Random Fate

Unintentional cultural irony of the day...

I had to take a "Occupational Health and Safety" class today, after having been on site here in France for over a year.

As the instructor, a woman, said, "You must not dress in shorts when you come to work, you must dress professionally," I could not help but notice the 10+ inch gap between the bottom of her shirt and the top of her jeans, not the largest I've observed since higher temperatures have arrived here, nor the lowest-waisted pants I have had the pleasure to observe on women, among the other, shall we name them revealing fashions associated with warmer temperatures here in the southern portion of France.

At least 8 inches of this particular gap in the dress of the instructor lecturing on dressing professionally was between her navel and the top of her jeans, with all the exposure that implies...

As I said, an unintentional cultural irony upon what is "dressing professionally", at least as viewed by an American male.

Technorati Tags: observations on France

An interesting day

This morning, around 8:30, when I was walking from one building to another at the site where I work in France, I could hear the booming of the artillery they use to deliberately instigate avalanches in the ski areas nearby before the slopes open for the skiers. It was interesting to hear the distant echoing booming as I looked at the morning sun rising over the snow capped southern Alps, with wispy clouds clinging to the peaks and an intense, beautiful blue sky above...

It was a shame to turn away and go back to work.

Then, this afternoon, I attended a meeting with the US Ambassador to France. He was at our facility to tour it and discuss with our management what we needed to press France to change so that doing business here is a bit easier. He did not have to take the time out of his schedule to meet with all of the expatriates from the US (not just those from my company, but also those from another, non-US-based company in our alliance here) and listen to our concerns and answer our questions, but he did choose to do so.

There were questions not only about mundane concerns such as reciprocity on drivers licenses but also on the possible effects from the seemingly imminent lifting of the embargo by the European Union on military sales to China. While the answers were all those that strictly followed the administration line, and were couched in terms one would expect from a diplomat, the gesture of making the time in his schedule speaks well of this particular Ambassador. Not forgetting the "little people" means more than it first appears, even if nothing truly meaningful comes out of it.

But then again, at times I like to take the optimistic, non-cynical viewpoint just to remember what it was like, long ago before my idealism broke my heart...

A stark change from living in Austin

This was taken at around 9:00AM from the living room window of my apartment (the window was open, the lens is clean, the fuzzy spots are snowflakes):

(click for a larger image)

Yep, it's winter.

Interesting, if you know history

It turns out that the Hope Diamond originally came from the French crown of King Louis XIV.

That should provide some comfort for all of the France-bashers out there, an American museum (the Smithsonian) has possession of the largest and most precious jewel from the French monarchy.

Lest we forget, the French monarchy sponsored and supported the American Revolution, for reasons of their own, but still, the United States would not exist if it was not for the French monarchy, and the French Revolution overthrowing that monarchy may well not have occurred if not for the money spent on sponsoring those American rebels in the 1770s...

Oddly enough, even though the two revolutions, American and French, are linked, they arose from different fundamental causes. The American Revolution, even though a new type of government arose from it, was in reality a conservative reaction. The colonies had been pretty much left to themselves for many years before what is known in the US as the French and Indian War, and it was the efforts of the English government to make the colonies pay for that war that prompted the unrest and rebellion. In other words, the revolutionaries didn't want things to change, they wanted to be left alone to be self-governing as they had been before the war they were being asked to help pay for.

In contrast, the French Revolution arose because the French monarchy was bankrupt, after spending the money to thwart the British in the American Revolution. That money was spent not to help the American rebels, but instead to harm the English. The French government was forced to call for an Estates General meeting to raise taxes, and it was the Estates General that essentially ignited the French Revolution. Since that revolution was against the status quo, rather than an attempt to preserve it as the American Revolution was, chaos resulted from old animosities being released.

Following the chain down after these two revolutions, the current French Republic (I've lost count, I think it's the Sixth Republic) is a direct descendant of the ostensible Republic that arose out of the French Revolution (keeping in mind they still revere Napoleon Bonaparte in France, even though he was Corsican, not French... it doesn't have to make sense if it increases their visions of glory, just as it doesn't have to make sense in America, either...).

So, in the end, our problems with France may result from the fact that they paid for our independence, which resulted in the chaos of the French Revolution, a revolution that was not driven as a conservative reaction to new impositions as was the American Revolution, but instead was a true turnover. One could say that the French have been in a continual state of turmoil ever since.

The next time you say "but we saved their asses in BOTH World Wars"... recall that WE may not have even existed if not for monarchical France, and republican France may not have existed except for that support and the governmental bankruptcy that accompanied it.

Even over 200 years ago, the world was more interconnected than we are willing to recognize.

History matters, but you need to remember to look back far enough.

Vignettes from walking around Grenoble last Saturday

Searching in the open-air markets that have sprung up in every square (called places) for gifts that are unique to France, but the only things easily found that are truly “French” (as opposed to stuff mass-produced in China or artisan work that resembles what I’ve seen in Portland and Seattle and Austin and everywhere I’ve gone to outdoor markets in the world) is food. Cheese and bread don’t travel well on a 14 hour plane ride, and the sausages might elicit exclamations of revulsion upon sight of them rather than gratitude for the gift.

Hearing unfamiliar music that must be for Christmas because of the word “Noel” (the French word for Christmas), with the ever present French-cliché accordion in the band, then hearing a tune that is oddly familiar but not recognized until the chorus, “Jingle Bells” in French, an odd, almost surreal experience.

Walking past vendors selling food, sausages, cheeses, breads, searching for a cheese that is not too runny or smelly. I live in a country with over 300 varieties of cheese, and NONE of them is cheddar... I like cheddar, damn it!

A life-sized Pere Noel (aka Santa Claus) hanging from a balcony on one of the buildings ringing the place, looking like he’d slipped off and was holding on for dear life.

Driving up the river valley after a hard rain the night before, and seeing the snow-line marked clearly on the steep slopes of the mountains, and not very high, with a puffy, broken layer of clouds at the same level.

The people at the markets don't look exhausted from hard shopping and rushing around making sure they do everything they have to do in their overscheduled lives, possibly because their lives are NOT overscheduled, and they not only live in the moment, but they recognize there IS a moment to live. There really is joy in the air.

A mother telling her children to thank Pere Noel for the “sleigh” ride on a wagon with cunningly hidden wheels to make up for the lack of snow around the centre-ville, and the children’s voices saying singsong, “Merci, Pere Noel!!!!”

They still believe in magic...

A (not so) quick thought...

I'm working on a grand post, but I had a idea that I wanted to toss out there to see what other people thought about it.

In my language lessons, I'm learning how to use pronouns for both direct objects and indirect objects in French. For those who don't recall their English classes (and believe me, I'm having to look stuff up all the time to make sure I understand the differences between English and French), a direct object is a noun or pronoun that receives the action of a verb or shows the result of the action. An indirect object precedes the direct object (in English) and tells to whom or for whom the action of the verb is done and who is receiving the direct object.

Now that the definitions are out of the way, I can talk about the normal word order and what struck me in learning French. In English, the normal order of words, even when using pronouns instead of nouns, is subject-verb-object-object, with the order of the objects depending on the context. In French, when using pronouns for the objects, the order is subject-object-object-verb (with the order of the direct and indirect object determined by which pronoun is being used, the order is dependent upon the pronoun itself). So, in French, there can be a sentence that literally translates (keeping the word order for the formal pronouns), "You him it gave." In English we would say "You gave him it," or more usually adding a preposition, "You gave it to him."

I am getting to a point here, finally. In English, the verb, or the action, precedes the objects of the action. In French, the objects of the action precede the action itself. It seems obvious to me that language affects thought, and thought affects language. Not meaning to drive the point home too much, one could say that English speaking cultures tend to think of the action first, while French speaking cultures tend to think of what is being acted on or to whom the action is occurring first.

Now, put this in the context of the foreign policies of France, the United Kingdom, and the United States, and think about it for a while. I'm interested in what you have to say about this.

(NOTE: I took Russian for a while, too, but I can't remember enough of it to recall where the objects landed in sentences. I also don't recall my Spanish well enough, either, but I think the grammar was similar enough to English that the objects, even when pronouns, followed the verbs)

Yet more from the "picture is worth a thousand words" file...

From one of the weirder comic strips which has an admittedly twisted sense of humor itself, a perspective on French humor:

Hmmmm...

For every city I have visited in Europe I have stumbled across an Irish pub without looking for one. This includes Helsinki, Lyon, Brugges, Brussels, Leuven, and Grenoble. The Irish pub in Grenoble is one block over from my apartment.

What's up with that? Not that I don't like Irish pubs, but one in every city in Europe?

A comment on fashions for women in Europe

I have seen more belly buttons of women (even after the weather has turned a bit cold and a lot rainy) in the past month than I had in my entire life before I moved to France.

Not that I’m complaining, not at all.

The women in Europe seem exude the attitude that they know they are sexy, and they dress accordingly. Calf length black leather boots with black stockings, sandals with spike heels, and blouses that show off cleavage and give glimpses of the lacy underwear beneath are the rule, not the exception. I rarely see women “dressed-down”, even if they are just going out to buy bread in the morning.

As a friend of mine would say, “The scenery is breathtaking!” and it is. Well, for a man at least...

Ahhhhhhhhhh, my ears, my ears!!!!!

One of the big disadvantages of watching the French music station to help me learn the language here is that they play Céline Dion (yes, the French include that accent over the "e" in her name), who sings in French as well as in English.

I thought it was bad when I couldn't get away from hearing her music after Titanic came out...

Either I'm getting old, or this is seriously weird...

This freakshow is taken seriously by the French government:

Yikes....

You need to see a music video made by him to really appreciate the freakishness, but that's not going to happen in the US given he sings in French.

This is just wrong...

...in the "it's not supposed to be like this" sort of way.

I'm watching one of the French music television channels, and they have a man and a woman singing together (apparently they're part of a rock group). The woman is singing in a throaty voice that while not odd, is rather deep for a female singing voice, while the man is singing in a grating falsetto. So, the woman has a much, much deeper and more masculine sounding voice than the man.

This is just wrong...

And it's not the first time I've run across that here. Men's voices here seem to be higher pitched (not singing in falsetto, but the regular speaking voice) than the women's voices. I love for a woman's voice to be in the lower registers (Kathleen Turner was big when I was hitting my hormone peak), but for the men to have higher pitched voices than the women? No...

This is just wrong...

Bastille Day

Here's a British take on Bastille Day, or the 14th of July as it's known here.

Needless to say, everyone has today off. They certainly don't lack for holidays here; as a matter of fact, they have a maximum number of days you're allowed to work instead of a minimum mandated vacation.

Not the best tactic for a thriving economy, but it's nice to benefit from it while I'm here.

On a different topic

In a break from politics, I know I promised photos from my recent trip to Italy. I don't have all the historical information I wanted to go with the photos, but I do have two pictures I can put up in the mean time.

I took a day trip to Siena. Many towns have large churches, but Siena built a cathedral that is almost identical to the one in Florence (Firenze as it's spelled here). They were rival cities, and the churches were important symbols of the importance of the city. This was the best view I could get of the church; my back was against the building across the square from the church. It's big:

Click on the photo for a larger image.

I went to Italy to attend the wedding of two close friends. We stayed in two villas in the Tuscan countryside, and the reception after the wedding was held on the lawn outside one of the villas. This is the sunset over the Tuscan countryside that I took at the beginning of the reception.

Again, click on the photo for a larger image.

More photos to come.

OK, darn it...

I worked very hard on this post, so go read it already...

Geez, just because I put it up on a three-day weekend, nobody sees it.

OK, darn it...

I worked very hard on this post, so go read it already...

Geez, just because I put it up on a three-day weekend, nobody sees it.

Photos from my trip to Avignon and points south

I visited three different places on my trip south of Grenoble. The first was Avignon, where the Popes of the Western (or Roman) Catholic Church established a residence (called the Palais des Papes) in the early 14th century, and where in the late 14th century the "non-Roman" Western Catholic Popes had their residence during the times of major schism when there were two (or briefly three!!!) Popes. Avignon was referred to as "Rome" when the recognized Popes were in residence because the belief at the time was "Rome is where the Pope is". There is also a the remains of a bridge, the Saint Bénezet bridge, referred to in French as Pont d’Avignon (bridge of Avignon), which was of great importance for Provance (this area of southern France) during the dark and middle ages. Provance was not always under the control of the French kings, and control of the bridge had implications both strategic and commercial until the central government was able to establish their primacy.

The second place I went to was les Baux de Provance. This village and fortress (the Citadelle des Baux) are named after a geographical feature in the language of Provance, which is related to French, but is NOT French. The best translation I can give of les baux is "the ridges" or "the cliffs" or at best "the prominent, elevated rocks". Trying to talk about this area in French has given me no end of trouble, because when I say in French "I visited Les Baux" I don't say "Les Baux" because the "Les" in the name is an article, and the noun referred to is plural, so it modifies the preposition I have to use to say I visited it. (for anyone who is curious, I have to say J'ai visité des Baux de Provance.) The name has resonated far beyond the former importance of the fortress here, though. Bauxite (the ore that is refined to produce aluminum) was first discovered in the in this area, and that mineral was named after the village of les Baux de Provence. Back to the actual site, though. The citadel/castle was built on this eponymous ridge, and they were very creative because the area was quarried for stone to build both this castle and other fortresses in the area. The ridge that they quarried was turned into one wall of the fortress. You can see the remains of rooms carved into the rock in some of the photos. If I recall correctly, the fortress was first constructed in around 900 or 1000AD, added to and modified over the centuries until it was finally destroyed by order of the French king in the late 17th century once the kings of France finally established their authority over Provance.

Finally, I visited the Pont du Gard, or "Bridge of the Gard (river)". This "bridge" is actually part of a Roman aqueduct that was built in the neighborhood of 20 BC. This amazing example of Roman engineering was featured in a commercial for the new Volkswagen Beetle when it was re-introduced a few years ago.

Some notes for the less web-savvy: If you got here from a direct link (in an email, likely), scroll down to see all the photos. Click on any photo for a larger version. If you arrived at the main page (www.randomfate.net), click on the "continue reading" link below to see the thumbnail photos. There are a lot (over 20) so scroll down to see them all.

This first photo is of the farthest northern part of the Palais des Papes (Popes' Palace, or as I prefer to translate it, Palace of the Popes). There is a small chapel/cathedral on the far left with a gold figure on the peak.



The photo below is of the main doorway to the Palace of the Popes. It was taken from approximately the same position as the first. To give you an idea of the scale I was about 50 meters (or yards if you prefer) away from the door, and I had to turn about 45 degrees from the first photo to take this photo.



This next photo is of the southernmost part of the Palace. The main doorway can be seen on the left in this picture. The part of the building on the very far right that is sticking out just a bit is a cathedral that is the largest room I have ever been in with the exception of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.



In the center of this photo the clock tower on the Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) can ben seen. The open area is the place (plaza) in front of the Palace of the Popes.



This is a fortress that was across the Rhone river from the Palace of the Popes. Unfortunately, I don't know the name of it.



Here is the Saint Bénezet bridge. Obviously, it no longer is much of a bridge since it no longer reaches the north bank of the river. There is a chapel actually on the bridge that was also used as a toll house. There is a song that goes with the bridge as well, but I didn't understand it since it was in French and my vocabulary is still limited. This photo was taken from a defensive wall that was just north of the Palace of the Popes.



This is a tower on the side of the Palace of the Popes opposite to the photo above. They are difficult to see, but those features sticking out of the tower near the top are gargoyle rain spouts. If my reckoning is correct, the windows you can see are from the rooms used by the Popes as their living quarters.



There were "audioguide" tours of the Palace and the bridge. The bridge tour was around 45 minutes to an hour, and the Palace tour was at least 2 to 3 hours. There were sub-topics that would give more detail for each point of interest. I listened to many but not all of the sub-topics because after a while the amount of information was almost overwhelming. I don't recall when the Roman Catholic Church lost control of the Palace of the Popes, but I do know that after the last period of schismatic Popes (when there were three rival Popes) no Pope has established residence outside of Rome. I suspect that it was during the French Revolution that the Palace of the Popes was wrested from the Church. The Palace was repeatedly used as military barracks in the 19th century. There were several places inside that were vandalized during the French Revolution and later, and fires both before and after that period had destroyed a lot of the wood inside. I did not take any photos inside the Palace because it was remarkably bare, essentially a giant, hollow stone edifice with little of visual interest. The only place where there was significant decoration was inside the main entry doors, and that stonework had been so badly damaged from the vandalism during the French Revolution that it was difficult to imagine how it once appeared.

The next set of photos are from les Baux de Provence. This first photo is of the inside of a gate in one of the walls that surrounds the village on the plateau that is just below the fortress.



This view is from the far southern part of the upper plateau looking north towards the fortress. In the center of the photo is a reproduction of a trebuchet, an old siege engine used against fortresses like this one. The trebuchet wouldn't have been up here, it would have been in the valley used by forces trying to assault the fortress.



This is the fortress, or rather the ruined remains of it. The large stone formation on the left is the ridge that was used as one of the walls of the fortress. As I wrote earlier, they were very creative in using this ridge. Stone was quarried from the area in the center of this photo, and then the remaining rock was shaped to create rooms used in the fortress. The photos don't really do it justice, and unfortunately I wasn't able to get good photos of the models they had showing the evolution of the castle.



From the top of one of the remaining towers you can look down onto the village (which is no longer really a village but a giant tourist gift shop).



This is the only roof remaining in the fortress. It is half of the chapel that was in the center of the fortress. It originally had a barrel vault ceiling (the remains of which can been seen on the walls but didn't photograph well). You can see the "new" vaulting in the ceiling here.



These are some flowers growing at the edge of the ceiling of the chapel. I thought they looked interesting.



This was taken from the remains of northernmost tower looking roughly south-southwest at the cliff wall and the ruins. The village is to the far right.



This is looking out the remaining wall on top of the ridge over the eastern valley/plain. There is an appellation for this valley where they produce both red and white wine, along with a unique olive oil that uses the oil from several varieties of olive.



In addition to eating chickens and hunting wild fowl, in that period they kept rookeries for birds they would eat (including pigeons, if I recall the audioguide tour correctly). This is the arch leading to the rookery for this castle that the birds used to fly into and out of this tall, narrow chamber. The many holes in the wall behind the archway are for the birds nests.



The view from the courtyard immediately in front of the keep doesn't really convey the scale of the place. Although it is not overwhelming in size, it is mostly obscured from this vantage point. This was the best view I could get of the remaining wall of the keep, which is in the left foreground.



This is another view from the courtyard in front of the keep, this time with the northernmost tower on the left. This is the tower that I took a photo of the courtyard, the cliff wall, and the village from that is posted above.



This is from just outside the southernmost extension of the central castle, looking north to the main fortress. It was taken out of a window in a room that was carved from the rock that made up a smaller ridge that runs laterally across the plateau from the north-south direction of the main cliff. This smaller ridge has the southernmost tower that is visible in some of the photos looking south from the northernmost tower.



The previous photo was taken from a room carved out of the smaller lateral ridge. This is another room that was carved out of the same ridge in a slight depression at the base. These rooms are referred to as the "troglodyte housing" because they were living areas carved out underground. I found the arches in the roof that resembled those in the chapel very interesting.



Finally, the Pont du Gard. This is an aqueduct bridge built in approximately 20BC that is used in many textbooks as a prime example of Roman architecture with the use of the arch (apparently, the word for building design arose out of the word "arch" - "architecture"). This bridge is also featured in a commercial for the new Beetle, where a man is standing and extolling the virtues of the arch with the Pont du Gard in the background being used as a prime example of the strength of this structure. A Beetle drives up, with the roof line of the car exactly mirroring one of the arches. This is a broad view of the bridge from the north.



In this photo you can see the bridge that was built in the 18th century to carry traffic across the river next to the Roman aqueduct. People could climb over onto the ancient structure, but this was outlawed in 2000. There is graffiti that dates back to at least 1780, if the date next to a deeply carved name I found was correct.



Here is the view from the pedestrian bridge next to the aqueduct. The arch blocking the sun seemed to make a good picture. This arch is in the middle tier, you cannot see the top tier from the pedestrian bridge.



This a photo of the south side of the aqueduct bridge taken from near the channel on the west side. I liked the way the vegetation framed the view.



I have even more images, but these took long enough to upload, and I'm sure those on dial-up connections will have a hard enough time downloading even thumbnails, so that's enough for now.

Photos from my trip to Avignon and points south

I visited three different places on my trip south of Grenoble. The first was Avignon, where the Popes of the Western (or Roman) Catholic Church established a residence (called the Palais des Papes) in the early 14th century, and where in the late 14th century the "non-Roman" Western Catholic Popes had their residence during the times of major schism when there were two (or briefly three!!!) Popes. Avignon was referred to as "Rome" when the recognized Popes were in residence because the belief at the time was "Rome is where the Pope is". There is also a the remains of a bridge, the Saint Bénezet bridge, referred to in French as Pont d’Avignon (bridge of Avignon), which was of great importance for Provance (this area of southern France) during the dark and middle ages. Provance was not always under the control of the French kings, and control of the bridge had implications both strategic and commercial until the central government was able to establish their primacy.

The second place I went to was les Baux de Provance. This village and fortress (the Citadelle des Baux) are named after a geographical feature in the language of Provance, which is related to French, but is NOT French. The best translation I can give of les baux is "the ridges" or "the cliffs" or at best "the prominent, elevated rocks". Trying to talk about this area in French has given me no end of trouble, because when I say in French "I visited Les Baux" I don't say "Les Baux" because the "Les" in the name is an article, and the noun referred to is plural, so it modifies the preposition I have to use to say I visited it. (for anyone who is curious, I have to say J'ai visité des Baux de Provance.) The name has resonated far beyond the former importance of the fortress here, though. Bauxite (the ore that is refined to produce aluminum) was first discovered in the in this area, and that mineral was named after the village of les Baux de Provence. Back to the actual site, though. The citadel/castle was built on this eponymous ridge, and they were very creative because the area was quarried for stone to build both this castle and other fortresses in the area. The ridge that they quarried was turned into one wall of the fortress. You can see the remains of rooms carved into the rock in some of the photos. If I recall correctly, the fortress was first constructed in around 900 or 1000AD, added to and modified over the centuries until it was finally destroyed by order of the French king in the late 17th century once the kings of France finally established their authority over Provance.

Finally, I visited the Pont du Gard, or "Bridge of the Gard (river)". This "bridge" is actually part of a Roman aqueduct that was built in the neighborhood of 20 BC. This amazing example of Roman engineering was featured in a commercial for the new Volkswagen Beetle when it was re-introduced a few years ago.

Some notes for the less web-savvy: If you got here from a direct link (in an email, likely), scroll down to see all the photos. Click on any photo for a larger version. If you arrived at the main page (www.randomfate.net), click on the "continue reading" link below to see the thumbnail photos. There are a lot (over 20) so scroll down to see them all.

This first photo is of the farthest northern part of the Palais des Papes (Popes' Palace, or as I prefer to translate it, Palace of the Popes). There is a small chapel/cathedral on the far left with a gold figure on the peak.



The photo below is of the main doorway to the Palace of the Popes. It was taken from approximately the same position as the first. To give you an idea of the scale I was about 50 meters (or yards if you prefer) away from the door, and I had to turn about 45 degrees from the first photo to take this photo.



This next photo is of the southernmost part of the Palace. The main doorway can be seen on the left in this picture. The part of the building on the very far right that is sticking out just a bit is a cathedral that is the largest room I have ever been in with the exception of the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.



In the center of this photo the clock tower on the Hôtel de Ville (City Hall) can ben seen. The open area is the place (plaza) in front of the Palace of the Popes.



This is a fortress that was across the Rhone river from the Palace of the Popes. Unfortunately, I don't know the name of it.



Here is the Saint Bénezet bridge. Obviously, it no longer is much of a bridge since it no longer reaches the north bank of the river. There is a chapel actually on the bridge that was also used as a toll house. There is a song that goes with the bridge as well, but I didn't understand it since it was in French and my vocabulary is still limited. This photo was taken from a defensive wall that was just north of the Palace of the Popes.



This is a tower on the side of the Palace of the Popes opposite to the photo above. They are difficult to see, but those features sticking out of the tower near the top are gargoyle rain spouts. If my reckoning is correct, the windows you can see are from the rooms used by the Popes as their living quarters.



There were "audioguide" tours of the Palace and the bridge. The bridge tour was around 45 minutes to an hour, and the Palace tour was at least 2 to 3 hours. There were sub-topics that would give more detail for each point of interest. I listened to many but not all of the sub-topics because after a while the amount of information was almost overwhelming. I don't recall when the Roman Catholic Church lost control of the Palace of the Popes, but I do know that after the last period of schismatic Popes (when there were three rival Popes) no Pope has established residence outside of Rome. I suspect that it was during the French Revolution that the Palace of the Popes was wrested from the Church. The Palace was repeatedly used as military barracks in the 19th century. There were several places inside that were vandalized during the French Revolution and later, and fires both before and after that period had destroyed a lot of the wood inside. I did not take any photos inside the Palace because it was remarkably bare, essentially a giant, hollow stone edifice with little of visual interest. The only place where there was significant decoration was inside the main entry doors, and that stonework had been so badly damaged from the vandalism during the French Revolution that it was difficult to imagine how it once appeared.

The next set of photos are from les Baux de Provence. This first photo is of the inside of a gate in one of the walls that surrounds the village on the plateau that is just below the fortress.



This view is from the far southern part of the upper plateau looking north towards the fortress. In the center of the photo is a reproduction of a trebuchet, an old siege engine used against fortresses like this one. The trebuchet wouldn't have been up here, it would have been in the valley used by forces trying to assault the fortress.



This is the fortress, or rather the ruined remains of it. The large stone formation on the left is the ridge that was used as one of the walls of the fortress. As I wrote earlier, they were very creative in using this ridge. Stone was quarried from the area in the center of this photo, and then the remaining rock was shaped to create rooms used in the fortress. The photos don't really do it justice, and unfortunately I wasn't able to get good photos of the models they had showing the evolution of the castle.



From the top of one of the remaining towers you can look down onto the village (which is no longer really a village but a giant tourist gift shop).



This is the only roof remaining in the fortress. It is half of the chapel that was in the center of the fortress. It originally had a barrel vault ceiling (the remains of which can been seen on the walls but didn't photograph well). You can see the "new" vaulting in the ceiling here.



These are some flowers growing at the edge of the ceiling of the chapel. I thought they looked interesting.



This was taken from the remains of northernmost tower looking roughly south-southwest at the cliff wall and the ruins. The village is to the far right.



This is looking out the remaining wall on top of the ridge over the eastern valley/plain. There is an appellation for this valley where they produce both red and white wine, along with a unique olive oil that uses the oil from several varieties of olive.



In addition to eating chickens and hunting wild fowl, in that period they kept rookeries for birds they would eat (including pigeons, if I recall the audioguide tour correctly). This is the arch leading to the rookery for this castle that the birds used to fly into and out of this tall, narrow chamber. The many holes in the wall behind the archway are for the birds nests.



The view from the courtyard immediately in front of the keep doesn't really convey the scale of the place. Although it is not overwhelming in size, it is mostly obscured from this vantage point. This was the best view I could get of the remaining wall of the keep, which is in the left foreground.



This is another view from the courtyard in front of the keep, this time with the northernmost tower on the left. This is the tower that I took a photo of the courtyard, the cliff wall, and the village from that is posted above.



This is from just outside the southernmost extension of the central castle, looking north to the main fortress. It was taken out of a window in a room that was carved from the rock that made up a smaller ridge that runs laterally across the plateau from the north-south direction of the main cliff. This smaller ridge has the southernmost tower that is visible in some of the photos looking south from the northernmost tower.



The previous photo was taken from a room carved out of the smaller lateral ridge. This is another room that was carved out of the same ridge in a slight depression at the base. These rooms are referred to as the "troglodyte housing" because they were living areas carved out underground. I found the arches in the roof that resembled those in the chapel very interesting.



Finally, the Pont du Gard. This is an aqueduct bridge built in approximately 20BC that is used in many textbooks as a prime example of Roman architecture with the use of the arch (apparently, the word for building design arose out of the word "arch" - "architecture"). This bridge is also featured in a commercial for the new Beetle, where a man is standing and extolling the virtues of the arch with the Pont du Gard in the background being used as a prime example of the strength of this structure. A Beetle drives up, with the roof line of the car exactly mirroring one of the arches. This is a broad view of the bridge from the north.



In this photo you can see the bridge that was built in the 18th century to carry traffic across the river next to the Roman aqueduct. People could climb over onto the ancient structure, but this was outlawed in 2000. There is graffiti that dates back to at least 1780, if the date next to a deeply carved name I found was correct.



Here is the view from the pedestrian bridge next to the aqueduct. The arch blocking the sun seemed to make a good picture. This arch is in the middle tier, you cannot see the top tier from the pedestrian bridge.



This a photo of the south side of the aqueduct bridge taken from near the channel on the west side. I liked the way the vegetation framed the view.



I have even more images, but these took long enough to upload, and I'm sure those on dial-up connections will have a hard enough time downloading even thumbnails, so that's enough for now.

Images of the Palais du Papes, Les Beaux, and Pont du Gard

I finally got images to upload properly while creating thumbnails. I've got to go to work, so I'll update this post later to give descriptions of the photos. Until then, click on the photos for a larger image.

The thumbnails are in the extended entry to ease things for those on dial up connections.

Images of the Palais du Papes, Les Beaux, and Pont du Gard

I finally got images to upload properly while creating thumbnails. I've got to go to work, so I'll update this post later to give descriptions of the photos. Until then, click on the photos for a larger image.

The thumbnails are in the extended entry to ease things for those on dial up connections.

Broadcast radio in France

Listening to one of the radio stations here is an interesting experience. The station calls itself "Alpes Un" or "Alps One" in English. The name arises from the fact that Grenoble is embedded in a steep sided river valley at the very beginning of the Alps mountain range in France (I'm about a 90 minute drive from Geneva, Switzerland here). The station is pop radio, but the format is completely unlike the United States. They are playing the latest music both from the United States (Dido, Alanis Morissette) along with music from French groups, but they are also playing music from the 70s and 80s (The Who is on now, Won't get fooled again). This strange mix with the intense blasts from the past make me think that here the radio stations, along with the inexpensive wine, are definitely better than the US.

I do miss my Kraft macaroni and cheese, though...

Broadcast radio in France

Listening to one of the radio stations here is an interesting experience. The station calls itself "Alpes Un" or "Alps One" in English. The name arises from the fact that Grenoble is embedded in a steep sided river valley at the very beginning of the Alps mountain range in France (I'm about a 90 minute drive from Geneva, Switzerland here). The station is pop radio, but the format is completely unlike the United States. They are playing the latest music both from the United States (Dido, Alanis Morissette) along with music from French groups, but they are also playing music from the 70s and 80s (The Who is on now, Won't get fooled again). This strange mix with the intense blasts from the past make me think that here the radio stations, along with the inexpensive wine, are definitely better than the US.

I do miss my Kraft macaroni and cheese, though...

Something I discovered while watching one of the French music television stations...

I don't like rap in French any better than I do in English.

Something I discovered while watching one of the French music television stations...

I don't like rap in French any better than I do in English.

I prefer taking care of important business "sans l'interruption de femmes"

I was in the men's room yesterday, taking care of important business; there were several other men there in different stages of taking care of the same important business as well. The door to the men's room opened and in walked a female custodian, making sure the towel feeders were working properly and generally taking care of the restroom. Fortunately, I was able to complete my important business without suffering from any "shyness", but it's a wee bit disconcerting when a woman walks in while you're trying finish taking care of business, especially when none of the other men in the room even notice.

Such is the strange nature of culture shock. It was more than a bit like one of those dreams where something is "off" but you seem to be the only one who notices or even knows.

I prefer taking care of important business "sans l'interruption de femmes"

I was in the men's room yesterday, taking care of important business; there were several other men there in different stages of taking care of the same important business as well. The door to the men's room opened and in walked a female custodian, making sure the towel feeders were working properly and generally taking care of the restroom. Fortunately, I was able to complete my important business without suffering from any "shyness", but it's a wee bit disconcerting when a woman walks in while you're trying finish taking care of business, especially when none of the other men in the room even notice.

Such is the strange nature of culture shock. It was more than a bit like one of those dreams where something is "off" but you seem to be the only one who notices or even knows.

Other public displays of affection

One of the biggest differences I've observed in France as compared to the US: public displays of affection. I've seen more people exploring each others' tonsils with their respective tongues than I ever thought I'd see...

There is a plus side to the more relaxed attitudes here, though. There is a billboard for a circus that has a woman in the traditional circus tights, but this time her breasts are fully exposed and framed by the tights, not covered.

As a guy, I can wholeheartedly endorse this attitude...

Other public displays of affection

One of the biggest differences I've observed in France as compared to the US: public displays of affection. I've seen more people exploring each others' tonsils with their respective tongues than I ever thought I'd see...

There is a plus side to the more relaxed attitudes here, though. There is a billboard for a circus that has a woman in the traditional circus tights, but this time her breasts are fully exposed and framed by the tights, not covered.

As a guy, I can wholeheartedly endorse this attitude...

Changes in latitude, changes in attitude...

I forgot what it's like to live this far north. It's almost 7:30PM, and the sun is so high in the sky that my body and eyes are saying it's earlier in the day.

Long days are nice in the summer, but the short days in the winter are really going to suck, especially since in December and January is when I'll be at the height of my training to run a marathon in February.

Changes in latitude, changes in attitude...

I forgot what it's like to live this far north. It's almost 7:30PM, and the sun is so high in the sky that my body and eyes are saying it's earlier in the day.

Long days are nice in the summer, but the short days in the winter are really going to suck, especially since in December and January is when I'll be at the height of my training to run a marathon in February.

Some covers of songs just shouldn't be made...

Yesterday while driving to my language lesson, the radio station that I listen to here played a version of "We Will Rock You" that I had never heard before. It was being sung by a child with an English accent (eerily similar to that of Freddy Mercury of Queen) with children backup singers.

Think about it, an 8 year old singing "We Will Rock You".

That was one of the creepiest things I've ever heard. It was just wrong...

Some covers of songs just shouldn't be made...

Yesterday while driving to my language lesson, the radio station that I listen to here played a version of "We Will Rock You" that I had never heard before. It was being sung by a child with an English accent (eerily similar to that of Freddy Mercury of Queen) with children backup singers.

Think about it, an 8 year old singing "We Will Rock You".

That was one of the creepiest things I've ever heard. It was just wrong...

Duh...

D'OH! I wanted to get some shopping done at the few stores that are open on Saturdays here, but yesterday was the first of May. I forgot that is the European equivalent of the US Labor Day holiday.

So much for that haircut I desperately need, too...

Duh...

D'OH! I wanted to get some shopping done at the few stores that are open on Saturdays here, but yesterday was the first of May. I forgot that is the European equivalent of the US Labor Day holiday.

So much for that haircut I desperately need, too...