Martigues

On our way to the airport in Marseilles Friday, Nina and I stopped and lunched at Martigues, a cozy little town by the sea, or at least by a canal that leads to the sea... All pics here.

Bridges over to an island. I saw a sign saying that during times of festivities, the island was closed for car traffic to anyone not wearing a badge or something like that.




A wall painting. Wheee!

Saint Baudille

Took a trip up to mount Saint Baudille earlier today. There's a TV broadcasting tower at the top, and the views are absolutely stunning. You feel like you can see all of France from up there. All pics from this series can be found here.

Indeed, indeed.


Views from the ascent.






Horned cattle.


The TV tower.


Views from the top. Just stunning.








Views from the descent.

Quote of the Day

Doris: You have no values, your whole life is nihilism, cynicism, sarcasm and orgasm.
Harry: In France I could run on that slogan and win.
- Woody Allen in "Deconstructing Harry"

Grotte des Clamouse

Thursday we went to the Grotte de Clamouse, which is just up the road from Pont Diable. Sadly, the experience was somewhat diminished by the guide, who spoke about one sentence of English for every 150 sentences of French. He would go on and on and on about something in French, then at the end say "zis iz very fazinating stone, ok?" or something equally inane. There was also one instance of French arty-fartyness, with a completely uninteresting light show and accompanying music.

The cave itself was interesting and varied, so here are the pics, all of 'em can be found here.



We learned that the white crystals had been made during a cold climate, while most of the colored ones came from periods with a tropical climate.










Yes, these are rock formations. The drops of water inside a stalagtite are sometimes blocked by stone, and then the water will take all sorts of directions, creating the most incredible formations. This is what makes Clamouse special, it has lots of these.





These thin, thin, stones are hollow.




Some forms are... ahem... suggestive...


Robes of rock.

Grotte des Demoiselles

On Wednesday Nina and I pretty much stumbled over this absofuckinlutely stunning cave in southern France called Grotte des Demoiselles. The name comes from a local legend about how a shepherd fell down the (then) opening and the last thing he saw before he fainted were dancing damsels - demoiselles means maidens.

We had a good time there. The temperature is a cool 14 degrees celcius and the guide spoke some English. We and two Dutch were the only non-French speakers in the group, but he walked with us up front and explained what we were going to see at the next stop, so that when we got there he could talk to the frogs. He took his time, didn't rush anything, and made the whole walk a pleasant experience.

All pics from this cave can be seen here.

Have a good reaction now, you hear! And suggest your neighbors to be vigilant. And English speaking...


The original opening. Nowadays there is a blasted opening with a funicular to take people into the mountain, it was built in the late 20s and early 30s.


The skeleton of a cave bear - ursus spelaeus - was found in the first room of the grotte. There's also a not very convincing copy of one standing in a niche on the funicular ride.


The actual caves. Wow. These rocks have been formed over the span of 150-160 million years. There's not been any new development in the last 10,000 years, because the climate has been too dry. However, the moisture and carbondioxide produced by thousands of visitors every year have given fungus plenty of opportunities to thrive.
















Bones of the earth...


Here be dragons...

Fuck this

I've had a good, long time thinking about this, and I've decided to leave Aniane early. Not one single fucker in this little town speaks passable English, and I can't stomach two weeks without uttering a complete sentence. I'm gonna clean up some stuff and do some laundry, but Monday I am out of here. Fuck this.

Odds and ends

My Norwegian friend Nina came here Tuesday and brightened my day considerably. It was nice to be able to speak in full sentences again... We went for a ride on Wednesday and by sheer dumb luck ended up at one of the world's nicest caves, La Grotte des Demoiselles. Thursday we first went to La Grotte des Camouse then went for a drive around the countryside, all the way down to the coast. I'll post pics of the cave stuff later. She went home to Norway yesterday and I am now looking at two weeks of grunting and pointing at things, maybe with the odd venture into something not wholly unlike French. Sigh. Anyway, here are some odds and ends, photowise.

The sandwich at my regular lunchplace on the esplanade... it's almost as big as my underarm and has a huge slice of cheese running the length of it.


From Lac du Salagou, a lake about 20 mins from Aniane. On the way back we indulged in some milkshake and ice cream at a McDonalds. They had AIR CONDITIONING! *sob*




Wascally wabbits in Saint Guilhem, where we spent some time Wednesday.


This fucker can be seen just about everywhere down here, it almost feels like the American south.


Some bugs we saw on Wednesday. There are a number of things that creep and crawl in these parts, and I want to stomp on them all.




Some nice pics we took at a roadside stop not far from the Grotte des Demoiselles.