip and more character descriptions (if I can think of anything interesting to say). Time to watch Doctor Who...
Have a good one ^^
Showing posts with label caves. Show all posts
Showing posts with label caves. Show all posts
Sunday, June 8, 2008
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Cave Paintings, Fossil Destruction, and Historic Weed-Whacking
So it's been a while, but I've some stories to tell, which will hopefully improve the quality of content, if not style.
La Préhistoire
You know that ever since you first heard there were millenia-old cave paintings in some caves in southern France you've been itching to go to Lascaux or a similar site. Well, a couple of days ago Christian decided to take us to la Grotte de Rouffignac in the afternoon.
Me being me, I slept most of the ride there, but I woke up shortly before the hungry mouth of the cave came into view. We passed a couple of groups of elementary-school-aged kids on a field trip; a damn-sight better than Blue Springs or the old Sanford High School back home, I must say.
Unfortunately I don't have any photos to post, because (for preservation's sake) they wouldn't allow us to take photos in the cave. Fortunately, I do have a guide book for the Cave if you'd like to take a look sometime. (And, of course, I'm sure Google Image Search would work, too.)
Unlike most of the caves I've been in before (all two or three of them?), they use an electric train here to make sure we stay on track and don't touch anything. Despite my initial suspicions that this would diminish the experience (which turned out not to be entirely true, though it did feel a little more Disney than I would've liked), the train definitely serves its purpose and probably helps out a lot for the older visitors and for liability considerations--I mean, the path we took was a kilometer or two (can't remember the details, and not going to look them up).
Another cave created by water flow millions of years ago, this one lacks the classic stalactites and stalagmites (remember which is which, class?), but I missed the reason why. Most of the rock is fairly soft, calcite or sandstone or something like that, with bits of semi-rusted looking rock sticking out in odd clumps and nodules forming the other strata. The largest part of the cave was maybe 20 meters on each side with a mini waterfall dripping from the ceiling due to the recent rains--the water now is the highest it's been in at least 15 years or so, if I recall correctly.
Deeper in the caves we find some mammoths etched into the walls, then painted rhinoceroses, then more etchings, paintings on odd rock formations taking advantage of natural features to simulate depth and reality. After viewing on particular leg of the tunnel (for the benefit of J-Mac, Dave G, and others, that was originally typed [unintentionally] as "tunner"), we doubled back and descended to the most spectacular portion where the cieling was covered with more than sixty animal outlines, most of which could never bee seen at a single time when first painted (the cave was once much shallower than it is now). Surrounding us at this moment were the old hibernation nests of bears from millenia past, up at about eye-level because they excavated a portion of the room for the rail tracks and for the ability to see all the paintings.
I always feel something primeval in a cave--probably one of those deep-ingrained collective memories of humanity--the shelter, the mystery, the awe. Who wants to come with me next time, and we'll try to go spelunking?
Le Travail Continue
Apparently the upstairs bathroom hasn't been smelling too hot lately; I personally didn't notice a thing, but I don't have to use it all that often, and Pascale and Christian have a master bath up there too, so maybe that's what they were talking about. The result is that we've been digging up some old plumbing to fix the ventilation; translation: I took some rock-splitting tools to the rock forming the foundation for one of the buildings here, rock which's probably been there for millions of years. In fact, I know it's been here millions of years, though probably undersea at some point, because of the seashell fossils I found therein. Pity, but we wouldn't want a stinky house, would we?
After putting in a good few hours yesterday, Christian decided to take us to see some castles. The plural there is particularly important: Dordogne must've figured quite highly in the Hundred Years' War and several others because there are French and English castles scattered throughout the region. Specifically, the valley we visited had at least four or five castles dating from (I'm assuming) various periods.
The castles were closed to visitors when we went past, but they were still a sight to see. Almost more notable, however, was the friend's house that we visited. One of Christian's friends asked the mayor of the city for permission to build on the side of one of the rocky outcroppings on the valley wall. Thinking him crazy, the mayor gave him permission, resulting in a beautiful home I could never afford but will always want with a view thus far unrivaled by any other during my visit to the region.
On the way back we stopped in Sarlat, which was the most beautiful city in France during the Medieval period (according to Pascale) and is everything you'd expect from a French town as old as that: gorgeous historic buildings and streets leading every which way influenced by history, and influencing history, too. Throw in a little tourism and you've got the right idea. Gorgeous place, despite the tourism, which is fortunately pretty understated (at least in the areas we visited).
Heading out of town, one of my recurring thoughts struck me: how in the world does society sustain itself? Consider the number of customers it takes to support a business and think about how many of those you pass each day. It's really just incredible to me each time I think about it, especially when one considers cities that've been around for hundreds of years sustaining themselves like that.
Débroussaillage
Today's been fairly tame so far. I took a couple hour break mid-post before this section and had a little nap. This morning Pascale whacked some weeds while Kelly and I collected the fallen grass to dump with the rest of the weed compost. After that I got to have a go with the weed-eater, which ran more smoothly than the one back home, not for any really technical reason, but just because there was a convenient harness to help stabilize it and hold it up (it's old and it's heavy). As I was clearing the brush at the edge of the property, I found remnants of some old stone walls beneath all the mess; cool what history we can discover on a daily basis here.
***
Apparently Le Falgueyret, this small clump of houses a few minutes' drive from town used to be pretty populated. Obviously it was never a major city, but you can tell if you look at the buildings around here--and the foundations where there used to be buildings--that there was definitely a small community. I wish I could find some images of the place, but no luck so far.
***
I've written up some brief descriptions of some of the people here, like Christian who's standing right in front of me just now straightening up some papers, so I'll post some of those sometime soon, maybe tomorrow.
If anyone wants more up-to-the-minute reporting than this, I'll add a link to my Twitter feed on the navigation bar to your left. I should also be adding some entries that are either in French or do not directly apply to my travels so much as to philosophy and pondering life's deep questions, so feel free to skip those if they don't make sense (y'know, either because of the language, or the nonsense I'll be spouting). Also, feel free to comment and whatnot, give me feedback so I know which bits you enjoy reading and which bits not so much; the journal's still mine, but I'll see if I can be accomodating.
***
Also, I've heard that a bunch of people from Fiserv have been reading, so hello to all of you. Hello, and love, to my family and Ashley, of course. And bonjour, Madame (at least, Sam said you'd been reading). Let's see...am I forgetting anyone? Oh yeah, my friends and random passers-by: hello to you, too ^^ (I noticed some traffic coming from Daniel's journal and from Facebook, so I know you're out there ^.~)
Until next time, Peace.
La Préhistoire
You know that ever since you first heard there were millenia-old cave paintings in some caves in southern France you've been itching to go to Lascaux or a similar site. Well, a couple of days ago Christian decided to take us to la Grotte de Rouffignac in the afternoon.
Me being me, I slept most of the ride there, but I woke up shortly before the hungry mouth of the cave came into view. We passed a couple of groups of elementary-school-aged kids on a field trip; a damn-sight better than Blue Springs or the old Sanford High School back home, I must say.
Unfortunately I don't have any photos to post, because (for preservation's sake) they wouldn't allow us to take photos in the cave. Fortunately, I do have a guide book for the Cave if you'd like to take a look sometime. (And, of course, I'm sure Google Image Search would work, too.)
Unlike most of the caves I've been in before (all two or three of them?), they use an electric train here to make sure we stay on track and don't touch anything. Despite my initial suspicions that this would diminish the experience (which turned out not to be entirely true, though it did feel a little more Disney than I would've liked), the train definitely serves its purpose and probably helps out a lot for the older visitors and for liability considerations--I mean, the path we took was a kilometer or two (can't remember the details, and not going to look them up).
Another cave created by water flow millions of years ago, this one lacks the classic stalactites and stalagmites (remember which is which, class?), but I missed the reason why. Most of the rock is fairly soft, calcite or sandstone or something like that, with bits of semi-rusted looking rock sticking out in odd clumps and nodules forming the other strata. The largest part of the cave was maybe 20 meters on each side with a mini waterfall dripping from the ceiling due to the recent rains--the water now is the highest it's been in at least 15 years or so, if I recall correctly.
Deeper in the caves we find some mammoths etched into the walls, then painted rhinoceroses, then more etchings, paintings on odd rock formations taking advantage of natural features to simulate depth and reality. After viewing on particular leg of the tunnel (for the benefit of J-Mac, Dave G, and others, that was originally typed [unintentionally] as "tunner"), we doubled back and descended to the most spectacular portion where the cieling was covered with more than sixty animal outlines, most of which could never bee seen at a single time when first painted (the cave was once much shallower than it is now). Surrounding us at this moment were the old hibernation nests of bears from millenia past, up at about eye-level because they excavated a portion of the room for the rail tracks and for the ability to see all the paintings.
I always feel something primeval in a cave--probably one of those deep-ingrained collective memories of humanity--the shelter, the mystery, the awe. Who wants to come with me next time, and we'll try to go spelunking?
Le Travail Continue
Apparently the upstairs bathroom hasn't been smelling too hot lately; I personally didn't notice a thing, but I don't have to use it all that often, and Pascale and Christian have a master bath up there too, so maybe that's what they were talking about. The result is that we've been digging up some old plumbing to fix the ventilation; translation: I took some rock-splitting tools to the rock forming the foundation for one of the buildings here, rock which's probably been there for millions of years. In fact, I know it's been here millions of years, though probably undersea at some point, because of the seashell fossils I found therein. Pity, but we wouldn't want a stinky house, would we?
After putting in a good few hours yesterday, Christian decided to take us to see some castles. The plural there is particularly important: Dordogne must've figured quite highly in the Hundred Years' War and several others because there are French and English castles scattered throughout the region. Specifically, the valley we visited had at least four or five castles dating from (I'm assuming) various periods.
The castles were closed to visitors when we went past, but they were still a sight to see. Almost more notable, however, was the friend's house that we visited. One of Christian's friends asked the mayor of the city for permission to build on the side of one of the rocky outcroppings on the valley wall. Thinking him crazy, the mayor gave him permission, resulting in a beautiful home I could never afford but will always want with a view thus far unrivaled by any other during my visit to the region.
On the way back we stopped in Sarlat, which was the most beautiful city in France during the Medieval period (according to Pascale) and is everything you'd expect from a French town as old as that: gorgeous historic buildings and streets leading every which way influenced by history, and influencing history, too. Throw in a little tourism and you've got the right idea. Gorgeous place, despite the tourism, which is fortunately pretty understated (at least in the areas we visited).
Heading out of town, one of my recurring thoughts struck me: how in the world does society sustain itself? Consider the number of customers it takes to support a business and think about how many of those you pass each day. It's really just incredible to me each time I think about it, especially when one considers cities that've been around for hundreds of years sustaining themselves like that.
Débroussaillage
Today's been fairly tame so far. I took a couple hour break mid-post before this section and had a little nap. This morning Pascale whacked some weeds while Kelly and I collected the fallen grass to dump with the rest of the weed compost. After that I got to have a go with the weed-eater, which ran more smoothly than the one back home, not for any really technical reason, but just because there was a convenient harness to help stabilize it and hold it up (it's old and it's heavy). As I was clearing the brush at the edge of the property, I found remnants of some old stone walls beneath all the mess; cool what history we can discover on a daily basis here.
***
Apparently Le Falgueyret, this small clump of houses a few minutes' drive from town used to be pretty populated. Obviously it was never a major city, but you can tell if you look at the buildings around here--and the foundations where there used to be buildings--that there was definitely a small community. I wish I could find some images of the place, but no luck so far.
***
I've written up some brief descriptions of some of the people here, like Christian who's standing right in front of me just now straightening up some papers, so I'll post some of those sometime soon, maybe tomorrow.
If anyone wants more up-to-the-minute reporting than this, I'll add a link to my Twitter feed on the navigation bar to your left. I should also be adding some entries that are either in French or do not directly apply to my travels so much as to philosophy and pondering life's deep questions, so feel free to skip those if they don't make sense (y'know, either because of the language, or the nonsense I'll be spouting). Also, feel free to comment and whatnot, give me feedback so I know which bits you enjoy reading and which bits not so much; the journal's still mine, but I'll see if I can be accomodating.
***
Also, I've heard that a bunch of people from Fiserv have been reading, so hello to all of you. Hello, and love, to my family and Ashley, of course. And bonjour, Madame (at least, Sam said you'd been reading). Let's see...am I forgetting anyone? Oh yeah, my friends and random passers-by: hello to you, too ^^ (I noticed some traffic coming from Daniel's journal and from Facebook, so I know you're out there ^.~)
Until next time, Peace.
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