Mother Nature Shows Off Underground...

We’d all been to caverns before, but this was the first time any of us had ever been on a boat underground and we were definitely impressed. At the end of the ride, we met up with a tour guide who walked us around for about an hour. Luckily Tony knew enough French to share some of facts with the rest of us. Even without full explanations, we thoroughly enjoyed the visit because of the incredible beauty of the stalactites and lakes. The above formation was called the Pile of Plates. While we only travelled 1 kilometer from the chasm, over 40 kilometers of galleries have been explored so far. It’s incredible to think that there could be still undiscovered caverns hiding such beauty elsewhere in the Dordogne. 

Underground Adventures...

Imagine that it’s 1865 and you have a bet to go to the bottom of the chasm in the town of Padirac, rumored to be the Gates of Hell. You descend the 245 feet, but quickly return to the top to claim your money. Now it’s 24 years later and you just happen to be the father of modern speleology, so you decide it’s time to go back and truly explore this giant hole. Of course, you don’t have a nice staircase or emergency lights to guide you, but you are brave and maybe a little crazy. You grab some buddies and find another hole to descend an additional 90 feet where you discover a subterranean river system and evidence of 14th century inhabitants. You eventually buy the chasm and turn it into a tourist attraction in 1899. You didn’t find the treasure you were searching for, but found something to be enjoyed by many for centuries instead. Fast forward 110 years and now it’s our turn to visit the Padirac Chasm. We didn’t need to be brave or crazy, just curious to see this wondrous place. 

Enjoying the Sun, Views and a Cave...

I’ve always thought the Loire Valley was beautiful, but must admit that the Dordogne region is much prettier with its hills and old stone construction. The weather was beautiful when we found this outdoor restaurant on the banks of the Dordogne River in Montignac. After lunch we went to a 16th century chateau and a museum about cave paintings found in the area. On Friday we visited a reconstruction of a cave discovered in 1940 by a boy and his dog that contained 2,000 paintings  believed to be 17,000 years old. Due to heavy damage to the paintings by carbon dioxide from the visitors, the original cave was closed to the public in 1963. Lascaux II was made to be an exact replica and opened in 1983. It is now an UNESCO World Heritage Site. While Ashlynn had a difficult time understanding what was special about seeing a fake cave, it really was cool. 

Further Afield in France...

After Vivynne booked flights to join us for another Easter at the Chateau (her family’s 2nd and our 4th), she started researching somewhere for us to explore for a few days. She chose the Dordogne region, about a 6-hour drive (plus the time to fix a flat) southwest of the Loire Valley. We had a weekend alone at the Chateau, then Vivynne’s family joined us there for a night to recover from jetlag before hitting the road for a 3-night stay in the medieval city of Sarlat. The 14th century historic center of this market town was very quaint. This area is famous for its foie gras, so duck was very popular at the restaurants since there would be a lot of parts to get rid out after removing the livers. Luckily we managed to find some other more appetizing options.

Funny Money...

It definitely took awhile to get used to using euros on a daily basis. It also took awhile to break the bad habit of converting prices into US Dollars. At first I was curious how prices were different, but since the dollar is worth less, it’s a pretty depressing habit which makes everything seem very expensive. Luckily, Jimmy’s paid in euros, so it’s all relative. The biggest physical difference in the currencies is there is no 1-euro bill; instead there’s a 1-euro coin and a 2-euro coin. Again, it took awhile to get used to the fact that coins are worth a fair bit and not just something to stuff into a jar. Best of all, unlike other European countries, the pragmatic Dutch have decided against using the 1-cent and 2-cent coins. Prices are rounded at the cash register to the nearest 5 cents, which I think is great. Each country on the euro mints different coins and we’re enjoying trying to collect one of each.

An Ugly Sight in Brussels...

Our weekend in Brussels also included some sadness as Jane found out her favorite uncle had died and we saw these horrible signs of hatred marring a historical site. Jane is deeply disappointed in the local government and the lack of response evidenced in not cleaning this garbage up. Even more sad is that they are unlikely to catch the garbage that did it.

Working Out in Brussels...

When I found out that Jimmy would be away over a weekend for business, I contacted our friends in Brussels to see if we could train down for a quick visit. The girls were thrilled that it wouldn’t be a sightseeing trip, but just a chance to hang out with friends (although Jane and I did sneak in a visit to the local museum to see medieval tapestries.) The weather wasn’t great, but we managed to get to a park each day; this playground was particularly interesting because of its fancy exercise equipment. Jane introduced us to one of her favorite vegetarian recipes for sweet potato falafels, which I was happy to be able to make in Holland. 

Fun in Primary School...

This term ended with two special events at Ashlynn’s school. The first was Science Week with a theme of inventions. Ashlynn came up with a several ideas for the science fair including the I-Pen and a page turner for books, but settled on designing the 3rd grade award-winning concept for the Matchomatic that helps to match clothes. Later in the month was Red Nose Day, which is a bi-annual  fundraising day in the UK with a theme of “Do Something Funny for Money.” Ashlynn decided she wanted to be a snail tamer and was surprised by what a great job her daddy did on making her a cape. Her school raised over 3,000 Euros and the kids had lots of laughs throughout the day. 

A Smile in the Sky...

March 20th was a beautiful day and Sally invited me into the backyard for a juice after school while Ashlynn and Andrew played football (aka soccer.) We were chatting and enjoying the rare afternoon sunshine when Ashlynn told us to look high in the sky to see an upside down rainbow. I thought I'd misunderstood or she was imagining things, but sure enough there was an inverted rainbow. Sally and I were shocked as we’d never heard of such a thing; I joked that perhaps it was a signal to begin the alien attack. Otherwise known as a circumzenithal arc, this beautiful light show is caused by refraction of the sun through ice crystals and is rare below the Artic Circle. A normal rainbow started to form below this arc, which would have been really a sight to see, but never fully materialized. Surprisingly, a second arc showed up lower in the sky, but Sally’s camera didn’t have a wide enough lens to capture both. To finish the show, there was also a large spot (perhaps a halo or some other optical phenomenen caused by cirrus clouds and ice crystals.) Thanks Mother Nature!

Singing Around the Campfire...

As the American International Rep at our school, I worked with Veronica to come up with a script fitting for this year’s theme of Songs Around the World for the school’s international show. We quickly decided on singing a medley of folk and pop songs, and started recruiting kids to join us (apparently by including Canadians, one of the Canadian moms feared that I risked causing an international incidence, but I reminded her that we were just lowly parent reps not Ambassadors.) Jimmy made a campfire out of fabric and a fan that he carried on his bike to the performance. He played an old codger complete with a beard and a bottle of booze. The big hit of the show was when Elvis appeared, played by Max despite his British accent. We all enjoyed the ending when we said “Elvis has left the building.”

5,000 Clicks...

Last year, I reported that it took me 25 months to cycle 2,000 kilometers, but I expected that number to increase rapidly once we started cycling to school from our new house. Now I’m happy to report that in the last 12 months, I cycled 3,000K (1,865 miles). While this might not sound like a lot to my serious cycling buddies, keep in mind that I cycle for transportation without lycra in rain or shine. The girls have also really increased their mileage as Ashlynn’s roundtrip is almost 7 miles per day and Veronica’s is 5.5. You can see that Veronica is really turning into a Little Dutch Girl as she’s mastered cycling while carrying an umbrella. I, on the other hand, won’t be mistaken as Dutch because no self-respecting Dutch lady would ride a man’s bike since you can’t hop on/off gracefully while wearing a skirt. 

April Fools!

Any chance you believed Wednesday’s entry? Yes, those are real photos of the girls in our pool just after we moved in last July. And, yes, it’s true that our pool doesn’t have a heater. But, no, it isn’t warm enough to use in March or even in July for that matter. If fact, there wasn’t even a heat wave last year at all so I never got in. As ridiculous as it is to have a pool in this cold, windy country, maybe we’ll luck out and get to have a pool party one of these days.

Benefit of Global Warming?

While it’s rare (and politically incorrect) to talk about possible benefits of global warming, we’re starting to see positive effects here in Holland. Surprisingly, it looks like having a pool in our yard will actually come in handy as the temperatures here are rising. Our landlord didn’t spend the big bucks to put in a pool heater, so for decades the pool was probably only used a few days a year when a freak heat wave came through. Now, however, it’s only March and it’s already warm enough for the kids to hit the water. Maybe by summer it’ll even be warm enough for me.