Because We Can

Personal note, Linda’s mother-in-law would have been 101 today. May she rest in peace, and may her fallings pass with time. Archeology thought for the day. Every 1-2 months of excavation results in 5+ years of research to understand what was discovered. 7 plus hours of driving today. Not every day is a big cave day. And hopefully not ever day is a rainy day. However this may turn out to be a very special day. One of our tour members, Jon, has made flutes of the same type as the ones the cave painter made. If things go according to plan, we may get to hear him play one in a cave we visit today. A sound that has not been heard for some tens of thousands years in that cave. Talk about beyond awesome. Everyone’s fingers are crossed for this one. The Pyrenees. Spain is ever nearer. Tour de France monument. Years ago, before all the drug and doping scandals year after year, I never missed watching Le Tour, even getting up in the middle of the night to see it when we li...

We weren’t the only ones up early this morning. One advantage of the bus leaving before the sun is up is that when the sun does come up you have some great views. There are enough castles that the names never stick. Baffled Bob. Pech Merle, here the cave art is mostly from 26,000 years ago. As with all the caves, the number of visitors and the duration of the visit is very strictly controlled. Postcard photos courtesy of Linda. The spotted horse and hands were even better in the cave. The mammoth is especially life like. This was a period of extreme cold, so the long hair of the mammoth is shown to be just as it was at the time. The type of terrain where the caves can be found. The type of terrain where modern man is found. The name of the town is St. Cirq Lapopie. All the streets in this town seemed to run in one of two directions. Either up or down, with down being the prevailing direction. I think that is why Linda chose to eat very near where the bus left us off. Smart Linda. This ...

Yes, I acknowledge being many days behind in my writing. There were simply not enough hours in the day to see and assimilate, have time for myself, and then write. This is being written on the 15th, a week late, as we enjoy Germany, so hopefully I can write two posts each day until I am caught up. Hopeful but Doubtful Bob I will also try to post which sites we saw each day, as it is possible you may want to visit them. Looking back, this was the best and the most tiring tour we have ever done, but was nothing short of awesome. There were tour members who have taught this their whole lives, but were now having their first opportunity to actually see the art work. It was nothing less than a fantastic group of fellow travelers. Many kudos to Roger Parks for suggesting we would enjoy a Nat Geo tour. It rained all last night, the water pouring into the river just made this photo. This town is Montignac and the hotel we are at is Hotel la Roseraie right on the river. Our first stop was Lasca...