European Travels continued:

Geneva, Switzerland – March 15, 2008 (Saturday)

Lake Geneva was absolutely breathtaking.  There was a waterspout across the lake that shot 455 feet into the air.  Ferries criss-crossed it's waters carrying tourists to different interest points around the lake.  We tried to find an Ed Hardy outlet when we first arrived, but they were sold out of his main product line.  There was an Ed Hardy t-shirt on sale for around 60 Euro (90 Swiss Francs).  It was originally 125 Swiss Francs!  Right then and there we decided that it wasn't worth it to own a label.  All of us girls wanted to buy an Ed Hardy hat, which are very cool by the way, but the cheapest hat runs around 60 Euro, ouch!

We walked around the lake and took in the sculptures, monuments, sights and tourist booths.  I bought my traditional t-shirt (sparkly letters of the country), which in this case was red with a white cross on it to represent Switzerland.  We bought a very cool Swiss mug and postcards.  Afterwards we went to Starbucks, which seems to be Darcy and Sharice's traditional thing to do when we travel now : ).

There were several expensive cars parked in front of the Four Seasons Hotel.  In a perfect high priced row we saw 2 Porsche's and a red Ferrari.  Right across the street was a classic Volvo, which Brittany and I photographed in black and white ... of course!

After we checked into our hotel we walked to a restaurant called Manora.  It was a 'choose your own ingredients' place, which was very cool.  Jerret had a made to order pizza; Sharice and I had a breaded chicken meal; and Brittany and Darcy made their own pasta dish with olives, onions, fresh Parmesan, ham, etc.  Our hotel was the Express Geneva, which is a Holiday Inn.  We had a yummy breakfast in the morning and then set out for Cannes.

Cannes, France – March 16th, Sunday

The drive towards Cannes was interesting.  You leave the somewhat temperate climate of Geneva, Switzerland and as the hours roll by the scenery changes into an arid zone.  It reminded me of Colorado with it's red soil and tall rock formations.  We saw some Roman ruins along the highway and several mountain top castles.  This one castle literally rose out of the rock and spanned about 100 meters in length.  I got a phenomenal photograph of it, but my white balance was stopped up, so it turned out overexposed.  Man.  I did get one okay picture as we approached it.  Maybe you'll be able to pick it out of my drive by shootings.

Miraculously we found our hotel among the narrow winding streets of Cannes.  It was called the Maeva Residences Hotel.  It was set up like a one-bedroom apartment and if you cleaned it before leaving it only cost 65 Euro per night and it slept 5!  It was located 1 block from the beach and we even had a peek-a-boo view of the turquoise colored Mediterranean.  Darcy and I both agreed that we'd stay there again ; ), maybe for our next wedding anniversary.  

We lucked out and got the last parking spot in their underground garage, because there is absolutely no parking on the streets.  In order for us to reach our car we had to take an elevator to the basement and step out into a pitch black room.  On a far wall there was a button to turn on the light, but you had to act quickly.  The elevator door would close behind you before the light came on, which would leave you in the dark.  The car was parked on a slant and sandwiched between two vehicles, so that you had to back out in order to get in.  Also, there were only a few flickering fluorescent lights to help you find your way.  Yah well you can guess how this story unfolds ...  Darcy was definitely the go-to guy on this one!

We went to the Cannes beach at dusk and skipped some rocks into the Mediterranean Sea.  It was completely gorgeous there with tan colored sand that was soft and silky to the touch.  The coast line was all lit up allowing you to see for miles.  The restaurants and shops along the boardwalk were illuminated with colorful neon signs.  Cannes is the perfect size.  The kids collected some seashells before we walked back to our hotel.  

Since we had a kitchen we cooked a nice supper for ourselves.  I brought a dry goods box with us on this trip, since we're staying at bungalows and cabins along the way with kitchen facilities.  We saved a lot of money doing this.  We always had breakfast at our digs, packed a lunch for the day, and came home in time for a late supper.  The only time we had to eat out was when we were on the road.

Nice, France - March 17th, Monday

Our cab ride to the train station cost us 12 Euro, because we needed a van.  Afterwards we found out that we were only 5 blocks from the train station, so we could have walked, sigh!  That's why you always visit a TI office when you arrive somewhere.  The train to Nice traveled along the Mediterranean Sea for a few miles and the view was spectacular.  It was 19 degrees Celsius out that day!

Sharice goes to Nice during the Cannes Film Festival in May.  It's for language week at her school.  She will stay at a family's home in Nice and attend the Sacre Coeur on the Riviera, where she'll be taught in French.  It will be a very good experience for her.  Their class also plans on taking the train to Cannes during the festival weekend, so maybe she'll see someone famous while she's there.

Our plans for Nice were museums, shopping and beach lounging.  We got a map from the TI office in Nice and took a bus to the Matisse Museum.  The museum is housed in a beautiful 17th century Genoese red painted villa on Cimiez hill.  It stands among some Roman ruins in the ancient city of Cemenelum, that is large enough to fill a football field.  A park encompasses it, which gave it a beautiful setting on our blue sky day.  Look for those pictures on the website.  We couldn't take any pictures inside the museum, but let me just say this ... color, color, color.  He was a master at cutting out shapes and pictures and then overlaying them with bright colors.  He wrote an art book called Jazz (on display at the museum) that is full of this kind of work.

We viewed his collection of 68 paintings and paper cuttings, 236 drawings, 218 engravings, 57 sculptures and 14 illustrated books.  There were also 95 photographs and 187 objects from Matisse's private collection – silk screen prints, wall hangings, pottery, stained glass windows and documents.  In the Atrium the Fleurs et fruits stood at 4.1 m x 8.7 m.  

I loved his free form art in which he painted curvy lines to suggest an object or person instead of the traditional 3-D object.  We viewed some of Matisse's large bronze statues that were there temporarily from the D'Orsay Museum in Paris.  There was a life size painting of Jesus laying in his tomb after he was crucified.  I'm sure it was over 5 feet in length and very impressive.

Afterwards, the kids played tree tag in a field full of olive trees we had lunch by the Roman ruins.

We tried to visit an English book store called the Cat's Whiskers in Nice, but unfortunately it was closed on Monday!  Instead we walked around Nice and shopped, which of course was fun.  Then we headed to the beach.  Luckily we took a route by a beautiful fountain and a square that held white statues perched on top of tall poles.  You'll know what I mean when you see the pictures.

When we rounded the corner and saw the Promenade des Anglais we all gasped, because it was so picturesque.  It was just like the time in Paris when we turned the corner and saw the Eiffel Tower for the first time.  The color of the water was an amazing turquoise colour like you'd see in a beautiful painting of the Cote d' Azur.  There were houses perched along the side of a dangerous looking cliff off in the distance.  Underneath the cliffs a harbor yawned openly towards the sea ushering in the odd yacht that sailed into it.

The beach was filled with rocks that were smooth and rounded from the surf.  It wasn't soft and sandy like Cannes, but still equally as beautiful.  We soaked our feet in the cool water, collected shells and sand, and watched the boats sail by.  The girls and I sat at a seaside coffee shop and sipped our hot drinks, while listening to the lull of the sea.  Meanwhile, Darcy and Jerret walked the beach and talked to some American boys who were in Nice studying.

As we walked along the Promenade des Anglais lined with palm trees and expensive hotels, we took spontaneous pictures and marveled at how we were on the French Riviera.  If I could have stopped time I would have!  Believe it or not we even spotted a little white poodle standing beside a fruit stand.  We thought that she wasn't real at first.  Her back legs were old and stiff, so when she barked at us she kind of hopped in one spot.  It made her look like a wind up toy.  We of course videoed and photographed her.  After I composed my shot a man leaned over me looking at my results.  I was startled and then I realized that it was the dog's owner and he wanted to see my picture.  He said, “Ahhh, Bravo!” on capturing his dog's spirited display (lol).

Rick Steeves travel guide recommended visiting a famous hotel called Hotel Negresco (a pink domed historical monument).  Inside it has a statue of Louis the 14th and an Eiffel built dome room holding a 16,000 piece chandelier.  Unfortunately, a doorman stood at the door blocking our entry.  When we said we weren't staying there he wouldn't let us in.  Sorry Rick Steeves they aren't buying it anymore!

On the way back to Cannes Darcy was so excited to find a dollar store, but this was a 2 Euro store!  Ahhh, the little things that you miss hey?  A “Dollar Store” in Europe, imagine that. Darcy bought a metal Parmesan cheese grater for 2 Euro. We use it every day now with each pasta meal. We buy real Parmesan cheese blocks and hold this handheld gadget over our plates. Pretty cool.

That evening, after shopping again, we got back really late this time and had to eat at 9:30 pm.

The next morning before we left Cannes we drove over to the Cannes Film Festival building.  It was so cool!  It had a huge banner advertising the upcoming festival, which will be here in May.  The grounds were already dotted with white tents and security had them blocked off.  There were cardboard cut-outs of famous people all over the grounds, so we took turns being Brad Pitt, Johnny Depp, Elizabeth Hurley, Uma Thurman, etc.  They had the hand prints of major stars stamped all around the outside of the entrance.  The front stairs were grand and had red carpeting leading into the building.  I took a picture of the kids on the red carpet : ).  

The publicity has increased over the years on this world wide award festival.  It attracts stars such as George Clooney (who I learned likes to stay in nearby Antibes), Sharon Stone, fashion designers (who tote and promote their gowns on site), and the talent – these are the up and coming stars.  The “talent” as they are nicknamed stay in the smaller less luxurious suites.  The big penthouse hotel rooms are reserved for the “stars” who can afford 15,000 Euro per night.

We took pictures of the famous Hotel De Ville, that has a huge mural on the side of it with famous stars like Marilyn Monroe and Mickey Mouse!  Right beside the festival house is a harbor full of yachts that are bigger than a house.  They were amazing!  I read that some fashion designers own a yacht and just park it there for the Cannes festival week.  Then they invite stars on their boat for an organized party and charge a measly 100,000 Euro per ticket!!  What a crazy life, can you imagine?

Although Cannes is small compared to Nice it has a quaint ambiance about it.  When you are standing beside the harbor you can look up and see the L'Eglise de la Castre (castle) perched high above the city.  It was formerly inhabited by the monks of Lerins and a 14th century Suquet Tower adds to the affect.  Beside the Hotel De Ville are several coffee shops just waiting for the weary tourist to rest their feet.  The best part is that you can sit outside and people watch while contemplating your next move.  Darcy and I would love an excuse to come back to the Riviera again, WOW, is all I can say!

Barcelona, Spain – March 18th, Tuesday

We stopped in a little place called Narbonne, France along the way.  It had salt beds, houses on stilts, and a beautiful sandy beach.  We ran around collecting shells and sand at about 7:30 pm., so it was already getting dark by then.  The kids had a blast writing “The Allen's were here” in the sand with huge letters.

We arrived at our campsite camping3estrellas at about 11 pm.  Thank goodness security let us in.  He didn't speak any English, but he recognized my name from his reservation list, whew.  We were all very tired from our long trip.  Our mobile home was perfect.  It slept 6 and it looked brand new.  We even had a little garden and a patio table to enjoy.  This campsite is also right on the beach, which turned out to be a soft sandy oasis.  It was nice to come back to after spending the day in a busy city like Barcelona.  This accommodation served us well for 3 nights.  The only negative thing was that our hot water tank was way too small, so you could only have a 2 minute shower.  We used the campsite showers instead, which were hot and allowed us to have a 15 minute shower!

March 19th, Wednesday

Our bus stop was a few blocks from the campsite and we had to drop a lung in order to catch our bus the first morning.  He waited for us, but he didn't look to happy about it.  We met a very nice lady on the bus who was originally from Chile.  She gave us some very good advice like when to get off the bus, lol!

Speaking of buses there was a pick pocket in action on one of the city buses we took.  He kept looking at everyone and at one point I watched him lean down and try to get something out of someone's bag.  He wasn't successful though, thank god.  When we got off of the Metro Jerret felt a guy hit him in the back.  I actually saw him do it and he was coming towards the crowd as they were exiting the Metro station.  I'm sure he was a pick pocketer too.

After the TI office and getting our trusty city map we were on our way.  We discovered the Gothic Quarter that had these narrow, winding streets, which were in fact the old medieval section of Barcelona.  In Roman times it was called Barcino.  Of course, because it's Europe, cars would still drive down these streets.  Any pedestrian caught in their path would have to smash their bodies up against the nearest building to avoid getting hit.  We got some very cool pictures of this area.  I must say that Brittany has turned out to be a fantastic photographer.  She photographed an upshot of a narrow passageway in sepia, that made me envious.  Wow, she's a natural.

We shopped for some souvenirs on our way to the Picasso museum ... our traditional mug, pin, t-shirt, and postcard buys.  I also bought myself a little spinning mini-globe that has an old world patina to it.  That's my favorite purchase so far in Europe!

Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) Museum

When we were in the line up at the Picasso museum we met a very nice Canadian family.  They were on vacation from Ontario.  It was funny, because he said to me, “Hey, you must be Canadian, because I recognized your accent right away!”  My response was, “What, I didn't know I had an accent.”  lol.

The Pablo Picasso museum in Barcelona was better then the one in Paris.  It held 291 of his paintings.  At 12 years old Picasso moved to Barcelona (he was born in Spain) and started his artistic career.  The museum followed his life's work chronologically until his death.  A cool fact is that Spaniards keep both of their father's and mother's surnames in their own name.  So he was Pablo Ruiz Picasso.  Picasso being his mother's maiden name, cool hey?

It showed his blue and rose periods.  The blue period was named after the color used in the work, but also because he had become depressed during his time painting these in Paris.  This was caused by a friends' suicide and his own poverty.  He moved out of this blue period and into the rose period, in which the museum only has one example.  Some of these paintings were among my favorites.  

He also had a private collection of around 40 pieces painted by Renoir, Cezanne, Rousseau, Matisse, and other's on display.  A lot of painters would paint something for him and then sign it with a personal message to him.  It was common practice for painters of this time to give one another their work as a sign of trust.  He also dabbled in pottery and a large number of these pieces were on display as well.

One interesting section showed some abstract drawings that he'd taken from one piece of art in particular.  It was a large painting done by Diego Velazquez called The Ladies in Waiting.  There are several little girls in this painting and Picasso painted them in his distorted abstract manner.  I didn't realize that Picasso was such a varied and talented artist.  All of the kids loved seeing such impressive work displayed in so many mediums.  He even did linoleum painting.  He would carve an image into a piece of linoleum and then paint and print it onto a canvas.  Like a stamping technique.

Las Ramblas

This is a very famous and interesting street to walk down in Barcelona.  Rambla means “stream” in Arabic.  The Ramblas used to be a drainage ditch along the medieval wall, which is now called the Gothic Quarter.  There were dozens of street entertainers along this wide boulevard that ran down the middle of the street.  Most of them stood like statues and then sprung into motion when you dropped a coin in their hat.  One of them looked like he had no head with a hat appearing to hover in mid air above him.  There was also a man seated on a throne with a weird puppet in his hand and we even saw a Micheal Jackson impersonator.  As a tourist this is where you keep your hand on your belongings at all time.

The kids favorite person was a man who did spray painting art.  It took him about 5 minutes to create an amazing painting with a foreground and background, but as you watch him you're not even sure what he's painting until he's finished.  Jerret really wanted to take one home.

The Christopher Columbus monument stood at the end of the Las Ramblas.  It was about 200 feet high and faced the harbor.

On our way back we discovered some booths that were selling small apartment sized animals for the locals.  There were rare birds, turtles, rodents and even some chickens for sale.  Yes, chickens!

It felt very good to come back to our little bungalow at the end of the day.  I prefer this method of accommodation over a hotel, since you feel like you are in a home.  We had a nice big supper and played some family games.  Jerret made up his own game by writing questions on a piece of paper, that we had to answer quickly.  The answers were from his point of view.  He even drew a Van Gogh picture for us to guess.  The answers weren't always correct, but you got a point if you guessed “Jerret's right answer”.

March 20, Thursday

Guell Park, Antoni Gaudi (1852-1926)

First thing this morning we went to the beach at our campsite.  It was so beautiful.  The sand was soft and silky and the water was a calm deep blue color.  Not a green blue like in Nice.  Jerret dug a hole in the sand and said it was my own personal foot bath.  He even made a seat for me to sit in, so I could comfortably dangle my feet into the sand spa.  He's so thoughtful.

We took the bus to Park Guell where Gaudi has some his Art and Architecture on display.  It's a 30 acre garden that Gaudi intended as a 60 residence housing project.  He only finished two houses and he lived in one of them, which is now the Gaudi museum.  We missed going inside, but apparently he had some furniture on display that he had designed.  That would have been very interesting to see.  His house looked like a gingerbread house with icing dripping from the eaves.  He had quite an imagination.  

There was an amazingly colorful dragon fountain at the entrance of the park.  Just beyond that was the Hall of 100 columns.  This was intended for a produce market, when the 60 houses were finished.  Each column is topped with beautiful ceramic and broken glass bottles.  Now it's just a funky place for kids to play hide and seek in and for vendors to tote their wares.  Above the columns there are beautiful benches designed to fit your body ergonomically.  Each bench has a unique mosaic of colors and designs.  When you view the bench area from above it has a zig-zagging wavy pattern to it.

This was truly a relaxing and artistically charged way to spend the afternoon.  We had a nice hike as a family; took some photos from on top of the park's hill (which had a panoramic view of Barcelona); ate some authentic food from Spain at the park's cafe; and topped it off by buying some lovely Gaudi salt and pepper shaker's to remember our day.

A little side note: there was this guy walking around the park with a camouflage mini-skirt on and I mean mini!  He was a large man and I don't think he was wearing any underwear.  Not a pretty sight!  We were sitting down in the cafe and Darcy said, “Lisa, don't look!”  So of course  I looked and OMG!!

Brittany saw this Asian guy kick a pigeon by mistake and then say sorry to it a dozen times.  I told Brittany that he was probably a Buddhist, since they revere life so much.

Yup, this was also a people watching experience as well!

Chocolate Museum (Museu de la Xocolata)

We visited this museum and of course sampled their chocolates as well.  It tells the story of how chocolate first came to Europe.  It came from the Aztec culture to Europe via Barcelona's port, where it was first unloaded and processed.  

There were chocolate sculptures everywhere.  Of course there was one of the Sagrada Familia Church (that Antoni Gaudi designed).  There were fun chocolate sculptures like a horse drawn coach with a cowboy on it and there was also one of Chicken Little.  They showed films on how the rich people were the only ones who could afford chocolate due to it's high tax.  Eventually the peasants could try them as the centuries passed and the taxes lowered.

At the end of the day:

We visited the La Boqueria market, which is a thriving produce market with vendors galore.  There are huge ham legs worth 100 Euros each, bags of live snails, and ready to eat fruit plates.  This was right in the middle of busy Barcelona.

We had to pack the car that night, because we left at 6 am. the next morning.  Check out was very easy, we just had to drop the key in the mailbox and we were off.

Foix, France/The Caves of France – one of the natural wonders of the world

March 21st – Friday

Grotte Niaux

We drove to Foix early this first morning back in France, so we could make our 11 am. Niaux Cave booking. We stopped in the heart of the Pyrenees Mountain range of Southern France.  The Caves of France are a natural wonder of the world and are over 1,000,000 years old.    There are approximately 300 caves in a 10 km radius and over 20 caves just in the Niaux valley where we were staying.  We were fortunate to visit the four caves that we booked, because the tours have been limited due to the degradation of the cave's paintings.

During the last ice age prehistoric dwellings were confined to the Pyrenees area due to surrounding mountain glaciers.  About 15,000 years ago climatic improvements allowed colonization to happen in the valleys.  During the 3,000 years that followed more than 30 dwelling sites were inhabited and are known of today.  The Magdalenians inhabited Western Europe at this time.  They were similar to present day man in all aspects.  Their encampments were situated inside the entrance way of the caves due to it's natural light.  All of the paintings were found in the back of the caves.  This helped to protect their artwork over several ages, such as the Bronze Age, Iron Age and the Middles Ages.

They also camped in the valley when the weather was good.  They were nomads who relied on the animal herds for food.  About 10,000 years ago the climatic, ecological and environmental changes had come to an end.  Then the Palaeolithic period gave way to the Mesolithic society, which in turn allowed the arrival of the Neolithic period and agriculture.

Similar to the North American First Nations the Magdalenians made full use of their natural resources.  They would make art by carving the left over animal bones and antlers.  Needles were made from the antlers as well, so they could sew their clothing made from animal leather.  Weapons also came from the bones, but they later learned to use flint stone for spear heads.  By taking out the bone marrow inside of the bones they were able to make fire.  They would put bone marrow and animal fat together inside of a hollowed out stone to make primitive candles.  This allowed them to travel into the depths of the cave.

The tour was in French and we made it with 15 minutes to spare.  Our girls translated the tour into English for Darcy and I.  The Niaux cave turned out to be quite spectacular.  There was a large metal structure at the massive entrance that held a time line and photographs of the early discoveries inside of the cave.  After climbing onto the observation platform we had a panoramic view of the valley below.  Our group had 20 people, which is the maximum that they will take inside of the cave.  The entrance to the cave is man made, because they want to preserve the natural one.  There are over 2 kilometers of high arches and galleries to explore.

Niaux has the most authentic cave drawings in the Pyrenees area.  We went to the end of a passageway to discover the Salon Noir, which is a large semi-circular room about 20-35 meters wide.  Over 80% of the cave drawings in Niaux were done here.  There were bison, horse, ibex, and deer.  Prehistoric cave art wasn't recognized as such until 1902, so at first the archaeologists just wondered why such amateur drawings of animals were drawn on the cave's walls.  Some of the drawings were done with charcoal, which allowed them to date them accurately.  Carbon dating is only out by approximately 160 years either way.  Some of Niaux's cave drawings date back 12-14,000 years.  

There was also an Auroch engraved on the ground at the entrance to the Salon Noir.  When possible they would use the natural curve in a rock to show the back of a bison, which meant they didn't have to paint on that particular area.

To make the red paint they would mix hematite (ground up) and then mix fat or water with it to bind it.  To make black paint they would use manganese dioxide.  There is regular flooding in the first 200 meters of the cave, so no paintings are found here.  There were only traces of the Bronze age civilization found here.  You have to venture quite far back into the cave where moisture didn't have a chance to destroy any evidence of the Magdalenian civilization.  A lot of paintings in the Pyrenees caves have been affected by rain water dripping down into the cave.  The calcium deposits in the water are covering them up.

On the passageway walls we also saw some graffiti art.  The oldest one dates back to 1602.  People had signed their names and home towns on the walls.  Unfortunately, sometimes they would sign there name over top of a prehistoric painting!

One thing that the analysts can't figure out completely are the signs that early man had written on the caves walls.  They are geometric figures with a symbolic meaning.  They're usually in close proximity to the animal paintings.  The signs can be dashes, bars, dots or vertical lines.  At Niaux the signs are usually linear and red.  

In all of the caves we visited there were massive stalactites and stalagmites forming.  Some of them grew together over time to form a mammoth structure.

Camping L'Arize

We checked into our campsite before going on to our next cave.  Luckily there was a mix up with our booking on the Internet.  Even though we paid for a bungalow that sleeps 5, we ended up with a large wooden chalet that sleeps 8!!  It was beautiful.  There were separate heaters in each bedroom and everyone got their own room.  The hot water tank was huge, so we always had nice hot showers.  Believe me that's a big deal.  When we had the tiny tank in Barcelona Jerret was unpleasantly surprised by his cold shower.  It was quiet and very private.  We'd definitely go back to that camp ground again.  Oh yah, and here's the not so funny part, the fridge in the chalet was bigger then our fridge in Austria.

Grotte de Bedeilhac

This cave had a very large opening – 40 meters wide by 20 meters high.  It was used as an airplane hanger during the war.  They once shot a movie there where a plane flew in and out of the cave.  This should help you to picture just how big it was.  Unfortunately, the war activity ruined any evidence that the Magdalenians used the cave as an encampment, since the opening was excavated for the hanger use.  This main entrance was 1 km in length.

The good news is that they found paintings and these amazing cave models made from clay in Bedeilhac.  We ventured deep into the cave as far back as our bodies would allow us to go.  We had to crawl in one part and then crouch down.  Our guide told us that about 20 feet from where we were there was an original molding of a bison.  The Shaman (a religious member) of the group is speculated to be the artist of this work, since the animals were considered sacred symbols.  He would have had to crawl on his belly and then reach forward and mold the clay in order to create this.  

There were also paintings found in the same area on a very low ceiling.  We crouched down and discussed how the painter would have had to contort his body in order to draw these animals.  Someone else would have had to hold the torch so that the artist could see in this confined area.  We also got to see more clay moldings a few feet away that were unfinished.  The paintings in this cave were older then the Niaux findings and dated back 14,700 years.

They did a geological survey in this cave and dug down 10 meters.  They found a deep river bed under a small layer of calcium.  At one time a river bed flowed through the cave and left behind 8 meters of sediment.  The calcium was formed after the river bed had already dried up, from dripping rain water.  Soon after the water left the cave-dwellers would have come to use the caves for shelter.  The river in this cave happened after the last ice age, when a glacier melted.

Sometimes a stalactite grows so large that it meets and joins with a stalagmite.  Over time it can get so heavy that it will either break off or sink into the soft clay.  We saw an example of one of these laying on the cave floor and it was massive.  It was probably 10 meters in length.  The highest point of this back cave was 25 meters and you could easily fit a football field inside of it.  The cave was actually divided in half by ... get this ... a massive stalactite/stalagmite structure that was 170 meters in circumference.  That's not even the biggest one discovered to date.

It's actually rare to find a positive hand print on a cave wall.  They would usually put their hand onto the wall and then blow the paint dust onto their hand, which caused a negative print.  We witnessed an adult man's positive red colored hand print on the side of a large stalagmite.  The only reason it wasn't washed away as the stalagmite formed was that this particular stalagmite was forming from the inside out!  Our guide welled up with tears when she explained to us that they found a baby's hand print on a wall in another Pyrenees cave.  You could actually see that the mother was holding the baby's hand against the wall as they created the print.

They also had this large helium balloon in the cave that the French Science center put there.  They're experimenting to see how long it will hold the gas and stay afloat.  They used the cave for their test since the temperature inside here generally stays at an even 12 degrees Celsius.  The Bedeilhac Cave also has the room and cave height for it.

On the way out we saw a little bat hanging from the ceiling only inches away from us.  He was hibernating, which can be up to 5 months out of the year.  The guide called him chauve souris.  He was only about the size of an egg.

We were so fortunate on this tour, because there were only the 5 of us and she did it in English.  This was my favorite tour out of all 4.

On the way back to our cabin we stopped at a French grocery store.  They had Rice Crispies, which was very cool for the kids.  They are missing their North American products so much.  For supper Darcy cooked steak, and for dessert: crème brule and chocolate mousse.

March 22nd, Saturday

Grotte de Lombrives

Our campsite owner delivered fresh bread and croissants to us this morning, yummy.

Grotte de Lombrives had a little train that you take up the mountain, but we were late catching it, so we had to walk up.  Our group size for the tour was 40 people strong, yikes.  Even though our friend booked it in English for us, it ended up being in French.  The girls had to translate for us again.  This cave is in the Guinness Book of World Records as the largest cave in Europe.

Unique to this cave were these cauliflower formations (stalactites).  Apparently these worms got trapped inside of some rainwater that flowed down into the cave.  Eventually the worms became microscopic, lost their skin pigmentation, and they went blind.  This led to the special ceiling art.

Then we walked down a long low corridor.  It was spread apart down the middle of the floor and the ceiling for quite a long ways.  An earthquake had caused this deep crack in the cave.  Then we entered an even lower and narrower passage that went on for about 20 feet.  After this claustrophobic experience we entered a room called the Cathedral.  They used to play classical music in there, because of it's natural acoustics, but it disturbed the animals who were hibernating so they stopped.  They still hold concerts in a separate area of the cave.  The highest point in this room is 99 meters in height!  It was massive.  There were these clay pools on the floor of the cave that were formed from the Spring run off, that made it's way into the cave from the mountain top.  From our vantage point it looked like a large beehive pattern.

Along another section of our walk the ceiling seemed to round out like a tunnel.  When you looked up you could see some holes in the ceiling that would shoot up on an angle.  The guide told us that these were called chimneys.  When the glacier melted and a powerful river once flowed through the cavern it would put pressure on the ceiling.  The force of the water was so great that it would cause these long holes or chimneys. Even if logic makes you think that the water flowed down to form these long holes, you learn that water flowed straight up! That sure demonstrates the power of glaciers and water pressure.

At the end of a passage we came to a natural opening in the mountain where moss grew because of the sunlight.  Some bats had found their way in and they were hibernating there.  Since Brittany mentioned it to her she let her shine the light up and show the group the little collection of bats.

The neat thing about Grotte de Lombrives is that they light up the special rock formations, so that you can see them really well.  It looks very beautiful, but we couldn't take any photographs.  The guide only let us take one as we were leaving.  This one area was fascinating, though I don't know if I can explain it very well.  In the middle of the wall was an opening about 2 feet high and 20 feet long.  They back lit it, which showed these little stalactites and stalagmites that had joined together.  

There are no paintings in this cave, because the glacier melted here after the Magdalenians left.  When they were traveling the area looking for a dwelling this cave was blocked off by a glacier.  After our tour we climbed around and explored another cave beside the Lombrives cave.

Grotte De la Vache

This was a great cave to end with, since it was small and we got another private English tour!  Man we received a crash course in archeology, geology, and prehistory in 2 days.  After 25 years of careful excavation they found fireplaces, flint tools, weapons, spear-points and harpoons.  Even though this is a small cave it's one of the most important archaeological sites in the Pyrenees Mountain range.

At the caves entrance was a rock formation that looked just like a cow.  In French, Vache means cow. The rock had a tail, utters and all.  I took a photograph of it, so you should see it in the pictures.  She allowed us to take photographs, since there are no cave drawings here.

More then 200 engraved and carved bones and deer antlers were found here.  They had a museum on site that you could visit as you left, that displayed the replicas of the Magdalenian's artwork.  The originals are kept in The Louvre Museum in Paris.  

They had to excavate up to four feet of clay in one section of the cave.  At one point the cave flooded with 3 feet of water during their dig.  No human bones were found in any of the caves.  They know that the burial ritual has existed since the Neanderthal period.  The bones they did find had artwork on them such as: mountain lions, mountain goats, deer, bison, and wolves.  Or they were taken apart to be used for making fire (using the bone marrow).  They found some wolf bones and teeth perfectly preserved in the clay here.

In one area of the cave they found over 20 fireplaces.  They speculate that they were used to keep them warm in the winter, since they were quite small and no bones were found nearby.  In the same area they found beds.  These were made by putting poles around a dug out hole.  The hole was then lined with vegetation.  Then they would wrap some animal-hide around the poles for warmth.  To get to this area the cave dwellers would have had to crawl on their belly for quite some distance until they reached this open well hidden cave.  Normally cave dwellers would camp at the opening of a cave for natural light, but Grotte de la Vache had two openings, so the wind could come through quite easily.  This would have forced them to find this alternative sleeping area.  In this area they also found 25 candles, which are made by hollowing out a rock.  They would fill it with animal fat and marrow and make a candle.

Further back in the cave they discovered some pottery from the Bronze Age and the Iron Age as well.  I have photographs of these.  There is another large cave further in, but you'd have to crawl on your belly to get to it.  The archaeologists gave up after some difficulty in their excavations.  This kept flooding as well and since they didn't find any artifacts they gave up after 10 meters of digging.

March 23rd, Sunday

The last prehistoric place that we visited was called Parc de la Prehistoire.  This was so worth it!  Even though it was blizzarding at one point during our visit!  It was actually quite beautiful.  They had an imitation cave with a waterfall that you could walk through.  There was a narrow path surrounded by water that you had to cross in order to get to another area, brrrr I didn't want to fall in.  

The park was set up with different staging areas.  The first place that we visited was the spear throwing area.  Yes, we all got to throw spears!  Very cool.  The Magdalenian's fashioned this tool that you hook onto the spear (made from antler bone), which helps you to propel it greater distances.  After a lesson we threw about 4 spears of different lengths.  It was so much fun.  Our targets were deers painted on tarps that covered stacks of hay bails.

Then we went to an area with teepee's and tents and a man showed us how to make fire.  He rubbed a stick onto a piece of wood with a hole carved into it, that had mushrooms and sage in it for fuel. Then he used flint to make a spark.  After he made a spark he transferred it to some vegetation, blew on it, and then voila!  He did this while he was holding it too.  Approximately 400,000 years ago man lit his first fire.

Flint was a very important resource during this time period.  It was hard to come by and people had to bring it here from another region.  The tribes would trade flint for food to help them make fires and tools.

We sat down and listened to a man speak French (I actually understood some of it) as he explained about cave paintings and the different types that they've discovered.  When they painted a man they never made him look real, he almost always looked like a ghost.  They speculate that they didn't want to make them real, due to spiritual beliefs.  They thought it might take the man's spirit, so they made them appear unnatural.  He talked about how they made their paint and the tools that they used.  They fashioned paint brushes from animal hair and sticks.  

After this the girls tried their hand at cave art.  Sharice made a bison and an ibex.  Brittany drew a horse.  Then we all ran through a Labyrinth that they had on the grounds, which was a lot of fun.  

My favorite part was the hands on archaeological dig that we took part in.  They had a large grid pattern sectioned off and numbered.  We split up into teams and then we had to study the different sectors for specific items.  We recorded it onto a piece of paper.  

It broke down like this:

Artifacts (art objects, carved candles, or needles made from bones), bones, or flint.

You could tell it was a fire area for sure because the rocks were in a circle; there were charred bones nearby; some rocks had turned red in color; and there was charcoal in the circle.  We also saw a butchery area where they sharpened a bone to help them cut the meat.  Another area had a large concentration of needles, so this must have been their sewing area.  When you looked at a larger area (several grid areas combined) you noticed that there was a large stone circle, which was used to hold the poles of a large tent.  Another area had broken bones, which was the area where they scraped the marrow.

After we were done he showed us a miniature version of the large sectioned off dig area, that was sitting on a small table.  He brought over a tiny tent and he also had a box full of little people.  There was a person sewing, a person butchering and a person carving art out of bones.  He set them up over top of the mini-dig area and showed us how they lived!  Archeology is not about the objects found, it's about the study of how they once lived.  The big picture.  Man, was this interesting.  We all found this very fascinating and the kids learned so much.

Before we left we picked up some books on Prehistory.  Prehistory is defined as the period of time before there was language and writing as we know it today.

We then drove to Millau, France, which has the tallest bridge in the world.  Jerret has it in his Guinness Book of World Records.  We arrived at night, so we couldn't see much.  We took a night picture anyway, that you'll see on the website.  Just before we drove across the bridge we were at 790 meters in altitude.

March 24th, Easter Monday

Lyon, France

We got to Lyon France at about 1:00 am. and man were we tired.  The hotel that I booked was a little worn out, but the sheets were clean.  After a few hours of sleep, we ate breakfast and headed home.  We stopped in at a store in France called GIF, which looks exactly like Micheal's in Kelowna.  They had a lot of discount stuff, so we went a little crazy.  We ended up buying a portable DVD player for the van that was only 75 Euros!  It also plays CD's, CDR's, and AVI files.

Overall this was a great trip!

Lisa Allen

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