In early mid-October we contacted the jeweler who made my engagement ring to get information on resizing it and fitting a wedding band to it since we didn't do that when we got married. I had wanted to order it ahead of time so that I could have it shipped back to France before we left for our US visit in mid-December. However, due to miscommunication between the jeweler and myself the ring wasn't bought until the end of October and we didn't want to push our luck hoping it would get done in time. Now it's time to ship the ring.
          Jeremy goes to the post office who says that they won't insure something of such high value. Whether they didn't tell him or Jeremy just couldn't understand them properly, they failed to mention that they work with Chronopost who does ship high value things internationally. Jeremy figured that out himself a few days later and got the appropriate paperwork ready and then had to wait. You see the post office enjoys opening and closing at regular business time hours and closing for two hours during lunch so that it's impossible for a working person to try and go there during the week day. On Saturday it's open but he had already made other plans that he couldn't cancel. I felt secure and safe about using Chronopost because I have received many packages from them and they're always on time and in great condition.
          He finally manages to send it out on Thursday, Nov 10, after going in to work early so he could leave early. He spent 45 minutes with the manager making sure everything was filled out perfectly and sent it out. So this Friday for fun I went online to see where it is in it's journey since it has now been traveling for a week. Would it be in Paris? Crossing the ocean? Maybe it was even in the US! .... No, it was in a town close to Besançon sitting in a Chronopost office.
          "Hey, what gives?" I thought. So I scrolled down the page to take a closer look. It had made it to Paris and then was being returned to the sender for improper documentation. Well, the rest of Friday passes and Saturday too with no delivery or even phone contact from Chronopost. Of course to make things more hectic, Jeremy is leaving on a business trip to Germany on Monday, but luckily his train doesn't leave until 11 am so hopefully we can take care of it Monday morning.
          Which brings us to today's whirlwind of adventure. And by adventure I mean anxiety, stress, tears, and disbelief. Because if you thought the aforementioned was bad enough, buckle up. We get to the post office and explain our situation. The woman looks over the paperwork and doesn't see anything wrong to explain why it was returned. She disappears to call Chronopost and comes back saying that the only answer they could come up with was that it wasn't marked with a commercial value. In France if you're sending a retail item to or from France above a certain value, they will tax you on top of the tax you have already paid on it. However, this is not a retail item it's a personal used item that I have had for years therefore it has no commercial value and is marked as such on the paperwork.
          Well, that's the only answer she can give us and we need to go to this Chronopost office, pick up the ring, bring it back to the post office, and they will send it out again. Besides the fact that this doesn't fix our improper documentation issue, this brings up a whole new issue; we don't have a car to get to this office and no buses go there because it's a podunk little town consisting of 1,500 inhabitants. She calls them again to see if they can ship it to our apartment or the post office and they won't, apparently "return to sender" actually means "ship to Chronopost office moderately close to sender, don't contact them about it, let them figure it out on their own when their package never arrives to it's final destination, and pick it up themselves". Thank goodness I decided to follow my package online for fun!
          So she has us sit aside while her manager tries to figure things out as the line behind us is now almost out the door. After about 10 minutes he comes to us and says, "Do you know a Nassar?" What is this about now? No, we don't know a Nassar. "Because a Chronopost deliverer delivered your ring to your address and someone named Nassar signed for it and took it." I think I scared him a little because my eyes practically popped out of my head. He realizes quickly that some weird shit went down after a few more questions about the way our apartment building is set out and disappears again to figure it out. I am freaking out. First the woman tells us it's at a Chronopost office, now he is telling us someone has potentially stolen our ring. I don't even know how that's possible because our apartment building is private. You can only be let in if you have a key or buzz a tenant's name and they let you in. I was home all day and I was never buzzed but sometimes if a delivery person has multiple packages he'll just buzz one tenant, be let in, and go to the other tenant's doors and ring that way. But my door never rang. Did someone in the hallway just say "Oh yes, that's mine!" or something and he didn't check to see if the name matched on a highly insured package?
          The manager tentatively pops his head out of his door and asks Jeremy, "Do you work at Parkeon?" "Uh, yeah?" replies Jeremy as I wonder what the heck this has to do with anything and how he knows where Jeremy works. The manager looks physically relieved upon hearing this and comes fully out from the protection of his door. "Okay, because the delivery person saw that the package was taped up using Parkeon packing tape and returned it to Parkeon instead of your apartment."

          Who the heck has that kind of thought process?! Who sees a package taped up with a company's tape and automatically assumes that it must have been sent from that company and doesn't check the actual name and address on the box? When you work at a company you end up with some of their stuff. I worked at Applebee's for 5ish years, I still have order slips with their name on them. If I were to write a letter on that slip and included my name and address on it, would you return it to the name and address written on it, or return it to Applebee's? My mother-in-law reuses Amazon boxes to ship things, should it be returned to her or Amazon?
          Anyway, he then goes on to say that the real issue as to why it was "improperly documented" was that Chronopost doesn't insure jewelry that high value for express delivery. Why they insure other things for that value but not jewelry is beyond me but why get into that with a post office worker. It's like yelling at a Best Buy employee because your Verizon bill is too high and they sell Verizon plans so obviously it's all their fault. So now we have to wait for Friday as Jeremy is in Germany until Wednesday evening and he took off work Thursday for Thanksgiving to see if it's even at Parkeon, bring it back to the post office, and send it out again. The manager said they will send it via normal delivery which will take longer which means I probably won't have my ring in time for our anniversary.
          Another possible issue is the whole reason we went express is because normal doesn't insure anything that high of value to begin with. Jeremy asked the manager about it and he said that they would honor it, but we'll find out later if that's true I guess. Let's just hope once I get my ring that it actually fits because I do not want to go through this again. I had to guess at the size because the unique shape of the ring makes it fit differently than normal rings.

          I've been in France for almost 2 years now. Things that surprised me at first but I didn't have time to blog about are now more normal to me and I forget the surprise they instilled in the beginning. Now that my dad and my in-laws have visited, their views have reawakened my own! So today I present to you the top 6 surprising price hikes and price drops compared to the US.
Price Hikes
1. Shampoo and Conditioner: The same brands are at least 1.5x the price here. This one really surprised me because it seemed so random to me. Before I moved I researched all kinds of costs but it never dawned on me to check out shampoos and conditioners!
2. Furniture: Much more expensive, much less comfortable, smaller (you will not find a couch that sits more than 3 people for much under $1,700), and typically of contemporary/modern IKEAish design, which I find unattractive.  That being said, it is typically much sturdier. We bought IKEA (which, by the way, is apparently pronounced ee-kee-ah) stools before we left for $60 a piece. Being IKEA they're not very sturdy but whatever, we needed cheap stools. Well Jeremy broke one so we went to an IKEA here. They were 80€ ($89) but they were heavier, thicker, and the backing which is what Jeremy broke because it's so flimsy was much sturdier. What gives IKEA? Why are you ripping off US customers with cheap particle-board crap and saving the good stuff for Europe?
3. Cake: First of all, there is no such thing as sheet cake here. They have ridiculously fancy cakes that have a whole bunch of layers and textures and colors with a bunch of different fruits, nuts, or both scattered on top as decoration. An 8" round cake is going to cost you $25-30.
Price Drops
1. Cable, internet, TV, and phone: Holy cow it is SO much cheaper here! I pay 30€ a month for their equivalent of "triple play" here; that is cable with about 200 channels, internet, and a landline with free calls to the US (and many other countries). Mind you that is a more expensive plan because we opted for faster internet, our previous plan was 22€. My cellphone is 10€ a month for 2 hours of calls, unlimited text, and 500 MB of data.
2. Bottled water: What a surprise it was when I was exploring French supermarkets for the first time to find that a normal size 0.5L bottle of water costs 15 cents! If you want the giant 1.5L bottle, you'll have to dig a little deeper into your pocket because those are a whopping 20 cents.
3. Public Transportation: This includes air travel. It's amazing to me that with a little bit of planning, I can hop on a plane and be in another country for as little as $30 or hop on the train to Paris for $25. For unlimited travel within my city and it's surrounding towns via bus or tram, I pay $300 a year.

If you've visited another country, what were surprising price changes or fees that you've experienced?

     Long time no write! I haven't been very motivated this summer; I've had health issues, apartment issues, and a generally lazy summer. But I'm sitting down to tell a horror story for pet parents every where.
     When moving, especially internationally, your pets should weigh heavily on your mind. What are the legal steps necessary in getting them there? Are they suitable to the new environment? Seriously, don't take your Chihuahua to Alaska or your Alaskan Malamute to Ethiopa, folks. What kind of diseases do you need to be aware of? How do the general views and means of healthcare differ and how will it affect your pet?
     This summer, our beloved 11.5 year old husky/golden retriever mix, Kisa, fell ill. It was Sunday evening when she suddenly got up and vomited 3 times. Upon cleaning it up, I was horrified to find blood in the vomit. I immediately start crying, of course, and think back to how she's been eating grass for the past few days which is indicative of an upset stomach. Blood in the vomit means that it's coming from somewhere in the GI tract at stomach level or higher. A quick exam of the mouth showed no bleeding. My vet tech mind is screaming "stomach cancer" which is a "once you see symptoms, it's too late" kind of cancer. As I said, it's Sunday. Everything is closed on Sunday in France, finding an open vet is impossible. There are some emergency vets here, but they're not as common as in the US, especially in a smaller city like Besançon.
      On Monday I call my vet the minute that they open but she already had a full day. The next appointment was Tuesday at 4 pm. I had taken Kisa's food up the night before and there had been no more vomiting. There was one other vet within a 30 minute walking distance (dogs are not allowed on public transportation unless they are small enough to fit in a carrier) but I made the decision to wait until Tuesday with my vet since she was symptom free. We reintroduced a bland diet Monday night.
     On Tuesday after 48 hours of tears, Jeremy walked Kisa to the vet while I took the bus due to physical limitations. Kisa had gone to the bathroom on the way to the vet and it was pitch black and tarry, further indicating bleeding in the stomach. My heart sank as stomach cancer was concreted into #1 suspect.
     The vet examined her and said that stomach cancer was on the table but it could be something else. Does she eat anything unusual? I said no, not really, she gets unknown food items in the park sometimes but that's about it. She then listed some things she considered "unusual" like frogs, or lizards, or bugs and to which I replied "Ew, no". She said "Well, I think it may be stomach parasites that latched on to her stomach wall and created ulcers, which bled. Give her this medicine and if she's not better by Friday, we'll do an endoscopy to see what's going on in there." I was trying to wrack my brain on knowledge of stomach parasites, but we barely touched to topic in school. I can list the breeding cycles of every classic intestinal parasite, hooks, rounds, tape, whip, you name it, but I didn't know anything about stomach parasites.
     I remained skeptical. How common can this be if I wasn't taught about it? I give my poor pupper her medicine, who by the way has remained moderately upbeat and is loving the fact that I am now allowing her on the couch. The medicine most have tasted horrible because she immediately tried to spit the liquid back up and her mouth starting involuntarily chattering. And I have to give this to her three times a day.
     The next day I break open my vet tech books. There is nothing in my Common Diseases of Companion Animals textbook except for one line stating a cause of gastric ulcers can be parasites. Then in McCurnin's Clinical Textbook for Veterinary Technicians I found two paragraphs about a stomach parasite found in carnivores that gave a little further info, but not much. But now I had a name, Physaloptera. Searching online I found that while the worms can often be found in the vomit (and are often confused with roundworms because of it), often there are as little as 1-3 of the buggers causing problems. Intermediate hosts ingest egg-ridden feces, the eggs hatch into larvae in the intermediate host, and then your adorable dog or cat eat the intermediate host and the larvae make themselves comfy cozy in your baby's stomach. I was scanning the list of intermediate hosts and my eyes stopped on one fateful word, "house flies".
     I had told the vet that Kisa didn't eat bugs because I was thinking about beetles and crickets and creepy crawlies, not obnoxious aviators. Kisa loves to hunt flies. It's her favorite past time after naps and belly rubs. And thanks to France's abhorrence towards screens, she's been getting plenty of hunting practice in. If you haven't read my previous post about pet peeves in France, one of them is France's seeming dislike for screens. Despite the fact that only about 11% of private homes in France have AC, there are no screens on doors and windows. Since there's no AC, doors and windows are open all the time. During the swell of summer, I probably have about 10 flies in my house during the day time. Kisa has become quite the huntsmen and has even learned that if she traps them against the window, they're even easier to catch. She has eaten at least one a week since mid-Spring. It's simply not as common in the US with pets generally being indoors in a screened in, air conditioned house.
     She has started feeling better. She still has a little loss of appetite but I suppose I would too if I had ulcers in my stomach. Her poops are perfect, I thoroughly check them each day much to the disgust of other people in the park. It goes to show that no matter how prepared you think you are when moving to another country, you will always be learning more. She's still allowed on the couch. I figure after such a scare, and at 11.5 years old, she will be allowed for the rest of her life. I guess it's time to invest in color coordinated sheets to cover the couch.

          So I have decided to expand my social media horizons and create a Facebook page for my blog! I post pictures and things that happened that aren't quite long enough to make an entire blog post about. Check it out here! You can also find a link in the Contact Us tab. "Like" it and "Share" it so the whole world can see! I was very excited to find people I didn't even know liking my page, what a thrill!
          Let me also take the time to unabashedly remind you that you can help support us by shopping Amazon via our affiliate links and search bar in the Support Us tab. It's at no extra cost to you but gives us a small little commission so if you shop Amazon try it out!

          About a month ago now we went on a lovely adventure with our expat friends Michele and Veli-Matti to four different castles south of Dijon. The views were astounding and the company amazing so all-in-all it was quite a day that I will have memories of for a long time to come. Photos are limited mostly to the exterior as photography was not allowed in most of the castle rooms.
          The first stop was at Château de la Rochepot, a 12th century castle originally owned by the Pot family. It was abandoned after some time but then the Carnot family decided to buy it for their son. I imagine it went something like this:
Father: "Hey son, whaddup, we bought you an entire stinkin' castle, no biggie."
Son: "Ugh, geeze you practically bought me ruins. That kid down the street François VII's dad built him an entire castle and bought him a 13 year old virgin wife, but whatever I guess I'll restore it. Thanks for nothing."

d          After that we went to visit Château de Sully, the largest Renaissance château in southern Burgundy. Originally of the Morey family, it became inherited by the MacMahon family when Charlotte de Morey's cousin/husband became ill with not much more than a common cold. Unfortunately, colds could be serious business back then and the travelling doctor could not get there in time. Monsieur Morey sadly left this world and his young cousin/wife behind before he could father any heirs. Not to worry though, because the doctor who couldn't get there in time, Dr. MacMahon, generously married the young widow, thus obtaining the castle. Hmmm.
          This castle is still inhabited by the family though it is in a little bit of a limbo as the past duke who seemed to take most care of the grounds has passed and the current duke is in university. That's right, ladies, there is a single duke of marriageable age who has his own castle, get on it*.
* The author of The Inexperienced Expat will not be held liable for any stalking or further suspicious/illegal activities that may occur due to the knowledge given in this article.​

          The third castle was, as Bob Ross says, a happy accident. We were headed to our final castle when we looked out the window and spotted another castle in the distance. We decided to try it out and ended up in an adorable town called Châteauneuf giving the castle the oh-so-original name of Château de Châteauneuf. The Château de Châteauneuf has an interesting history as it's been passed around more than the collection plate at a church. It started out belonging to the Chaudenay family in the 12th century but after 9 generations in 1456 Catherine of Chateauneuf messed it all up by being burnt alive for poisoning her husband.
          In 1457 the duke of Burgundy bought the castle as a gift for his adviser, Philippe Pot. Yes, the Philippe Pot from the first castle we saw. His heirless death ensured that the castle got passed around a few more times before ending up in the hands of the Comarrin family where it remained for 150 years. It was passed around a few more times and gravely defaced during the French Revolution before it ended up being donated to the state where it and its neighboring village were declared protected historical monuments.
          From here on out I don't have many pictures as my camera died.

          The last castle of the day was Château de Comarrin as in the Comarrin family who also owned the previous castle for 150 years. This castle was built in the 12th century as well and has been in the same family the entire duration, through 26 generations. This was probably my favorite castle as it was very well taken care of, had amazing tapestries and needlework, sculptures, and alchemic symbolism. We also got to see the duke and his family enjoying the weather outdoors and got to witness a classic car photo shoot too. Though if you know me well, then you'll know that my favorite part of the whole thing was feeding the carp who live in the moat.

          Check out Michele's post about that day, too! She also has tons of pictures as well!

          I finally figured out how to get my pictured from my phone to my computer, so get ready for tons of posts! So many things have been happening, it's so hard to keep up! We went to the foire comtoise, a giant trade show/carnival/market, some castles south of Dijon, not to mention our honeymoon to Greece where we also visited Albania for a day! I also have some more fun medical news and job search news as well as a guest who wants to post a "guest article" on my page! I'll try to post everything tout de suite but you'll have to forgive me if there is some delay as on top of all that my dad will be visiting in less than a week!
          So I think I spoke about the foire comtoise last year but let me refresh your memories. There's a convention center called Micropolis situated in Besançon that holds all kinds of events and once a year they hold the foire comtoise for one week. It's a combination of a fair ground full of carnival rides and games, a trade show that has anything you could ever imagine, and a market. The trade show is seriously huge and random, there are vendors that sell anything from home goods to motorcycles to saunas! I'm pretty sure if you had an empty plot of land that you could buy an entire modular home, fill it with everything you need, create a gorgeous yard and garden that you'd never want to leave, and get there in your new Can-Am all from one day spent at the foire comtoise.
          The markets are scattered throughout the center and sell all kinds of stuff as well. There's a clothing section, jewelry, handbags, spices, dried meats, cheeses, wine and liquor, honey, and all kinds of home decor. Then there's a special regional market that changes each year. Last year it was Italian and this year it was Scottish! So they were selling all kinds of tartans and kilts and wool clothing but best of all, there was a cheddar booth by the name of "The Damn Fine Cheese Company". This is exciting, you see, because the French don't seem to like cheddar very much. Whether it be because they have too many other cheeses from their own country to worry about, or because it was made from their English enemies, or because it's just not considered up to par to them, it's rare to find cheddar in a French supermarket. One can more often than not find aged-white cheese sold as a block and in the one supermarket of Monoprix one can find shredded yellow cheddar, but that's it. So we pigged out and bought 4 wheels of cheddar; chili, garlic and chive, mature, and smoked. They had so many more and they were all so good, but we had to draw the line at 4.
          It was also fun because all the Scottish vendors spoke English. They were all so excited to speak English with us after struggling with French for a whole week. One woman saw Jeremy eyeing something up in her shop so she started speaking in French about the item. When Jeremy told her she could speak English, you could just see her body relax as she exclaimed, "Oh, thank God!" She was super nice and told us the history of a lot of her items. We ended up buying a stuffed 'heeland coo' (highland cow) dressed in Flodden tartan. The Battle of Flodden was the largest battle between England and Scotland and the last battle in which a monarch of the British Isles died during combat. In 2013 during the 500 year anniversary, the Flodden tartan was created to commemorate the battle and lives lost.
          There were also plenty of restaurants and snack shacks where I partook in a giant fried rice and spinach ball, farm fresh ice cream (probably the best ice cream I have ever had), and caramel flavored milk. Super bonne​!

          Well my birthday is coming up so for anybody interested in buying me something but who also doesn't want to pay astronomical shipping fees, here's another option: ordering on amazon.fr which is France's amazon website. Typically once you're on a website that isn't in English, your browser recognizes such and asks if you would like a translation. You can hit "yes" and then everything is just as amazon.com is. You can go to a wish list and search my name or email address and find me that way. If it doesn't translate, I have this nifty tutorial on how to purchase that I made for my mother-in-law when it was Jeremy's birthday.

          Follow the text written with the pictures above, after all that, a list of all the addresses you've ever sent to comes up. If our address is already there, click "envoyer à cette adresse". If it's not, scroll down to "Ajouter une nouvelle adresse" to add our address. Alternately it should have an option to send to the person who made the wishlist that will appear as my name with a hidden address.
          The next step is how you want it packaged. You can skip all that, it's just asking if you want the invoice hidden, gift wrapping, etc. and click "Enregistrer les options de cadeaux" to select delivery options and put in your payment info.
          Sometimes at this point or later an ad will come up advertising amazon premium and free shipping, just click "Non merci, je ne veux pas de la livraison 1 jour ouvré gratuite" to skip it.
          You are now on "Choisissez vos options de livraison" to choose a delivery option. There are 3 to choose from that you can see on the right side of the screen. Choose the middle one "Livraison Rapide". The first one you need amazon premium for (their version of prime) and the third one is one day delivery. Click "continuer" to pay.
          If you already have an amazon.com account, your card info should be there. If not, scroll down to "Plus d'options de paiement", then "Cartes de paiement", then click "ajouter une carte" and fill it out. When you're done, click "continuer" to go to the validation page. If everything looks right, click "Acheter" to buy and it will then send you to the confirmation page and you're done!
          If you're unsure of how your credit or debit card company handles purchasing of items from a non-US website in euros, call them and ask their policy. Some cards need prior approval and some companies even have extra transaction fees. I believe my mother-in-law used TD visa and has no issues or fees.
          And there you have it!

          A little bit ago we went to the citadel as they were having an event honoring the 17th century. It was super neat, they had booths about the vegetables and herbs used during that time, they had a fashion show which I unfortunately couldn't get good pictures of, a display of sword fighting, a concert of a piano and cello duo, and toys of the 17th century which I didn't get any pictures of.

          In the 17th century a lawyer named Jean-Baptiste de la Quintinie decided to leave the bar for the grand career of gardening. He was in charge of Louis XIVs garden and basically introduced out-of-season gardening and the precursor to greenhouses in France. So it was the 17th century when some more variety was seen on the plates of the Frenchmen year-round. The most common produce were peas, followed by potatoes, lettuce, strawberries, and asparagus. Due to his system, melons, figs, and oranges became easier to grow and therefore more abundant as well. The use of herbs and pepper was abundant, and tobacco was used for many ailments.
          Fashion in the 17th century was characterized by rapid change. The more military-esque style got replaced with a more decorative flair after the 30 Years' War, but then quickly sobered back down again. Ruffs were replaced with lace or linen and the broad, high-waisted silhouette was replaced with a long, lean look. For men, this eventually evolved into the coat, waistcoat, and breeches combo that would reign for the next century and a half. It was also at this time that, after a respite of 2 centuries, wigs became in vogue again.
          Toys were mostly for the rich in the 17th century. Many games were large and took up space that most people did not have room for. A lot of these games were "knock 'em down" type games where you try to get your ball through certain conditions to be able to knock down certain objects. It could range from something as simple as ninepins to a multiple chambered contraption with obstacles along the way. A notable game that you still see played today became popular at this time, good ol' "ball in a cup" where you have a ball attached to a cup by a long string and you try to flip the ball into the cup.
          So that is my short entry as I gather my pictures together of other events we went to. I take a lot of pictures via my iphone and then email them to myself so I can download them onto my laptop, but I can only email 5 pictures at a time and they get "lost" along the way a lot for some reason. I'll have to send the same email 3 or 4 times before I receive it. So if anyone knows what the deal with that is, please tell me because I have a lot of pictures and it takes forever to get them all sent!

          Well I've had a stressful couple of weeks but the anxiety is still rattling in my bones so I don't feel like typing out the events. Instead I will tell you about this weekend, which was actually fun. The carnaval pics and pictures of a citadel event will eventually come. The problem is I took them with a camera instead of my phone. Jeremy's camera. And as soon as the camera gets back to the house, it disappears. He's been on a lot of trips lately so he'll take the camera with him before I get the chance to take my pictures off it. Anywho.
          This weekend was the Spring Bio Festival. Bio is what they call organic produce here. It was pouring rain so I didn't take pictures but it was basically the same as last year's which you can read about here. After that my American friend Michele, her husband, and I went on an adventure to a cave 20 km outside of Besançon called Grotte D'Osselle.
          The cave was discovered in the 13th century by Romans on the hunt for gold. In the 15th century, long after all the gold was mined out, it became a tourist attraction due to it's magnificent colors. Iron, manganese, copper, and bauxite ore all cross one another in this cave creating stone rainbows, adding red, orange, blue, and green to your more typical cave colors of neutral tones. It is, along with the Antiparos in Greece, the oldest cave system to become a tourist attraction. In the 1700's the passages were even widened to allow women in their gowns room to enter, and balls, banquets, and concerts were held in the cave. Festivities ended during the Revolutionary War, however, and the dry sections of the cave became refuge for refractory priests.
          In the 1800's, William Buckland began paleontological excavations in search for Jurassic stones. In fact, the term "Jurassic" came about because this department of France, Jura, was where rocks of this age were first studied. Jura is a department of the region of France called Franche-Comté. It is right next to the department I live in, Doubs, which is also part of Franche-Comté. This cave system spans both the Doubs and Jura department and you get to cross the border while taking the underground tour. While Buckland was digging around, he found two complete skeletons of the extinct cave bear, Ursus spelaeus, of the Pleistocene era. Further digging has revealed about 3,000 more skeletons, 15 of those being complete, though they have since been stolen. Apparently paleontology is a cut-throat business. Cave bear numbers started dwindling about 50,000 years ago and became extinct 24,000 years ago due to pesky parasitic mammals called humans who selfishly hogged all  the caves and also tended to use them for odd rituals to things called gods.
          While the gallery spans almost 4 miles, only the first 1300 yards (a little under one mile) is open to the public. The tour is on a concrete pathway with gentle slopes and a few steps here and there. There is a small section where the ceiling is low and one must crouch and walk at the same time for maybe 10 or 15 feet but in general this cave system is perfect for a beginner's introduction to the underground world and is easy on kids, the unfit, and those with "mild to moderate" disabilities. If you only use a cane or walking stick on occasion, you will be fine.
          I took some pictures but they're not the greatest since there isn't a good light source.

          So while I procrastinate making my blog post about Carnaval (it's a lot of pictures and takes forever to upload, okay?!) let me tell you an embarrassing story that happened to me today. On Tuesdays I do a language exchange with a family. I pick up the daughters from school and speak to them in English and French for a couple hours, and then their parents speak with me in French for a few hours over dinner. We try our very best to only speak French.
          Before dinner, Anne-Gaëlle, the mother, asks me if I like canelle, which is cinnamon, because we would be having it for dinner tonight. While she occasionally cooks traditional French cuisine for me, she often cooks other ethnicity's foods so I figured she was cooking Moroccan tonight as they use a lot of cinnamon. Here's how the conversation went, but all in French:
Me: Yes, I like cinnamon.
Anne: How do you say it in English?
Me: "Cinnamon"
Anne: Oh, okay!
Me: Yeah, Jeremy likes to put it in his coffee.
Anne: Oh, really?
Me: Yeah, and I'll put it in my hot chocolate or tea.
By now, the whole family is looking at me with slightly odd expressions.
Mathieu (husband): Do you cook it first?
Me: (Starting to think something is off) No....
Anne: That's interesting. How much do you put?
Me: I just add a pinch on top....(no one is saying anything)...it's actually good...(silence)...a slight sweet spicy flavor...
Anne: Oh! Oh! Canelle!!
The whole family starts laughing and Anne-Gaëlle goes into the fridge and pulls out a package of what looks like giant gnocchis and the container reads quenelle at which point I start cracking up too. I heard canelle (kah-nelle) instead of quenelle (keh-nelle) and she had heard C'est la même which means "It's the same" instead of cinnamon. I have to admit they held themselves together very well while listening to me talk about how Jeremy and I enjoy putting uncooked dough into our hot beverages. Kudos to the kids, at their age I would have been making all kinds of faces.
          Quenelle lyonnaise is a typical French dish that comes from Lyon. It's a dough made from flour, butter, eggs, cheese, and nutmeg formed into large egg-like shapes and poached in a sauce that's a mix of béchamel with a little bit of ketchup. The non-vegetarian version involves adding fish, typically pike, to the sauce and then forcing it through a sieve to avoid all the bones. Can you imagine putting that into your coffee?