Where are the Woods?

Sweet Home, Iowa

2011-01-23T14:03:00.000-08:00

Our last day in New Orleans was a bit more slow paced than the previous days had been, which we were just fine with. After sleeping in until (gasp) 9am we hung around the McCall home with Grant (and the dogs) before he had to dash off to teach, and then set out to find a nice lunch spot.
We ended up at a local joint and enjoyed fried catfish, mushroom bisque, a shrimp-type salad, and greens. Low key but delicious. The restaurant happened to have a copy of "Edible New Orleans", and on the cover was a picture of the most delicious-looking morsels we had ever seen.

After reading inside we found out that these friend bits of heaven are called "Buttermilk drops" and are the brain child of a local man who has worked in bakeries since he was a teenager.

He acquired his own bakery after the flood and people have been flocking there ever since. In addition to the buttermilk drops he makes donuts as well as a daily changing lunch menu featuring "soul food." Deep in the heart of the 7th ward, people of all backgrounds were speeding up to the doors to grab their buttermilk drops.

We decided to be nice house guests and purchased an extra dozen for ours hosts. Buttermilk drops in hand, we decided to go to the Audubon park across the street from Tulane's campus to enjoy them. It was a chilly 46 degrees that day, and yet the park was still crowded with school aged children, people walking, running, or just strolling about munching pastries (that would be us).

It was a gorgeous day, and even the ducks agreed.

Following our stroll around the park we checked out Tulane's campus, which was absolutely gorgeous.

A beautiful campus yes, but it IS still New Orleans. (Those are beads on a tree).

Alex and Grant then put on a knapping demonstration for some of the students while I worked on a knitting project. Following that we went to a local bar, then to dinner with a group of anthropologists. All in all a good evening. Our 5am wake up was a bit harsh, but we made it back that evening to our two awful, wonderful cats. I was vetoed (3-1) on the dog idea, but am happy with my two kitties and husband.
Up next? A few phone interviews before my last and FINAL interview (#15) on FRIDAY!! WOOHOO!!
PS: If you're wondering what happened to the buttermilk drops, here is a detailed account of when they were eaten.
Friday 1/21/11-1pm: 2/12 consumed at Audubon park
Saturday 1/21/11-5:30am 4/12 consumed in the car in New Orleans
Saturday 1/21/11-10am 2/12 consumed in car in Mississippi
Saturday 1/21/11-1pm 2/12 consumed in car in Tennessee
Saturday 1/21/11-4pm 1/12 consumed in car in Missouri
Saturday 1/21/11-5pm last one consumed while crossing into Iowa just so we could say we made it back with buttermilk drops still left.

Biloxi Mississippi

2011-01-20T19:05:00.000-08:00

4am came awfully early this morning if our impromptu nap in the parking lot of a Winn-Dixie was any indication. It was a well-deserved nap after all, and since we had 45 minutes to kill until my interview, we reclined our seats, closed our eyes as the sun poured through the car windows, and dozed off.
The town of Biloxi, about 90 minutes from New Orleans is rather small, but the VA in the area is fabulous. They, like the New Orleans site, are still dealing with many losses including the complete destruction of the main hospital on the gulf coast. They're currently in the process of building new facilities, and what I saw today was quite impressive.
Following my interview Alex and I decided to visit a local beach. Even though the pictures look rather "gray", it was a lovely 60 degrees outside.

Following our trip to the beach we decided to visit Jacques Imos, a restaurant highly recommended by our friends Grant and Sarah.
They were attending a Tulane function this evening, so Alex and I decided to give it a try. 45 totally-worth-it-minutes later, we had the meal of a life time.
First, since the waiter found out it was our first time, we got a free Shrimp and Alligator Cheesecake appetizer. AMAZING.

We were then given amazing garlic-cornbread-muffin thingies that were pure gold in addition to a nice spinach salad with a fried oyster on top. Perfect.

For our entrees I had blackened red fish (smothered in tasso hollandaise) with red beans and rice and greens. Awesome awesome.

Alex had a filet steak stuffed with oysters covered with caramel onions, tasso hollandaise, and blue cheese...and his beets and greens

As we were wiping our plates clean the chef and owner came out to the floor to greet folks. We got to talking and we learned that he was a veteran. When he heard I was in town interviewing at the VA he immediately told me New Orleans needed me and insisted on giving us free dessert!
Alex and I waddled back to Grant and Sarah's house tonight and were greeted by their two adorable dogs. Grant and Sarah are still at their Tulane function, so we're entertaining the dogs.

The 4 of us (me, Alex, Liza and Beloo) are laying on the bed digesting, looking forward to one last day in New Orleans tomorrow.

Interview and Swamp!

2011-01-19T21:08:00.000-08:00

Tuesday was my interview at the New Orleans Veterans Hospital. The day began with an explanation of the site, which included a discussion of the impact of Hurricane Katrina on the veterans hospital, most notably that the hospital was destroyed during the flooding that overwhelmed the city. As a result, the clinic is now housed in a small building in downtown New Orleans. In addition to the impact of the flooding on the physical property of the VA, was the impact on the staff that work there. Many of the psychologists left New Orleans, never to return leaving the facility under-staffed. Other obstacles, such as a lack of neuropsych testing kits as a result of the flooding were also created for this VA. Despite these obstacles, the individuals who work there remain committed and optimistic, and the pride they have for their city is clearly evident.
So...while I was learning about the VA, Alex was left to entertain himself in the city. It came as no surprise then, when I received a e-mail with the following picture:

This is, if you can't tell, is a picture of my dear husband wearing a bib in preparation for his seafood lunch. Being the sweet man that he is however, immediately following my interview, he whisked me off to the same spot so that I could enjoy a taste of what he had (in addition to some other fun items).

Following our mini shrimp-fest we continued to walk around the French Quarter, stopping in to local art galleries and antique shops. It was an absolutely gorgeous day-65 degrees, sun shining brightly, and Alex and I were wearing t-shirts! I even found my soul mate, an older woman working on a loom making hand crafted items who had -7- cats!! They were all adorable, and I must admit, I pet each and every one!

Shortly thereafter it began raining and we found ourselves running through the streets before ducking into our favorite place, the Gumbo Shop, for dinner. Mid-way through our red beans and rice it quit raining and we made our way down to Bourbon street again for the evening.

This morning we checked out of our hotel and slowly made our way further east to enjoy a swamp tour. On the way however, we stopped by a highly recommended seafood joint for one of the best meals of the trip so far. A fried shrimp and fried oyster poboy!

Feeling sufficiently full we arrived at the destination for the swamp tour, which turned out to be a beautiful wildlife preserve. The sun was shining, it was nearly 70 degrees, and we enjoyed just strolling around the park in anticipation of our boat ride.

Hanging Spanish Moss

Though we didn't see any gators, we had a wonderful time on the boat

Saw a LOT of the swamp area, which was absolutely breathtaking

We also saw a lot of crazy creatures including turtles

An Osprey

A raccoon

The impact of Katrina

Oh, and I guess we DID see an alligator

King of the Road

2011-01-17T18:49:00.000-08:00

At 5:15 am on Sunday morning Alex and I hit the road for New Orleans. With a 15-hour drive ahead of us, we decided to make the trip a little more enjoyable by stopping by Graceland. (The original radio version of "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy" on c.d. also helped). Chanting “Graceland or Bust” we made amazing time, pulling in to Memphis, Tennessee at 12:55pm.

We bought our tickets and first toured through the Graceland Mansion on a wonderful audio guided tour.

Just as interesting as the Elvis memorabilia was the fact that the house had been permanently frozen in the 70’s. While in the house we saw the living room

the dining room,

the room where Elvis’ parents lived (completed with poodle wallpaper),

the basement t.v. room,

the pool table room,

and the infamous Jungle Room.

Other highlights included the hallway of gold records,

the “racquetball” court,

the museum of Elvis Presley owned cars (which Alex drooled over)

and a tour of Elvis’ private jets that included golden sinks and seatbelts.

We were also able to see all of the most famous costumes Elvis wore while performing, and while Alex disagrees, I think he would look quite fetching in any number of the rhinestone studded suits previously worn by the King.

Following our trip around Graceland we resumed our trip to New Orleans at 2:30. At around 8pm (after an hour and a half long dinner at the Cracker Barrell) we decided we’d spend the night at a cheap motel along the side of the road. At $39/night we thought we were getting a great bargain. The sign indicating that "no refunds are issued after the first 10 minutes in a room" should have been a major tip off. This was easily the filthiest room either of us has ever set foot in. After a couple minutes of inspecting, Alex declared that we were leaving. After returning the toilet paper (yes, they “checked out” toilet paper to us) we left and decided to drive on straight through to New Orleans. (Though we both felt "itchy" for the next hour).

Even though we pulled in at 10pm and were absolutely exhausted, we still thought it necessary to see what the city had to offer us. Our hotel, located 2 blocks from Bourbon street easily facilitated our little jaunt.

Alex found Bourbon street entertaining...

and after a traditional Hurricane drink...

that was WAY too strong....

we settled in at a great little bar with an amazing jazz band that played all night.

This morning we began our day with Beignets from Café Dumond.

After getting harassed by a would-be shoe-shinner that squirted Alex's shoes with some substance out of nowhere, insisting he get paid to rub it off, we strolled around the city stopping in to little shops. We both instantly fell in love with a painting and decided that it had to be purchased. Thankfully, I just had my birthday and Grammy, Grandma and Grandpa and David and Barry purchased the painting for me! (Thanks for the $$!!) I’m sure you’ll agree that this is an awesome painting that clearly belongs in the home of Alex and Tamara.

For lunch we strolled over to the Gumbo Shop for amazing Creole fair including gumbo, jambalaya, red beans and rice and shrimp creole.

That afternoon involved more walking, including a trip to Mardi Gras World to see previous floats

and the French Market to sample southern Pralines.

For dinner we had amazing southern comfort food. Lots of pork, etc., etc., etc.

Now to slip into a food induced coma... ugh. Tomorrow, interview number 11? Yes..interview number 11.

Charm City

2011-01-15T11:05:00.000-08:00

Where am I? What's going on?

This past Tuesday I flew back from D.C. for my Wednesday interview at the Iowa City Veteran Affairs Medical Center. If you know me, then you know how much I love the Iowa City VA and the people who work there. My interview on that day went quite well and it was great to catch up with folks I hadn't seen in nearly a month.

Iowa City VAMC

That evening, directly after the interview and a luxurious 29 hours back in Iowa, Alex drove me to the airport for my flight to Baltimore. I was delayed getting into Minneapolis and had a mere 5 minutes to the gate, which was a mile a way. I run, but not usually while dragging luggage and wearing a long coat. Luckily, a charming gentleman operating one of the airport courtesy carts came to my rescue and whisked me away on one of the most terrifying rides of my life. By the end of the ride his voice was hoarse from saying "Excuse me...comin' through." But, he got me there on time, in one piece, and ready for my flight to Baltimore.

My knight in shining.....cart.

I arrived in Baltimore around midnight that evening and after a ridiculous $75 cab ride to my hotel, collapsed into a heap on my bed-bug free bed. (Remember, no matter how tired you are, you should always check for bed-bugs first.)

The interview at the Baltimore VA was a day-long affair. After arriving at the site, right in the heart of downtown Baltimore, I was overwhelmed with what it had to offer. Fabulous rotations, amazing supervision, and due to its close proximity to the National Institute of Health, Bethesda and Johns Hopkins University, the internship year also offers some unique and exciting research and seminar experiences.

An internship at the Baltimore VA would also involve rotations at the nearby Perry Point Veterans Medical Center as well.

Baltimore VAMC

Perry Point VAMC

After a long day of interviews I decided to check out the city of Baltimore. My hotel was located in the Inner Harbor area 2 miles from the VA. I took the afternoon and evening to see all that the city had to offer. I first walked around the Inner Harbor which was beautiful.

Inner Harbor

I saw a lot of ships including the Coast Guard boat...

The Chesapeake and a cool looking submarine thing with a mean face on the front

And the USS Constellation, which was vital in ending the slave trade in 1856.

All of the walking definitely had me craving some seafood, and so I stopped by a little restaurant right in the harbor and had crab cakes, shrimp and fish! YUM!

With some sunshine still left in the day, I headed toward the Visionary Art Museum, one of the quirkiest museums I have ever been to, and a nice reflection of the town. They had the sculptures from previous Kinetic races. Kinetic Sculptures are amphibious, human powered works of art custom built for the race. Each May, the American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM) hosts the East Coast Kinetic Sculpture Race Championship on the shore of Baltimore’s Inner Harbor in central Maryland. The eight-hour race covers 15 miles—mostly on pavement, but also including a trip into the Chesapeake Bay and through mud and sand.

This is just one example of the type of sculptures that have been made. The rest of the Museum was very similar in nature, and I loved wandering around and looking at all of the unique exhibits.

Outside of the museum

Look how artsy I am.

With my day nearly complete I had one last item on my to-do list: Visit Charm City Cakes. Charm City Cakes is this amazing bakery that really reflects the mood of the city: artsy, quirky, a little weird, but cool. The bakery has been the focus of a documentary-style television show on the Food Network for the past few years and features the head baker "Duff" and his motley crew of bakers. http://www.charmcitycakes.com/

Though you are only allowed inside the bakery by appointment, it didn't stop me from taking pictures outside of the bakery while my cabbie cracked up from the curb.

That evening, back at the hotel, I skyped with my parents and husband while he held up the kitties for me to see. The next morning, the 14th, and my 28th birthday I treated myself to a back of Riesens and a few trashy magazines for the flight home. That evening I was able to visit with the family after a nice dinner out.

So, today, back in Iowa for a total of 44 hours before Alex and I hit the road for New Orleans. A 17 hour car ride with my husband. A week in New Orleans/Biloxi, Mississippi before heading home. More adventures await the Woods family!

Hail to the...Tamara

2011-01-10T18:20:00.000-08:00

After a cancelled flight, some re-routing and waiting on standby, I made it to Washington D.C. on Sunday evening. I was able to quickly flag down a cab and make my way to my hotel on the outskirts of the city, passing through some less than desirable areas of town with what I can only assume was a freshly paroled cabbie.
The biggest thrill of the cab ride (aside from a number of near death experiences) was driving by the Washington monument. It was just there. This historic monument, just looming over the freeway with folks driving by most likely not even giving it much thought. I, of course, took a picture with my phone. My cab driver was not pleased.

The Washington monument at night from inside my cab

I arrived at another identical looking Marriot Farfield with identical sheets and identical "witty" Do Not Disturb signs (e.g. "Give me a moment, or thirty!") and most importantly, a distinct lack of (knock on wood) bed bugs.

After getting a good night's sleep (courtesy of the White Noise application on my iPhone) and loading up on the continental breakfast (literally. I had a bagel with cream cheese, cereal and a muffin. AND I brought up a number of treats that I stashed for later) I called for my cab...For the third time. I called last night and they refused to take reservations that far in advance. Then I called this morning an hour before I wanted to leave and that again, was too early. The third time I called 30 minutes before I needed them. 45 minutes later I was able to take the hotel shuttle to Union station where I was then able to flag down a cab (I later learned the cabs around here are extraordinary in their ability to be rude, be horrible at driving, and be nowhere around when you need them). Regardless, I got to the interview on time.

View of the Capitol from the Inpatient Unit courtesy of my phone!

The Washington, D.C.VA is fairly centrally located and from the inpatient unit you can actually see the Capitol Building. The VA was good with some nice rotations and has more animals in the hospital than most homes. Seriously. There's a therapy dog. And birds. The interns, however, have to all use the same office and it's a constant fight for space in which to conduct therapy. Other than that, it was a very nice VA. The questions that were asked of me were a bit out of the ordinary and I'm afraid I may have gotten a little too "Cat Crazy" (as Alex likes to call it) when they asked me to tell them a story about myself.
For some reason the ONLY story I could think of in that moment was when I found Dexter. This is, almost perfectly verbatim, what I said:
"So... I was going to the Hy-Vee to get Cheesecloth. Hy-Vee is a grocery store. In Iowa. So, I was getting cheesecloth. I wasn't making cheese. I like cheese, but I was making this coconut dish we'd learned how to make in Fiji. That's where we went on our honeymoon. I only wore two pairs of pants for 2 weeks. My husband's an archaeologist. So cheesecloth. I got out of the car and saw this little kitten. Then the kitten was gone and I heard it crying. I went inside and came back out. The kitten had stopped crying. So I left. Then I remembered I'd forgotten the cheesecloth. So I went back and the kitten was crying again. I called my husband and he came. We found the owners of the car and opened the hood and there was the cat. Here's a picture I carry in my wallet."
BUT, the training director (yeah, the training director) loved it and said that I was a tenacious young woman with a good heart.

After the interview I was absolutely exhausted and had every intention of going back to the hotel to take a nap. On the way back however, I saw this.

Feeling a surge of patriotism, I decided I'd make the most of the city and had the cab driver drop me off near the Smithsonian Institute Campus.

I walked through this little park...

Strolled down Constitution Ave.

..then popped into the Smithsonian Institute Museum of Natural History (just like from Night at the Museum!) While it was a wonderful museum and I saw some amazing exhibits, I kept being reminded of my dear friends and family. It was then that I realized that as fun and exciting as traveling around the country is, I was struck by just how much having those you care about with you adds to the experience. There was a great elephant display (Alex LOVES elephants) a huge giraffe (If Joleen could be any animal, she would be a giraffe), various plaques and descriptions I knew my mother would be reading in great detail, a sculpture that looked like female genitalia I was certain Dave and Barry would insist on taking a picture of, amethyst my mother-in-law would die for, jewels that reminded me of Rebecca's engagement ring, and a nice cozy cafe I pictured Dad resting at and drinking a bottle of water after saying "walk this way" and tripping himself. With thoughts of those I enjoy most, I tried to make the most of the museum, even taking time to go into the butterfly sanctuary and sit down among the butterflies (which reminded me of Alex's brother and his wife who got married in a butterfly museum!)

I then swung by the Hope Diamond and other jewels to drool for a bit...

After a wonderfully smuggled meal of a bagel, breakfast sandwich and milk, it's off to bed before my 6am flight in the morning back to Iowa City for interview #8, then back out to Maryland that same evening the night before interview #9 at the Baltimore VA.
Missing my husband, missing my family and friends, and missing my kitties.

St. Louis/Snow in the South

2011-01-09T08:32:00.000-08:00

This past Friday was my interview at the St. Louis VA. After driving directly from my interview in Chicago (with a quick Superman-like costume change out of my suit in a road side gas station restroom) we arrived in the great city of St. Louis. Exhausted, we dropped into bed immediately. (Hey, we've "done" St. Louis before).
Getting to the St. Louis VA was a small adventure. After a quick stop at McDonalds for breakfast, because Lord help me, I love their breakfast burritos (Even if Alex claims "it barely qualifies as food") we found ourselves lost in our attempt to find the Jefferson Barracks. We somehow ended up in a cemetery, and though creepy, was also gorgeous.

The St. Louis VA was, like all of the sites I've interviewed with thus far, absolutely wonderful. It felt a bit like a reunion as I knew 3 of the interviewees there from previous interviews (Salem, Milwaukee and Chicago to be precise). In fact, I discovered that I will be interviewing with one of the women there again in Biloxi.
Back to St. Louis. Great training rotations, wonderful opportunities for research, amazingly wonderful supervisors, and folks who were very excited about the course that I teach.
The St. Louis VA was founded during the Civil War, and some of the buildings show their age a bit more than others. The psychology unit, luckily, will be moving this Spring from its current location to a shiny new building currently being built. This is good considering the rate at which the unit has expanded recently, now housing 40 licensed psychologists.
Not only are there opportunities for training at the Jefferson Barracks VA, but also at the John-Cochran building in the heart of St. Louis. Though not as big as some of the hospitals I have interviewed at, the St. Louis VA is still VERY expansive with more than 70 buildings on the Jefferson Barracks site alone.

Following the interview Alex picked me up outside with snow spitting all around us. He came bearing trail mix and Chili Cheese Fritos (he loves me, he really loves me). We then made our way back home to our sad little kitties who hate being left alone.
We spent Saturday on the couch in our pajamas eating popcorn, clementines and watching the first two extended editions of The Lord of The Rings Trilogy. I can't tell you how amazing it felt to just sit on the couch with my husband, our cats, the fire, and a good movie for 10 hours.

But, no rest for the wicked. I'm now sitting in the Cedar Rapids airport awaiting my 12pm flight after the cancellation of my 9am flight. Apparently Atlanta can't handle snow and ice and decided it better to cancel all flights than to grab a shovel. I'll be heading through Minneapolis, arriving in Washington, D.C. around 9pm tonight. Tomorrow is an all day interview, and I'll need all the energy I can get.
This is my last week of flying and I can't wait to be over with this portion of the process!!

Sweet Home Chicago

2011-01-06T18:43:00.000-08:00

After 3 hours of sleep on Tuesday night I began my return journey to Chicago where Alex was staying with our friends. Despite being absolutely exhausted I was determined to make the most of our stay in the windy city. It is after all, the city where we first said "I love you."
We've been to Chicago on many occasions and thought we'd try something other than the traditional Museum/Aquarium/Sears Tower fare. So, we first went to the Wicker Park area (a neighborhood we would consider living in) and ate at Piece, an awesome pizza joint with great food, beer and music. The chevre and olive pizza was phenomenal!

Alex then suggested we do a little window shopping in the very hipster neighborhood (think tight jeans, faux-hawks, and big sunglasses). We stopped into a hat store and Alex immediately fell in love with one of their hats.

And then he insisted I try on some hats and that I buy one as well (what a sweet husband!)

This afternoon was interview #5 at the Jesse Brown VA in downtown Chicago. I really enjoyed meeting with the psychologists and interns, and was extremely impressed with all of the rotations they had to offer-most notably the OIF/OEF Outreach team. The VA hospital is smaller than the other ones I have interviewed at, though was by no means a "small" VA.
The inside is particularly nice...

And the outside isn't so bad either.

So now Alex and I are in St. Louis, having left directly after my Chicago interview. The St. Louis interview starts at 8:30am and will go until 2, at which point we're going to drive home. It will be nice to spend a couple of nights in my own bed before flying out to Washington, D.C.

Now to collapse into a deep sleep...

Interview #4: Carriers and cruisers and submarines, oh my!

2011-01-04T14:08:00.000-08:00

Greetings from Norfolk Virginia!

Getting here was certainly entertaining, but now that I'm here, I'm loving it! Let's start from the beginning, shall we?

On Sunday afternoon Alex and I set off for Chicago to stay with our very understanding friends (I say "understanding" because they are housing and feeding my dear husband for 4 nights while I travel about). On Monday morning Alex drove me to O'Hare airport amidst a good deal of traffic and blocked back roads. The fact that it was 6am didn't seem to make for lighter traffic, but merely served to enrage the good people of the greater Chicago area. Once I was dropped off I thought it would be smooth sailing from there, but in typical "Tamara" fashion I forgot something. (Did I mention that of the two hotels I've stayed at this far during the interview process, I've left behind two items. Basically, I've left something behind at each hotel I've stayed at).

Unfortunately, this wasn't a matter of leaving behind a shirt or a phone charger. No, I left my driver's license at home. If you're not familiar with the TSA (Transportation SecurityAdministration) they can get grumpy about such matters. Luckily, I've been trained for such an event and was prepared with my APA membership card, my library card, my atlatl membership card, and a picture of Dexter and Tula that I carry with me ("mmmm...yeah, nice cats"-Grumpy TSA agent). I also had my social security card and my student id which also helped the process along. So, after getting pulled aside and questioned heavily I was permitted to board the plane.

The flight into Norfolk was absolutely beautiful. I saw what I initially thought was a huge whale in the ocean that turned out to be a surfaced submarine. That, along with various other cruisers and carriers speckled the Atlantic Ocean near the Naval base. This is what Norfolk looks like:

The Veterans Hospital, however, is housed in Hampton, about 20 minutes north of the Naval Station. My hotel...another 20 minutes north of that. And while it was a $60 cab ride, I like to think of it as more of a tour, complete with crazy-haired cabbie tour guide with a real passion for smoking. (This "tour" of the greater Norfolk region is not to be confused with my later tour of the Hampton area by the Music-man singing cabbie). Below you'll see the red star which indicates the Naval Base. The VA is just north of there right on the bay near the Dot that says Hampton.

On Tuesday (today) I had my interview at the Hampton Veteran Affairs Medical Center. The Medical Center sits on 80-acres of water front property and is at a point where the James River, Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic Ocean all join together. It's an absolutely beautiful location and I was blown away by both the rotations offered as well as the sincerity and authenticity of the people. They interview people individually, so I was able to sit in among the group of 5 psychologists on the training committee.

A couple of highlights from the day 1) The Neuropsychologist was a hoot, and happens to be Greek. 2) The hospital has robots. For serious. I was getting the tour and a Robot bee-booped past me and I said "Are you really not gonna comment on the fact that a robot just walked by?" It turns out the robots, that sort of look like Daleks, are filled each morning at the Pharmacy and then wander the halls distributing meds to the appropriate departments. They kind of look like this:

The third notable moment of the day-two of the psychologists got my Dr. Who reference!

Following my interview I decided to see what Hampton had to offer. Touring about Norfolk would have been preferable, but it was a little too far south than I cared to pay for. Hampton was quite nice though and I got my first taste of some real southern food.

Mmm...Brunswick stew and salty, salty ham on a warm buttery biscuit. Heavenly.

I then toured about the downtown area

and stopped in at the Hampton Historical Museum to learn all I ever wanted to know about the great town of Hampton.
Did you know: The Native Americans who lived here were known as the Kecoughtans?
Did you know: Blackbeard and other pirates were common in this area? (That's me with a black beard replica)

Did you know: Crabbing is a HUGE industry here? So much so, it was the local high school's mascot bitd (that's back in the day for you non-hip folks. I like making up acronyms as I go).

Did you know: Eating nothing but cereal for two nights in a row is a real bummer?

Tomorrow my flight leaves at 5:30am EST. I'll shoot to get to the airport at 4 am, which means I need to leave here at 3 am, which means I need to get up at 2:30am (that's 1:30am for you Iowans). It's going to be brutal. But, by 9:37am (CST) I'll be back with Alex in Chicago. As much as I love to travel, it's definitely not the same without him. All through lunch I was texting him the details of what I was eating, and he'd write back "Mmm..Brunswich stew is the best," or "It's actually just country ham, they're calling it Virginia ham to make you feel special."And he of course sent a picture of what he was eating (NY style pizza...mmm..). So, tomorrow I get back to Chicago, interview in Chicago on Thursday, drive down to St. Louis and interview there on Friday. A long road ahead, but Alex will be with me so it will be more fun!

Old Milwaukee

2010-12-31T09:03:00.000-08:00

This past Tuesday Alex and I set off for interview #3 at the Milwaukee, Wisconsin VA. Having my husband along made it so much more enjoyable, and allowed for me to share the responsibility of driving (and eating my huge Mexican lunch along the way).
Heeding the advice of my brother-in-law, I joined the Marriot Rewards club earlier this month. As a result, the way in which I am treated at hotels has changed drastically. First, they bumped us to an awesomer (that is a word) room for no charge because they were slow that week. The result: This awesome suite with a great view of the city of Milwaukee.

Our hotel room also included free dinner, breakfast, access to their fitness center, and a special little welcome basket that said "Elite Member". I like being called elite.

The morning of the interview went quite well, and after an enormous buffet breakfast Alex drove me to the VA. The fist thing that struck me was the cemetery on the VA campus. (I didn't take the picture below, but it's a nice photo of the cemetery section of the campus).

The VA is divided into 3 branches. The VA hospital, Vocational Rehabilitation, and Cemeteries and Burials. The Milwaukee VA is the only VA in the country to house all 3 branches on their campus. Pretty cool, right? The other little factoid I learned about the Milwaukee VA is that it is one of the 3 initial VAs signed into existence by President Lincoln. This is an old photo I found of the VA.

The interview day itself went fabulously. I got to see one of my old cohort mates who is now completing a post-doc and proudly describes himself as "lame" as he is now living in the burbs with his wife and new son (sounds pretty nice to me!) The folks at the VA were absolutely wonderful and I was extremely impressed with all this internship has to offer. So...yes, I officially loved my 3rd interview as well. Ranking day is going to be difficult.

Following the conclusion of my interviews Alex and I decided to see what the city of Milwaukee had to offer the Woods. He had spent the day giving the city a preliminary tour, deciding on which areas he wanted to take me to later. So we stopped back at the hotel (ate a cheese/sausage snack he had picked up for me) and set off for the evening.

The first stop was the Historic Third Ward District of Milwaukee. This area is absolutely hipster-riffic, and we loved it! There was the cute little public market

with a lot of wonderful tasting beer!!

Following our time at the market we went further into the Third Ward District and did some window shopping.

We then ate dinner, grabbed some key-lime pie for the road and set off for the Safe House.

The Safe House is described as a spy bar and is apparently "legendary" in the Milwaukee area. The outside is rather unassuming and sports a "International Exports LTD" plaque as its only description.

To get in, you have to know the password. If you don't, you are required to do something silly (like the Macarena or doing a dance). All of this however, unknown to you, is being videotaped and there are tv screens all over the bar so people can watch this happening. Luckily when we went in the "Quality Control" was on break, which left us fumbling about trying to find our way in. We ended up pulling a lever and a bookcase twirled around exposing the hidden passageway to us. (We actually thought this was way cooler later on as we watched folks jumping about out in the lobby to gain entry).

The inside of the bar is fabulous and they serve martinis that fly through little tunnels, there are pictures from tons of famous people (most of the cast of Star Wars) that have visited, and little nooks and crannies all over the place.

Every corner has a booth to go in, or something to look at. In the women's restroom there's a naked photo of Burt Reynolds with a metal flap wisely placed over his more indecent areas. When someone (like me, for instance) tries to lift the flap to get a better look, an alarm and lights go off letting the rest of the bar know what someone just attempted to do.

You can exit the bar via the traditional route, or as we discovered, via the phone booth. We found a secret room with a phone. When we picked up the receiver the voice was telling us a code. We punched in a code and a door slid aside and exposed a long, dark tunnel that eventually led out to the street. Way cool.

We crashed rather early that evening but not before taking our time to enjoy the city of Milwaukee a little more. It really was quite nice.

The next morning we set off back home to Iowa bright and early. The roads were clear but the fog was incredible!

Up next: Norfolk Virginia, Chicago, Illinois and St. Louis Missouri. And that's just next week!!

ALOHA!

2010-12-21T18:20:00.000-08:00

Aloha friends and family!
Today I interviewed with the folks at the Honolulu, Hawaii VA. Unfortunately, it was over the telephone and not in person.

The interview went extremely well and again I was impressed by all the site had to offer. The VA itself is housed on a campus along with the Tripler Army Base and the National Center for PTSD. (See below for a picture of the VA campus)

So, I love 2 out of my first 2 internship sites. This is going to be very difficult. 13 to go! Next up, Milwaukee!

Virginia, Christmas Trees and Wieners

2010-12-19T10:23:00.000-08:00

The past few days have been an absolute whirlwind of excitement and activity. On Thursday 12/16/10 I set off for Salem, Virginia to interview at the Salem Veteran Hospitals. I've never really spent much time in the south before, and though folks fiercely claimed that they "...ain't nah southna'", it seemed pretty southern to me. The brochure for the Jerry Fallwell museum definitely tipped me off that I wasn't in the People's Republic of Iowa City anymore.
My flights were remarkably uneventful despite the freezing rain and snow that had just blanketed the state. And while I had to wait a torturous 3 hours for my canadian bacon/pineapple pizza to be delivered, I was happy to get settled in at the Comfort Inn for my first interview.
Thanks to some inspiring texts from family and friends (I lerve you Jo!), I woke up feeling pretty excited on interview day. After a lovely continental breakfast, I threw on my suit and headed out to the VA. The south, as Alex always says, is "beautiful but full of crazies." (I apologize to those of you from the south and realize that this is an unfair generalization...for the most part). And he's right. As I was in the cab headed toward the VA, I was overwhelmed by the beauty of the mountains, the peaks outlined by white fresh snow. The VA itself had incredible views!

The interview day itself was lovely, and while I insisted I would not comment on my feelings of each site, I left very impressed with all they had to offer, including a number of exciting rotations, as well as the sincerity and authenticity of the staff.
The VA itself sits on acres, upon acres, upon acres of land, and is easily the largest VA I have ever seen. In fact, it's so large that it requires a shuttle to go from building to building, and on the "campus" there is a greenhouse, post office, barber shop, cafeteria, and miniature golf course!! (Free putt-putt!) They had a model set up in the main building of how large the campus is. It was so large I had to take a video to get it all in!

I was also able to find a nice drawing of the VA campus.

Following the interview I decided to take some time to tour downtown Roanoke. It was an adorable quaint town, and it just so happened I was there on a Friday in December. And Friday in December in Roanoke = Christmas party! Each Friday they have parades, vendors, carolers, the shops stay open late in the main square, and people dress up like characters from Dickens classics! It was totally my style!

So, I took my time, went through the antique stores, the cute little shops, ate kettle corn and drank hot cocoa, and chatted with folks in the town who were more than willing to tell me how charming the area was. I left shortly before the Pet Costume Parade which was apparently a huge highlight of the season where "...Folks bring they goats and they sheep and they dogs and cats. Last yea a big 'ol poodle got painted green and paraded around like that 'ol Grinch." An adorable town, and one I could easily see myself living in.

Following my stroll around town I headed back to my hotel to finish the remains of my pizza and settled in for a nice sleep before getting up at 2:45 am for my flight back home. BUT, instead I got a phone call from another VA asking me to interview, bringing the grand total up to 15 interviews. Whoops. Just when I thought I was done.

Though I enjoyed my time in Virginia, I was very happy to be coming home to Iowa and my husband. And despite getting very little sleep the night before, Alex had big plans for us. You see, I LOVE Christmas. REALLY love it. And Alex, well, he's kind of my Santa. :)

We went straight from the airport to the Amanas to eat some fried chicken and pickled ham (hey, that's Christmas-y) and then took a tour through the Tannebaum Forest. And who should be there but SANTA!! (I definitely had an Elf moment as I screamed "SANTA!"

He asked us what we wanted for Christmas and we said we'd really appreciate him making our student loan debt disappear...(or another kitty I whispered to him). He laughed and said he'd work on the kitty.

We then walked through the rest of the Tannenbaum Forest, which was absolutely wonderful. Each little shop in the Amanas decorates a tree to represent their store. Some of our favorites were the brewery (a bunch of beer stacked in the shape of a tree)

The toy store

The woolen mill tree

and the Kitchen store.

Then TODAY we made a pilgrimage to the Hy-Vee to see the Wienermobile in all of its glory. Alex was particularly excited.

Because if there's one thing the Woods love, it's hot dogs!

We then enjoyed a healthy breakfast of chili-cheese dogs for only $1!

Today I'll be making arrangements for the remaining 14 interviews. It's going to be a long January, but hopefully one full of fun trips and good food!

Tamara's Cross-Country Interviewing Adventures

2010-12-15T14:08:00.000-08:00

One of the capstone experiences for a psychologist pursuing their PhD is to complete an internship. Coming from an APA accredited doctoral program in psychology, I am seeking an APA accredited internship (most likely followed by an APA accredited post-doctorate position). After nearly 6 years of clinical work seeing clients and conducting asssessments in a variety of settings (2 University Counseling Centers, Neuropsychiatry at UIHC, Community Mental Health, and 2 rotations at the Iowa City VA) as well as teaching (Human Relations, Biological Psychology and Post-deployment Issues) in addition to taking classes, I am embarking on the daunting process of internship. And it is, after all, something I have been thinking about and preparing for since my first day of graduate school. Back then though, I was able to bury my head in the sand a little more easily. "I'm just a first year. I don't need to worry about this yet." "Internship? I'm in my second year. I'm seeing clients for the first time, I have other things to think about." "Third year = getting married, not internship, silly!"
At the end of my 5th year, having successfully passed my dissertation proposal, I ran out of obstacles. The internship was the next logical step. So this past August I began writing. Writing essays, writing cover letters, updating my CV, and cumulating all of the hours I had spent in therapy or assessment with clients. (As it turns out, I was actually doing a fair amount of work the past few years).
Our program has people apply to about 15 internship sites. I chose to only apply to Veteran Affairs Hospitals since I hope to continue working there throughout my professional career. Given the course I recently created and teach (Biological Psychology and Post-deployment Issues), I've pretty much determined the VA and helping veterans reintegrate into post-secondary education is what makes me happiest. Therapy, teaching, research, I love it all.
So, between now and February 1st I will have to fly/drive/phone interview with 14 different sites in 12 different states. I have one interview in December, and the rest in January. It's going to be an interesting 47 days. The hopeful outcome? An internship. Unfortunately, there are too many applicants, and not enough spots. The great minds from APA did the math and calculated that 25% of applicants this year will not receive an internship. Let me say that again. 25%. One out of four. Devastating. Though generally a "half-glass-full" sort of person, this entire process has made me more of a "where'd-the-rest-of-my-water-go?" type.
For those interested, my schedule is as follows: Salem, Virginia in December and in January: Hampton, Virginia, Chicago, IL, St. Louis, MO, Washington, D.C., Tuskegee, Alabama, Iowa City, Iowa, Baltimore, Maryland, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, New Orleans, Louisiana, Black Hills, South Dakota, Columbia, Missouri, Tacoma, Washington and Honolulu, Hawaii.
Alex has been simply wonderful and supportive, insisting he would make the sacrafice of moving to Hawaii if need be. :)
I'll be updating along the way, not regarding how I'll be ranking each of the sites (that's as confidential as baby names), but of the city, and my experiences traveling across the country during the winter!
If you're up for additional reading, you can check out this press release on the class I teach. It's been in a couple of newspapers and I was on the radio talking about it.
http://news-releases.uiowa.edu/2010/november/110810veteran_new_class.html

Next up: December 16-18: Salem, Virginia!

Where it all began...at the airport

2010-07-02T01:06:00.000-07:00

7/1/10-7/2/10: France Days 34 and 35

Minutes after finishing the last blog entry, the Mr. and I decided to load up the car with our luggage for the next morning, thinking that we’d just roll out of bed and into the car for our drive up to Paris. Despite the fact that it was nearly midnight, it was still a hot, humid endeavor, which left us both looking and feeling rather wilted.

After loading up the Peugeot Alex and I came upstairs, looking forward to a shower, and a few hours of sleep before we had to hit the road. Just as we climbed the stairs to the top of the third floor for the sixth time, (Hey, we’ve got a lot of luggage and rocks folks) I rounded the corner and came face to face with a bat. Yes. A bat.

At this point, fearing for my life, and the mythical ‘bat caught in your hair’ scenario, I dashed forward from the hallway into the bedroom. I grabbed Alex on my way into the room. and slammed the door on the monster flying in circles in the hall.

In classic horror movie fashion however, just as I closed the door thinking myself safe in the confines of our bedroom, I turned around to find that the monster was in fact, in the bedroom with us!

We BOTH then screamed, ran out into the hallway, locking the flying rat ‘safely’ in our room. I was content to cut our losses and leave the rest of our belongings in the bedroom, but Alex insisted that we needed to shower and sleep that evening. So while I retreated to the stairwell, he opened the door to let the vile creature out. At this point the winged demon came screaming out of the bedroom, into the hallway before eventually flying into the vacant room at the end of the hall. Alex then shut the door on that room, locking the beast in Chamber 4.

It didn’t take long for us to begin feeling guilty. The room in which we had sequestered the bat did not have any open windows, and he would most assuredly meet his demise in the room formerly occupied by the Swiss students. (A nasty fate for any creature). Alex spouting off random facts about bats didn’t help my conscience either (did you know they eat their weight in mosquitoes every night?).

So, my brave husband decided to go into the bat occupied room, open a window, and then shut the door again, hoping the bat had enough sense to find a way out.

I of course insisted he protect himself.

What Alex discovered was that the poor little guy had pooped himself out while flying around our room, most likely scared to death and was now sleeping on one of the walls. Upon closer inspection, he wasn’t so evil looking. Actually, he was kind of cute.

The drive up to Paris was not nearly as eventful as the preceding evening, though due to our late night bat-capades we were both rather tired, and had to keep ‘tag-teaming’ during the drive. Dropping off ‘Robert’ (as we’ve come to refer to the Peugeot) was bitter sweet.

And any feelings of embarrassment we may have had regarding the dirt plastered inside the interior were soon put to rest once we saw an identical car that had been in a rather bad accident.

It wasn’t until we left the comfort of our air conditioned ride and hailed a taxi that we realized just how hot and sticky 95 degrees in Paris feels. (Granted, the 8 bags we were hauling around didn’t help matters).

Our hotel in Paris, the Normandy Hotel was a grand old hotel in its day, but in recent years seems to have let it self go. Still, the hotel boasts a 4 star rating, and we soon realized that the prime location (less than one block from the Louvre and the Opera house) may have had a large part in the assignment of multiple stars.

We took advantage of our proximity to….everything, and after another failed attempt at the catacombs (7 minutes late for the last tour departure) took to the streets in the heart of Paris.

Our first stop was to a shopping center…that’s what I said. Really? A shopping center? But you’ve never seen a shopping center like this. Beautiful domed ceiling in the middle of hundreds of famous (and ridiculously overpriced) designers and brands.

Though we tried our best to ‘look rich’, Alex’s Hawaiian shirt (sans a button) and my grungy shoes didn’t fool the folks at Cartier and Prada.

After nearly 10 floors of browsing we found the real draw (and apparently the make-out center of the city) of this super shopping center-the roof. From here we had a marvelous view of Montmantre, the Eiffel Tower, Notre Dame, the Arc de Triumph, and the Opera house.

After some exhausting ‘none-shopping’ we found ourselves extremely hungry, having only eaten chicken flavored potato chips that day. We strolled around looking for the ‘perfect’ restaurant. Something old fashioned (to match our hotel), within our price range, something that would accept two sweaty tourists, and something tasty. It took a while, but we finally found it. And we knew immediately as soon as we walked inside we were in for a treat.

Mollard, founded in 1867 is about as old school Frenchy French as you can get. The entire restaurant is covered in magnificent tile work, old fashioned wood work, gilded everything, and the maitre d and waiters all wear suits with bow ties.

The food, like the service and the setting, was superb. Fantastic Onion Soup, A fish dish for Alex that he raved about, the best steak I have ever had in my life, and 3 fantastic deserts.

Now, we actually only paid for two deserts. Alex got some nice crepes, and I went for the ‘omelet surprise’. The surprise being, I didn’t know what the hell I was doing.
Basically, they put a flaming ball of marshmallow, swimming in alcohol, in front of me. The idea being that the alcohol burns off as the marshmallow thing cooks. I watched it (very quickly) go from a perfect golden-brown-and-delicious state, to charcoal. Now, Alex is partially to blame. I went to blow out the fire around the 'golden-brown-and-delicious' stage, and he panicked, fearing that I would blow the flaming alcohol onto his shirt. (At this point he thinks it necessary to point out that when I did attempt to blow on it a little, he saw his life flash before his eyes as a 'huge' fireball went sweeping past him). He said ‘Just let it cook’. About 5 minutes later it finally died out, and I was left with a big black blob.

The maitre d walked by, saw my chunk of charcoal, and quickly swept it up, reprimanding the waiter for not having instructed me properly. I then received a new marshmallow, and was told to blow quickly to extinguish the fire. It was delicious, and the waiter was very kind, and even jokingly brought over the fire extinguisher as I was eating it! (The real surprise, by the way, was the ice cream and delicious goo inside).

That evening, as the night crept on, we were faced with another difficult dilemma. Good night’s rest, or spend more time in Paris? Okay, not so much as a dilemma, but another ‘What we should be doing vs. what we want to do’ discussion. Guess which won?

Around 10 pm we headed over to the Louvre area, half afraid of the sketchy pick-pocketers that might be lurking about in the shadows. What we found instead, were hundreds of people picnicking on the grounds, drinking wine, and eating cheese. Across the way, a giant fair had been set up since we were last here in May. We ran around the fair, playing carnival games, tripping and laughing around the ‘fun house’, all the while looking at the Louvre, the Eiffel tower, and Montmartre in the background.

The ‘piece de resistance’ of the fair, and the most terrifying of the rides, was the Ferris wheel. Ferris wheels, though not generally perceived as giant death traps, are quite frightening to us. You see, neither Alex nor I ‘do’ heights. But we couldn’t pass this up.

And it was beautiful. We had a complete panoramic view of the city, of the Eiffel tower lit up at night, of the Louvre with all of its picnickers on the lawn, of Montmartre up on the hill, Notre Dame, and the Arc d’ Triumph. Easily one of the most amazing things we did in Paris, and the fact that it was Paris at night, in the summer, made it all the more romantic! (We even managed to pull ourselves together long enough to get a kiss or two in).

While I’m sad to be leaving France, I realize that I am I fact, leaving with the love of my life, to our happy, happy, home, and returning to our two ornery, co-dependent cats.

We’ve had an amazing trip, with more than a lifetime of memories. We each have our favorite ‘perfect’ moments, and even the not-so-perfect moments (the bat attack, my failed desert, Montezuma’s revenge) are some of the most memorable (as ‘not-so-perfect’ moments tend to be).

On our honeymoon in Fiji we had matching shirts from Active Endeavors, a local outdoors shop. People kept approaching us asking us if we were a part of a team. We finally started responding “Yes! Team Woods!” This trip has re-affirmed the fact that Alex and I do indeed make a great team. While we’ve always known this, traveling seems to bring out the best in our relationship. Whether it’s trekking around islands in Fiji, maneuvering our way through busy, confusing subway stations, eating ridiculously amazing food in Philly, braving the bitter cold of Boston to walk to the ballet, dashing through the Louvre, or hunting around for rocks on the side of the road, together, we can do anything. And together, it’s always more fun.

I could say a lot more about my husband, and our marriage, but that would most likely make you sick to your stomach. Suffice it to say, we’re both so thankful for the lay over in St, Louis nearly 4 years ago. And while we’re sad to see this trip come to an end, as I sit here in the airport next to my husband wearing one of his ‘loud’ Hawaiian shirts, I am sure this will not be the last of our adventures together.

Saying Good-bye

2010-06-30T14:25:00.000-07:00

6/29/10-6/30/10
The past two days have been rather sentimental for us, and I find myself saying things like "Oh...this is the last time we'll buy Pan au Chocolat in Les-Eyzies", or "This is the last time you'll knap on this slab of concrete". I'm pretty sure Alex is looking forward to the last time I'll point out a last.
We've also been saying good bye to some dear 'friends' that we've made here. I put 'friends' in quotations because they've become like friends to us, though I'm not entirely sure they regard us as such. There's Margot, the baker we see every morning (sometimes multiple times a morning), the La Poste man who has significantly built up his upper body strength in the past few days weighing and re-weighing our boxes of rocks, and the Dump guy who we're on 'cheek kissing terms' with due to our multiple encounters dumping off Alex's busted up rock bits.
Leaving town still hasn't stopped us from making the most of every moment, and in addition to packing up, busting up rocks, and getting our affairs in order, we've been able to do some fun things as well.
On Tuesday we were able to visit Castenet (http://www.prehistoirepassion.com/Castel%20Merle.htm), a local archaeological site where we oooh'd and aaaah'd over Dr. Randy White's new robot that takes pictures of the dig site, and then composites them to form one image. The robot takes pictures anywhere from 1 to 2 times a day, allowing for rapid and effective digitizing of the site.

Today (after shipping off the last of the rock samples) we decided to visit Chateau Hautefort. On the way, we happened to drive through the town of Montignac, where they were preparing for an upcoming festival.

It just happened to be a market day, and I was able to pick up a couple of nice things for my mother and mother-in-law!

From there we completed our journey to Hautefort, a beautiful old Chateau, and to plagiarize Mr. Fodor "...bristles with high roofs, domes, chimneys, and cupolas. The square-line Renaissance left wing clashes with the muscular, round towers of the right wing (due to a mix of architects-that's me, not the guide book), and the only surviving section of the original medieval castle-the gateway and drawbridge-plays referee in the middle. Adorning the inside are 17th century furniture and tapestries".

There are also some pretty wicked cool gardens on the grounds showcasing that crazy French hedge-trimming.

Following Chateau Hautefort we decided to further our avoidance of the 95 degree heat (Hey-we gots no air conditioning!) by going to the Medical Museum in town.

The visiting exhibit this month was all about Dentistry of the past. Alex and I both have co-occurring dentist appointments upon our return, and after today's visit, we feel very happy with Dr. Bergeron.

Following the medical museum we determined we had a couple of options in front of us. We could return to the Francois Bordes house, finish packing, and get a good night's sleep like the responsible adults we try to be. OR, we could drive to Sarlat and have dinner.

Dinner in Sarlat was excellent. It's a beautiful Medieval town with a gorgeous cathedral in the center, and an awe-inspiring number of shops and restaurants. We spent the evening strolling about town, hand in hand, professing our love for each other ("I can't believe I'm not sick of your face after all this time!") while musicians roamed the streets.

We ate dinner at one of the many, many restaurants (Le Bouffon), and each enjoyed another helping of duck.

Now we're packing up, loading up the car, and getting ready for an early drive to Paris!

The best decision I ever made...

2010-06-28T14:15:00.000-07:00

France Day 31: 6/28/10:
Three years ago today while staying at the Woods' cabin on Cape Cod, after a round of mini golf and a giant hot dog, I made the best (and easiest) decision of my life by agreeing to marry Alexander D. Woods. At this point it might be fitting (and cliche) to say something like "Little did I know that 3 years later we'd be in France together". But the truth is, I had a sneaking suspicion that life with Alex would be full of fun adventures.
To celebrate (and to help combat the 95+ degree heat) we started our day off with an ice cream treat at a local restaurant.

We then headed down to our last market day in Les-Eyzies and purchased our last rotisserie chicken of the season (with potatoes that had been sitting at the bottom of the roaster sucking up all of the juicy chickeny goodness).

To celebrate our 'Three Year Engagement Anniversary" (Hey, we're all about finding reasons to celebrate, in a couple of months it will be our "Four Years Since we Met Anniversary) Alex bought me an awesome-tastic new bag

and these great new woven pillow cases made in France!

We also managed to escape the heat by re-visiting the museum at Les-Eyzies.

This time we got to tour on top of the museum itself (where a castle once was) looking over the town.

And there was a Neanderthal statue...so of course..

The heat has finally broken (thanks to a thunderstorm), and we're listening to the rain outside our window. We managed to ship off 5 boxes of rocks, and will be doing some more packing/shipping tomorrow. Despite the heat we are not looking forward to leaving France!

Last day of hunting

2010-06-27T12:07:00.000-07:00

France Days 29 & 30 (6/26 & 6/27)
Sadly, today was our last official 'hunting for rocks' kind of day. Though I'll be the first to admit that it isn't always such a fabulous job, and one that often involves me either covered in mud, getting stung by nettles, or 'sitting there and looking innocent' while Alex trespasses, I am going to miss it thoroughly. For one thing, the snacks over here are far superior to the snacks back in the states (See exhibit A: Bacon flavored bugles).

And aside from beautiful rocks, and beautiful castles, etc., etc., we also see some really weird stuff. Like THE baguette source. The point from which all baguettes start, and eventually make their way downstream into your local bakery.

(Don't worry, we still appreciate those beautiful castles. Though it's a bit ridiculous. They're everywhere!)

Rock collecting also got a LOT more interesting because I've started driving! That's right-a manual! In fact, I drove the ENTIRE time today. 1 hour out to the place we looked for the first kind of rock, another hour to another site, then all the way back.

By and large, I did quite a good job. The only major screw-up of the day was when I accidentally drove onto the barred raceway (GOING BACKWARD) for the car rally going on. Luckily I was following one of the officials who eventually got us off (1.3 miles later). There was also an accident, which meant all the racers were at a standstill. Lovely husband that he is, Alex decided he'd rather take a picture than help us out of the situation safely!

Above all, however, I will miss our ice-cream treats at the end of those long rock-hunting days.

NEANDERTHAL'S REVENGE

2010-06-25T12:34:00.000-07:00

France Days 27 & 28

It finally happened. I shouldn’t be surprised, really. It was bound to happen. What I’m really surprised about is the fact that it didn’t happen sooner.

My ‘adventurous eating’ finally caught up with me. Alex and I have multiple conspiracy theories in the works, but we’re pretty sure I brought this upon my self. You see folks, I have spent the past two days curled up in the fetal position with ‘Montezuma’s revenge’ only uncurling myself periodically to perfect the 1 meter dash. (There are of course, other terms frequently used for this particular ailment, several creative ones by Anthony Bourdain that I thoroughly enjoy, but we’ll stick with this one for now).

The –real- problem has been my inability to accept the fact that I am indeed sick, and instead have been trying to carry on as usual. This has resulted in several failed attempts at sight-seeing, and one particularly embarrassing (but fast) sprint from a nearby restaurant back to the house.

Alex has been a picture perfect husband, expressing the appropriate amount of sympathy before retreating to another area of the house. Only until I was feeling better did Alex wait to reenact some of my more glorious moments.

Luckily, this left Alex with ample time (and motive) to roam about the town getting some work done. By the time I was feeling better he had photocopied obscene amounts of French literature for his dissertation, investigated La Poste rates, conned a local wine guy for his wine boxes, and purchased packing tape. Just in time for me to be feeling better to help pack up.

Unfortunately, the woman at La Poste mis-quoted him a price for shipment of his rocks. So his shipping celebration was cut short once we were told it would be 105 Euros for one box (out of 11), not 25. That led us to re-think our strategy.

What we’ve decided on (for now, this is all subject to change mind you) is to cram as much as humanly possible into our carry-ons (providing that they allow us to take big, sharp, heavy rocks onto the plane), our checked baggage (we actually had to purchase another piece of luggage because we didn’t bring enough), and then ship the remaining boxes back to my mom and dad.

I’m aware that this has been a somewhat less than ‘glamorous’ update, but I’m sure we’ll laugh about it someday. For now, I’m going to go nibble on some bread, sip some water, and watch Alex fill what should be wine-designated space in our luggage with rocks.

(5 of the 11 or so boxes that need to be shipped/taken in our luggage back. That's a big black bucket on the left for comparison. These things weigh a ton. Might need to take a taxi to the airport).

France Day 26: Castles and Gardens

2010-06-24T02:20:00.000-07:00

France day 26: 6/23/10

The chilly weather we’ve been experiencing for the past few days recently lifted and was replaced by scorching heat and cloudless skies. Realizing he would most certainly burn to a crisp if he sat on the concrete slab knapping, Alex made the wise decision to wait until later in the day before he started busting up rocks.

That left us with some time to kill. Without hesitation we decided upon Castlenaud as our first destination.

The castle has a sordid history, switching hands at least 7 times starting in 1214. The hundred years war also meant some more switching of hands, and in 1966 it was listed as a Historic Building.

The castle acts as a giant playground (at least for us), and Alex and I were running around, checking out all the nooks and crannies.

Alex had been dying to go here, and his expectations were more than met. There was armour, swords, trebuchets, an artillery tower, hackbuts, veuglaire cannons, wheel-lock harquebuses, organ with 12 gun barrels, giant crossbows, winch crossbows, and serpentines. The stuff men's dreams are made of.

All in all a great afternoon at CASTLENAUD!!

Our second destination of the day was to Les Jardins de Marqueyssac.

The gardens date back to the 17^th century, and are responsible for the crazy hedge-trimming trend common across this part of France.

The garden itself is situated atop a cliff that overlooks the entire Dordogne Valley. It is 192 meters high and 130 meters above the river.

We took a magnificent 6K walk around the 360 degree panoramic trail which has views of 5 castles, including Beynac and Castlenaud.

This day of being touristy also revealed to me yet another reason why I adore my husband. As I ran around the castle and the garden like a 5 year old in a toy store, he would patiently read the pamphlet and point out all of the important things I should be paying attention to. It was like having my own personal tour guide. I'd hear "Tamara, come look. It's a....used for....". I'd rush over, nod, maybe snap a picture, and then head on to the next exhibit. My husband is a very patient man, and is probably one of the very few people in this world who can handle me. :)

PS: Alex has not put on that much weight in France. He is carrying both of our passports, all of our car registration/insurance information, and money around a neck pouch.

After returning from our wonderfully fun and touristy day Alex then sat down on his concrete slab (which is shaded now that the sun has moved) and started breaking up samples in preparation for shipment back to the states…which is why I think it would be best if we just stayed here. That way we wouldn’t have to bother with it…and we’d get to live in the south of France.

Dinner at Au Vieux Moulin

2010-06-23T01:42:00.000-07:00

Dinner at Au Vieux Moulin

Alex and I have eaten a lot of good food. In fact, we have a ‘top ten list’ of our favorite meals: our going away lovo in Fiji, basically everything we ate in Philadelphia with my cousin Brandon (he’s a chef out there), duck fat french fries in Chicago, our first meal in Paris, and now, dinner at Aux Vieux Moulin.

To begin with, it was probably the most beautiful view we’ve ever had while enjoying such fine food. This was my view throughout the entire dinner. And the background isn’t too bad either.

The meal started with a ‘foie gras crème brule’ which was fantastic. It was the most creamy, delicious foie gras I have ever had.

Next came my escargot, which I have been dying to try. I wasn’t really expecting to be a fan, but felt as though I would be mocked and ridiculed if I didn’t at least eat some Escargot while in France, particularly given the fact that the escargot farm is about 1 mile away. They brought out my plate with the escargot prepared two ways. The first was in a wonderful red sauce, which I scarfed up immediately. The second preparation was fried escargot (chopped up into bits along with parsley). Unfortunately, I loved it. I have never devoured something so quickly in my life. Alex had a couple as well, but wasn’t as in to them as I was. All the more for me!

For the next course Alex and I ordered two separate dishes: Pan fried fish with mozzarella and truffles for me, and gnocchi with beef juice and shaved ham for Alex. But in proper Alex and Tamara fashion (which we think simultaneously intrigues and grosses out the French) shared with each other off of our forks. It was stupendous.

The next course we received Duck confit and a layer potato dish (prepared like a meuille-fueil) that Alex almost cried he was so happy to be eating. We were also given another dish of pan friend fish with a creamy buttery sauce that I was sopping up with bread, and creamy risotto. It was amazing.

For desert we had pineapple carpacio, which is thinly sliced pineapple in a simple syrup, with a ball of lemon ice cream in the middle. Absolutely amazing! And healthy, right?

Because one desert is never enough, we also had a soufflé. Difficult stuff to make, and I am always willing to pay for something that I will never be able to recreate in my own home. Not only was it absolutely stunningly gorgeous, but it was one of the most delicious pieces of food I have ever had the pleasure of cramming into my mouth.

After dinner we figured the 30 second walk back home might require a bit more energy, so we ordered some espresso. As a side bonus, it came with a trio of sugary deserts!

So another great meal added on to our “Top Ten List”. We haven’t sorted out the order yet, and I’m sure by the time we’re 60 there will be at least 30 meals on our “Top Ten”.

France Day 25: La Ferrassie and Food

2010-06-22T09:42:00.000-07:00

This past weekend at the atlatl competition we met a nice man digging at La Ferrassie. (For brief info on the massive importance of Ferrassie, see http://www.donsmaps.com/ferrassie.html). He invited us to stop by when we got a chance, and we decided today would be a splendid day to do so.
We got there before lunch and got a brief 'tour' around the site. There were a number of people from around the world digging there, and I was able to snap some pictures while one of the archaeologists and Alex talked.

We were then invited to return for lunch, at which point some pretty well-known names in the field would be joining us. Alex and I figured the only proper thing to do would be to return with chevre, tapinade, wild cherries, and a baguette (all were warmly received by the crew). It just happened to be market day in Le Bugue. Since things are now getting much more touristy, the size of the market has increased to 10 times the size it was two weeks ago. We had a blast running around the market, sampling tasty delicacies, and buying food to take back to the crew.

This field lunch, though not as fancy as Arcy-Sur-Cure, was very tasty. 5 kinds of cheeses, bread, tuna salad, salami, marinated olives, and other tasty bits. We were able to talk to several of the archaeologists, and I definitely got to give one of them crap about his 'Neanderthal Cookbook' that he published. All in all a good afternoon.
From there, we headed out to look for more rocks. Senonian to be precise. Given the mass amounts of this stuff kicking around, we didn't have any trouble locating multiple sources. That gave us time to check out La Moustier (another famous archaeologial site) while out and about.

So, with the evening to ourselves we're going to eat at a restaurant that has come highly recommended by one of the archaeologists. It just so happens it is literally 40 feet from where we're staying.

If the food is anywhere as good as it is rumored to be, then we're in for a real treat. Regardless, it will be a beautiful evening with a wonderful view! Bon Appetite!

France Day 24 (6/21/10): Market Day and the ever elusive Chalcedony

2010-06-21T13:19:00.000-07:00

Today is Monday. Monday in Les-Eyzies is exceptionally exciting because Monday is market day.
So after finally getting a restful night of sleep, Alex and I jumped out of bed and ran down to the market this morning to get some deliciousness (stopping to take in the scenery on the way...not too shabby, eh?)

Now, Alex and I -love- the farmer's markets in Iowa City and Coralville, and get pretty excited to visit each week. But markets in France are on a completely different level.

For one thing, it's in France. But more than that, the vendors are amazing! Awesome strawberries from the silent strawberry guy, outrageous cheeses from cheesy earring dude, sausages from meat man, saffron/ginger flavored jellies from the hippie saffron guy, honey from the honey guy, foie gras from goosey man, mushrooms from the grumpy mushroom guy wearing a beret, and fresh crepes from crepe lady! (Those are probably not their real names, just what Alex and I have decided to call them).
After making some nice purchases we headed back 'home' with our goodies and had a nice little buffet in the kitchen.

I particularly enjoyed the strawberries!

After lunch we headed out to search for one of the last remaining rocks Alex needs: Chalcedony. It's beautiful stuff, but hard to find. And we looked. A lot. In rivers, in farm fields, everywhere. After a long day of driving around, a backseat full of KinderToy wrappers, empty chip bags, and crushed up juice de pomme boxes, we had pretty much given up, and were getting ready to set the GPS to 'home'. Then we found it. And we definitely found it. Before we knew it we were hauling buckets of it back to the car.

I treat the whole 'searching for flint' thing like an Easter egg hunt. But instead of a neon pink and yellow Easter basket, I have a .90 E black bucket from Bricomarche. Still, I run around in the woods and yell out "I found one!" and Alex comes over to confirm, or say "Good job!" or "That one's a little too small for testing" or "This one's too faulted, see the lines?". Either way, the rocks are more durable, and don't mind it as much when I slam them into the bucket.

Now the problem is figuring out how to ship hundreds upon hundreds of pounds of rocks back to the U.S. Most people ship back amazing wines from Burgundy. Us? We ship back freakin' rocks. :)

France Day 23: Atlatls and the Atlantic

2010-06-20T15:07:00.000-07:00

Sunday 6/20/10: There are few things that will get me out of bed early in the morning. Until today I thought that fire alarms and the smell of bacon were the only items on that list. After today however, I can now tack on throwing spears at an archaeological site.
Today Alex and I woke up at the unearthly hour of 4am to make the 3 hour drive up to St. Cezaire (a famous neanderthal site) for a European atlatl competition. Despite being extremely sleepy, watching the sun rise while munching on croissants in the car made being a bit drowsy more than worth it.
We arrived at St. Cezaire (took the obligatory Tamara + Neanderthal photo)

got registered, and then looked around desperately for some folks to form a group with. Normally we know plenty of friendly faces to throw with, but at this particular event we were definitely the strangers. Not only that, but we were wearing matching t-shirts. Despite this, two friendly young men (Philippe and Emanuel) invited us to join them to throw the European (or just the competition as they call it)
Normally the European competition in the US consists of a number of targets (varying in size and distance) lined up rather close together, and you throw 30 times at them. In Europe, you walk. A long way. Through the mud. Up hills. Down hills.

Alex and I didn't throw particularly well given the massive darts we were borrowing.

The other two members of our group however, threw quite well. Really well. Amazingly well. Turns out, they're consistently ranked the #1 and #2 men in the European competitions, and today was no exception as they ranked #1 and #2. (Alex ranked 18th among the 35 or so men, and I ranked #4 among the 15 women!)

Following the European we took a quick tour around the site

(made some Wooly rhino friends)

before heading to a wonderful lunch of sausages! After stuffing our faces thoroughly we took part in the ISAC. Alex and I were able to borrow lighter darts, and the change was quite noticeable. So much so that I ranked! Being the only World Atlatl Association members there, we were then recruited to score the rest of the competition.

After a beautiful day, and kisses on the cheeks from new friends, we decided to make a quick detour in Saint-Palais-sur-Mer to see the ocean on our way home.

A lovely day of throwing spears, followed by a stroll along the Atlantic (from the -other- side than we usually see), complete with a dinner of mussels and frites.

We have now been up for 20 hours, my dear husband is fast asleep, and we have some rock collecting to do in the morning. Still, I wouldn't trade it for anything! Good night everyone!

France Days 20, 21 & 22

2010-06-19T01:13:00.000-07:00

6/17-6/19
Not surprisingly, we've spent the past couple of days hard at work. Again, this has meant a muddy pile of laundry for me, and a muddy pile of rocks for Alex to break into bits. Don't think I'm complaining. Riding around in the car with my husband, looking out over beautiful country side, taking pictures of castles, and eating delicious food is hardly a rough life.

Alex is also rather pleased at how well things are going. We've been able to find (thus far, knock on wood, fingers crossed, etc.) the rocks he'll be needing. Granted, he still wants more (bigger sample size), but things are going quite nicely.

Today we officially finished studying the material at the museum, bringing Alex's data set to a grand total of 5,500 rocks. That's right. He has physically measured various aspects of 5,500 rocks. Needless to say he's quite good at material identification. In fact, I've measured a good chunk of those myself (in between Beloit's collection and Les-Eyzies). So much so, that by the end Alex was having me identify the rocks, and whether or not they had cortex, etc. (He was of course asking me what I thought, and he would then make the final call. To be fair though, I got quite good!)

Our friend Allister ('British dude') also finished looking at his portion of what he is studying at Les-Eyzies today, so the three of us thought we would celebrate by heading out to dinner at the highly recommended "Hotel Cro-Magnon" restaurant, which is built, quite literally, into the site where Cro-Magnon was found.

Allister is basically the British version of Alex. He's a laugh riot, don't get me wrong, but he's a bit boisterous (those of you who know and love my dear husband know of this quality that I'm referring to) and is less than 'delicate' in the way in which he phrases things (again, while I love my husband more than anything in the world, he can be, at times, a bit 'indelicate'...that isn't to say I myself am in any way 'delicate)).

Needless to say, I had the two most entertaining dinner companions, and I daresay my Rose Tyler impressions (for all my mutual Dr. Who fans out there) and lengthy Harry Potter quotes went over quite well.

We were the first people in the restaurant, and by the time we were done (4 hours, 4 courses, 3 bottles later) were the last ones there. It was a wonderful time, and at one point we were laughing so hard that I snorted at the same time Alex clapped his hands in astonishment (Allister is a very funny guy).

Some of the highlights of the dinner: Foie gras (of course), Duck, lamb, Cheese, and our deserts. Allister about died when his pear poached in wine with bitter chocolate cake arrived.

We ended the night by sneaking up into the hotel to get a better look at the rock built into the walls, followed by a lengthy walk about town discussing the merits of Terry Prachett, Margaret Thatcher, Red Dwarf, Firefly, Elizabeth Hurley, as well as an impromptu lesson on the proper ways to insult someone in England. A good meal, with a new friend. Wonderful evening.

Today...we look for more rocks!

France Days 17, 18, & 19 (6/14-6/16)

2010-06-16T05:10:00.000-07:00

The past three days have been spent consistently working, either in the lab or out ‘in the field’ hunting around for rocks. Despite the fact that we have indeed been working (often times in very muddy, rainy conditions in a variety of terrain-both public and private), we have managed to stop and take the time to enjoy our surroundings.

The following is a sort of ‘photo journal’ of the past few days including some views from my running route, the town of Les-Eyzies at night, and out gathering rocks (minus views of the rocks. We’re sick of rocks, right?).

Sadly, I have been confined to an elliptical for the past year due to a hamstring injury. In the past couple of weeks though I have been able to get out running again, spurred in large part by the amazing views I get to enjoy along the way. I’m slowly making my way back up to my old running distances/times, and find nothing more inspiring than running along the Vezere river, past a number of rock cliffs and caves, horses, chickens, ducks, and random cats creeping around in ancient cemeteries. The photos below were taken on a walk with Alex to show him around the areas I had discovered.

Nothing is more enjoyable than walking around the town of Les-Eyzies at night after a fine dinner at home. The street lamps, the sound of the river rushing behind you, and the caves looming overhead make for quite a romantic scene.

On our multiple journeys across the country of France we have happened upon many exciting sites. The most recent trek out into the wilderness passed through the town of Brive where signs for the Musee de Chocolat were advertised extensively. I of course requested we stop. Unfortunately the museum portion of the shop was closed for the day, but we were still able to enjoy samples, view the “Chocolate Mona Lisa”, and purchase tasty treats (almost as good as Nichols in Gloucester) for the remaining duration of our stay. This is a view of the inside of the chocolate shop.

Our latest trek to obtain rock was particularly muddy. It had been raining for several days straight, and was sprinkling on and off while we were out and about. To make matters worse, several of the best flint sources happened to be in a river. Below are some lovely shots of Alex mucking about trying to get rocks.

In addition to keeping my eyes peeled for flint, I’ve also been taking note of the wildlife around the area. Sadly, I’ve yet to capture any of the 30 odd cats we’ve seen roaming about, but I was able to get pictures of some other animals recently.

This is a picture of a goat standing on a horse. Alex did not believe me when I screamed "It's a goat on a horse, and we had to turn around for him to confirm it"

The story behind this is that we thought it was a beautiful bird in the distance, and used the camera to zoom and take a picture of the magnificent creature. Upon inspection of the photo last night, however, we realized it has a seam down the middle, and has no legs....

Our quest for the perfect house has been further complicated by the discovery of these two castles. Alex likes the spire in the first while I am partial to the second.

Finally, at the end of a long, muddy day, nothing is as beautiful to two weary travelers (at 10pm when every other restaurant/store/market is closed) than the Pizza Kiosk and the Chevre pizza (that’s chevre cheese, mozzarella, and olives).

In other French news, there appears to be a cheese thief amongst us. Our precious Epoisses had been butchered, and several significant wedges had been demolished. Further, our salami had actually been opened, eaten, and hidden in another area of the fridge. Our market cheese had also been hacked into (and hidden), and my yogurt had also been eaten! Alex has posted a sign in the fridge which reads "Manger pas" (or Don't eat) with a picture of skull and cross bones next to it. He insists this will deter future cheese thievery. I insist it will only provoke the cheese thief. We will keep you abreast of all breaking cheese thefts.

France: Days 14, 15, & 16:

2010-06-13T05:03:00.000-07:00

France Days 14, 15, & 16: (6/11-6/13): Well, it’s official. Alex and I will not be returning to the United States. Please FedEx Tula and Dexter to France. Their little kitty berets will be waiting for them upon their arrival. The only other detail to figure out is exactly where in the country we want to live. After this weekend, the Burgundy region has definitely given the Perigord a run for its money.

As you have probably guessed, we had a wonderful time in Burgundy. Our little day trip very easily turned into a weekend trip, and though I was sad to leave, I realized I was of course, leaving to the south of France.

Friday 6/11: On Friday morning at 5am we set off on our 6 hour drive to Burgundy to visit Dr. Jim Enloe (Alex’s advisor) at Arcy Sur-Cure, an archaeological site Jim has been digging for quite some time, and where Alex spent a month digging in the summer of 2007 (7 days after returning, he proposed). :)

The drive up to Burgundy was absolutely breathtaking. We passed beautiful castles, cathedrals, and even volcanoes!

We arrived at the dig site during lunch (good timing on our part) and were greeted with open arms by all of the archaeologists who graciously shared their cheese and bread with us. Jim was definitely feeling a time crunch, as his permit renewal for the site was fast approaching. Being the amazing teacher that he is however, Jim took time out to show me around the site, tell me what they were doing and why, explain a bit of the importance of the site (and the site next to them), as well as show me some of the amazing photo compositing they're doing there.

Alex and I then took the remaining bit of the afternoon to tour about Arcy-Sur-Cure, taking a gorgeous hike up into the hills. At the top of the climb we had a gorgeous view out over the valley, and the site. We were also able to see the old Quarry where big slabs for burials were carved out of the rock.

We then slipped and slid our way back down the hill, and went on a tour of the caves of Arcy-Sur-Cure (for more information on the site, try http://www.grottes-arcy.net/index_E.html#). While I enjoyed the tour greatly, Alex received a more in depth, and much more up close and personal tour with one of the lead researchers a few years ago. Despite my jealousy, I was still absolutely astounded by the cave paintings we saw.

Following the tour, we headed back to the dig site where we hoped to munch on some of the chocolate traditionally given out by Francine, the ‘grandmother’ of the dig several times a day. Jim however, quickly put us to work, and I got to do some ‘screening’ in the river for the first time ever!

This is my understanding of how it works.

First, the people digging the site expose the ‘big stuff’. That is, you’re dental-picking along, and find a bone, or a Neanderthal skull, etc., and take the dirt from around that and put it into the bucket. This bucket is (if done right) conceivably empty of anything archaeological (just old rocks and dirt, etc). You put the artifacts you dig up into a separate place, where the important stuff goes.

The bucket full of dirt then gets taken down to the river where it is screened. Anything that was hidden now gets exposed and picked out with tweezers, and put into a ziplock bag with a label indicating where the dirt came from. I LOVED it. In my screen I found hyena poop (or 'coprolite' as the pros call it), bones (of the animals the hyenas had eaten), and even found some flint flakes!

That evening we were invited back to the Gite for dinner. On the way however, a few of us stopped off at the town of Vezelay. At the top of the hill in Vezelay is an absolutely outstanding cathedral where it is said that the finger bone of Mary Magdeline resides in a rather ridiculously ornate reliquarie. Unfortunately, Mass was in session, and we were unable to see said finger bone.

Luckily, the view from the top of the hill made sprinting to the top of it more than worth the trip.

We then made our way back to the Gite where everyone was staying, to indulge in some fine French home-cooking. Jim invited us to ‘sit with the grownups’, and so we dined with Jim, his wife, Michel (a French archaeologist), Francine (amazing French archaeologist always encouraging us to 'Mange!',) Paul (an old friend of Jim), and Claire (a student at Iowa).

We were served potatoes, pork chops, salad, and Epoisses. Oh...Epoisses. The last time Alex came back from France, -all- he could talk about was the Epoisses. "Epoisses! Epoisses makes you think every other piece of cheese you will ever have is crap! It changes your life!" I merely chuckled, thinking “Oh Alex. Another one of your rants. Cheese is cheese”. He was right. This cheese is other-worldly. It is PHENOMENOL! By the end of the evening, the entire container of Epoisses was empty. Despite trying to blame this on Alex, Jim pointed out that he observed me shoving a lot of it into my face.
And if that wasn't enough, Michel had made a lemon tart using his lemons....from his own lemon tree...in his backyard...on the Mediterranean. (I asked him when would be a good time of year to come stay at his home and borrow some lemons).
After dinner Alex and I made our way back to the town of Arcy-Sur-Cure, to a local bed and breakfast recommended by Jim. The couple running the place are former residents of England who decided France was the place to be (I must agree). Their bed and breakfast is new, and they were happy to have us. We were delighted with our stay!

Saturday 6/12/10: We woke up Saturday, looked out onto the terrace, and saw our breakfast being prepared.

We enjoyed a lovely meal of steaming hot croissants and bread (fresh from the bakery), local jams and jellies. We then sipped coffee, played with the two resident cats, talked Archaeology and politics (were informed our political views clearly made us prime candidates to become European citizens), then hit the road to accomplish the two main items on our agenda: Find Epoissees, and wine.
Since Epoisses is a local Burgundy creation, we knew we needed to bring some 'home' to Les-Eyzies. We found the local intermarche, and while others were asking for slices of the heavenly fromage, we took an entire cheese. Epoisses: Check.
The next item on our list was to visit Irancy, a local village where they happen to have fabulous wine. Each person in the village owns a row or two of the many, many, many acres of vineyard. Each row tastes differently given the elevation, number of rocks, time of soil, etc.

Jim has a friend in town who he goes to routinely, so, we trekked into town to visit Jean-Pierre.

First things first. Jean-Pierre likes cats. So, while I was wine-tasting, I had the pleasure of keeping company with a little fluff ball of cuteness.

Second: Jean-Pierre makes AMAZING wine!

Third: We bought 8 bottles after tasting basically ALL of the wine. (PS: Spitting is key. That's a lot of wine)

Fourth: Jean-Pierre is friends with Archaeologists for a reason. He collects amazing things. Roman things. Greek things. He took Alex and I up to his room (on the top floor of the winery) where he proceeded to show us various paintings, arrowheads, figurines, etc. Yet another old dude showing me around the deep, dark, depths of his house because he found out Alex was an archaeologist.

After leaving Irancy via goat path (literally, we were on a goat path. It was a bit scary for a while there) we slowly made our way back down south to Les-Eyzies with a trunk full of all the necessities. Epoisses, clothes, computer, toilet paper, and wine.

We arrived later that evening, and sat down to a fabulous meal of cheese, bread, and cherries (bought on the road from a nice little old lady).

Sunday 6/13/10: Laundry. Knapping rock. Grocery store run. Now I'm off to the bakery to buy some bread for tonight while Alex knaps his samples. Then we'll crack that bottle of wine tonight! :)

(Seriously, though. We're not coming back. You're welcome to visit. Bring the cats.)

France: Day 13: 6/10/10

2010-06-10T13:22:00.000-07:00

France Day 13: 6/10/10

The sun was actually shining when we awoke this morning, so we jumped on the chance to get some of the ‘outdoor work’ done. We of course, fueled ourselves with some pain chocolat (we’re wasting away here, can’t you tell?) before heading to one of my favorite places: the Bricomarche (basically a French hardware store) to purchase buckets. Buckets, as Alex often informs me, are one of the most useful things in the universe. He actually says that…the universe. While in France he will be using these buckets to hold his rock debris so he can grind it into tiny, tiny, bits before dumping it in a designated area. (The grinding into tiny bits is so that no one mistakes his work for archaeological work).

So, while Alex busted up rocks in the back, I was instructed to “Wash my stinky socks”. Normally such a demand would not be accepted in our household. Ah, the life of an assistant. So, I completed 2 loads of laundry in very tiny, very strange washing machines to the tune of ‘bang, crack…bang’ in the background.

After another delicious lunch of bread, cheese, jelly, etc., we decided to head out to look for the 3^rd type of rock: Jasper located near the town of St. Avit-Seiniuer. Not only did we find Jasper (after some interesting maneuvers under electric fences on Alex’s part),

but we also found Chalcedony, the 4^th kind of rock Alex needs for his dissertation. It should be noted here that the majority of the Chalcedony was extracted from what we can only hope was simply mud that –happened- to smell like feces. None-the-less, we’re both glad we’ve had our hepatitis shots.

The Puegeot, trusty little car that it is, takes all of this extra rock weight in stride, though is starting to look ‘a little worse for the wear’, or as Alex says “…like someone vomited mud”. This little car has done its fair share of off-roading, bumping down “roads”, and squeezing past various plants, animals, and automobiles.

After loading up the Puegeot, we decided to have a look around the little village of St. Avit-Seiniuer. This village is home to a gorgeous former fortified Monastery (ie: Abbey, or place where monks could live, pray, and still kick some ass).

In other France news, the Woods have appeared to have brought upon the ‘foreign travel’ curse again. The last time we left the country (our honeymoon in Fiji) Iowa basically went underwater. The same thing seems to be happening this time, except that instead of escaping from it, we’ve brought it with us. The entire Vezere and Dordogne rivers have flooded, and light posts are underwater, along with streets, and other bits of land. Looks cool, but makes looking for flint (which is often located near river banks) a bit more difficult. We’re adjusting, and it seems to still be going well.

All in all a successful day. Laundry: Check. Busting up already located rocks: Check. Jasper: Check. Chalcedony: Check.

Now we’re off to bed. A long day tomorrow. We’ll be getting up at 5am to drive to Burgundy. I hear there’s wine, or something up there… J

France Days 11 & 12

2010-06-09T13:38:00.000-07:00

France Days 11 & 12 (6/8/10 & 6/9/10)

For the first time since coming to France, we have finally been able to put our clothes away into closets, leave the shampoo and toothpaste out of the bag, and feel as if we have some sort of home base.

After getting unpacked, the next item on our ‘feel at home’ agenda was to go grocery shopping. We used the GPS to find the local Intermarche in the town of LeBugue, and were surprised to find that, aside from the sale of horse meat and cans of foie gras, it was very similar to a Wal-Mart in the states. Since this is a tourist area, Alex immediately commented on how much it felt like those initial trips to the Wal-Mart with the Shafer family down in the Lake of the Ozarks. (They even sold water noodles, Dad!) We planned out our meals for the week (tacos, and left-over tacos, spaghetti and leftover spaghetti-hey, we’re trying to live cheaply here), purchased some snacks, and headed home to unpack our goods in the kitchen.

As a general rule, sharing a refrigerator with other people is difficult. Sharing a refrigerator with French people, Chinese people, Russian people, and German people is just plain interesting. Thus far we have discovered anchovies, rabbit, and other mysterious plates in the fridge. But to be fair, our taco meat probably looked just as bizarre to everyone else.

Alex and I have also settled in to a bit of a daily routine since landing in Les-Eyzies. A very French routine, but a routine none-the-less. In the morning we wake up, eat some Museli (a very granola, dried fruit cereal commonly found over here), possibly pick up some pain chocolat on the walk to the museum (okay, possibly should be replaced with always), work at the museum for a few hours (I swear I’m starting to feel like Maggie Gyllenhal from ‘The Secretary’, :) though Alex did note that we are working at twice the speed he did alone), head back to the house for lunch (bread, cheese, jelly),

go back to work (or hunt for rocks), then fix dinner, then head out for a run (or bust up rocks in Alex’s case).

This afternoon we went to the actual museum portion of Les-Eyzies that we’ve been working at for the past 2 weeks. Our badges got us in for free, and we were able to look at the massive collection of stone stools, with techniques described and displayed in such detail it even made Alex’s head spin. The weather was a bit too damp to go outside on top of the castle and the look out, but we’ll be doing that before the trip is over.

After the museum the rain let up and we wet out in search of more rocks-Senonian to be exact. I swear we have driven/hiked all over this country, through hundreds of little towns. We were pretty lucky and found some good examples of what he was looking for.

Tomorrow it’s back to the museum, and then Friday we’ll be heading up to Burgundy to see Alex’s advisor at Arcy-sur-Cure (a famous dig site Alex has worked at before). I’m sure we’ll also be stopping to make time for a vineyard.

The windows are open right now, and we can hear the Vezere river gurgling right outside. There was an amazing sounding owl that came hooting by last night that I hope will visit again. It’s about 10:30 at night our time, and we’re off to bed.

France Day 10: 6/7/10

2010-06-07T09:34:00.000-07:00

This morning we had to bid farewell to the bed and breakfast in Limeuil. It was an amazing place to stay, with a breathtaking view of the Valley and Dordogne River from our room as well as 1 friendly cat and 3 dogs, a little French girl who always seemed to be chasing said cat and 3 dogs, and a fantastic restaurant (where the salads were proudly 'made' by the little French girl). All in all, a wonderful stay, and we were sad to leave.

After leaving Limeuil, we went on down the road to Les-Eyzies, the village where the museum, and our new housing is. We're actually staying at a 'boarding house' affiliated with the museum, and had no idea what to expect when we arrived. We were however, very, very, very pleasantly surprised.

The boarding house has 4 bedrooms where researchers from all over the world stay while studying collections at the museum. See those two little windows on the third floor in the back? That's our room.

In addition to this living area (the skylight above the bed is spectacular, but is closed in this picture) we have two closets, a little table, and a bathroom with toilet, sink, and big shower. We share a kitchen with the other 3 guests in the house which include two French researchers, and a researcher from China. We were elated to have access to a kitchen again, and as we speak Alex is making tacos!

I'll leave you with this view of the museum (from the front yard of our house). We spent the majority of the day here looking at the rocks in the collection. During lunch we walked down to the 'farmer's' market and purchased a baguette, some cheese, a crepe, olive tapenade, and brought it back to the dining room to munch on.

The rest of this week will be spent in the museum, and out and about looking for more rocks.

While we miss our view from Limeuil, it's fun to be living in town where the bakery (with pain chocolat) is only feet away!

Days 8 and 9

2010-06-06T11:57:00.000-07:00

France Days 8 & 9: 6/5/10-6/6/10 (Saturday & Sunday)

This weekend felt in many ways, like any other weekend…except that it was spent in the south of France, running errands amidst ancient castles, quaint villages, and eating delicious French food.

We started our Saturday morning by heading to the local market in Le Bugue, a town just down the road from us. We purchased a fair trade bag from Madagascar (a former French colony) in order to carry our groceries around. The strawberries are by far the winner at these markets, as are the quiches!

After a bite to eat, we attempted to wash our massive bag of dirty (and by now very stinky) laundry. We found a local “Laverie”, and I got to experience my very first trip to a laundry mat…with everyone speaking French. It was interesting, to say the least, and after an hour or so we walked away with a bag full of clean (and partially dry) clothes.

When we returned to the bed and breakfast Alex decided to get to work breaking down some of the bigger rocks for easier shipment back to the states. It looked like hot, back breaking work, and everyone at the bed and breakfast certainly got a kick out of him. He has now been dubbed “Homme Crogmanon” (or Crogmanon Man), and people all know about the pile of rocks in our room!

I, on the other hand, decided I would take the opportunity to relax and read (and possibly nap) by the side of the pool. This was short lived however, as the owner’s 9 year old daughter decided I looked like a perfect playmate for the afternoon. Despite her lack of English, and my lack of French, we got along swimmingly (no pun intended). She slowly coaxed me down the steps into the cold water (each step saying “un, deux, trois,” as we descended down each step. We somehow managed to communicate well enough to play catch, ‘dolphin et orca’ (a game involving me being the shark and chasing her, then her being the shark, etc.

After an hour or so of swimming, she asked me where my “Moisseur” was, so we decided to go see Alex. She was very interested in the entire process, and Alex had fun teaching her about what he was doing (his French is much better than mine). He even put the antler he was using to break some of the rock on his head, pretending to be a reindeer, which she loved! He finally gave us some of the ‘junkier’ pieces of rock, and she used them to cut the grass, and dig holes, the entire time insisting I do so as well. (There is now a big hole in the parking lot)

After much persistence on her part (and her following us back to the room saying “Piscene”) outside the door, the three of us headed back down to the pool to play “Monkey in the middle”, and she and I played “Dora le Explorerteis” (you’ll have to forgive my spelling on all the French words).

We had dinner at the hotel that evening, and it was exquisite out on the Terrace overlooking the valley. We had fresh fruit from their garden, a salad with a poached egg, lardon, walnuts, and cheese (for me) and Alex had the salad with puff pastry (with cheese inside) and honey drizzled over it. For our main course I had the steak with a wonderful pepper cream sauce, and Alex had the duck confit. We shared a cheese plate, which was then followed by desert. I had the wild strawberries over glace (ice cream) and he had a Nut alcohol/ice cream desert. As we were about to leave for the evening (after 3 hours), the owner told us to sit down again, and brought us out Strawberry shortcake (on the house!). We nearly exploded, and I had to help Alex finish his (which I was happy to do).

Sunday was unintentionally very busy. We started the day off by disposing of Alex’s flint debitage (the little bits of flint he would not be shipping back to the states) with the Silex man (flint man) who does demonstrations in Les-Eyzies. Apparently years of living in France next to extraordinary flint sources has made him rather finicky about his flint, as he informed us he would not be knapping with it, but putting it into his floors.

From there we happened upon Font de Gaume, a famous cave painting site with extraordinary cave art inside. Usually one needs reservations in order to attend, but Alex and I showed up at the last minute as a group was leaving (for a guided tour in English, no less) and were able to sneak in. They have limited the number of people who can visit the cave each day due to the harmful effects of too many people (breathing, etc.) inside. The cave art was exquisite, and because we couldn’t take pictures, I had to make due with post cards.

Following Font de Gaume we made our way to Le Madeline Preshistoric site, the type site for the Magdalenian period. It was a gorgeous rock cliff dwelling site, which also had an amazing castle on top of it all.

Then, in an effort to kill time before dinner, we decided to tour the Eco Musse de La Noix (The Museum of the Nut). The Perigord is known for 3 things. Their foie gras, their truffles, and their nuts. Neither of us really wanted to learn more about the ins and outs of foie gras, and no one would dare tell you the whereabouts of their precious truffles, so the Nut museum it was! It was a cute little museum located on a walnut farm with walnut shell statues dotting the driveway. Despite the films and literature being exclusively in French, we learned a lot about the process of harvesting walnuts, as well as the various uses of walnuts. We sampled some nut products on the way out, and even bought a bag of sugar covered walnuts (which are now hidden from me because Alex knows I will eat them all).

So, a very unusual but fun day. Tomorrow we pack up and leave the Terrasses bed and breakfast and move into the museum boarding house. And so the adventure continues…

France Day 7: 6/4/10

2010-06-04T11:58:00.000-07:00

France Day 7: 6/4/10: Today was a "go out and find rocks kind of day". We started out by deciding where to go first (Alex has about 7 different samples he wants to collect, and has geological maps of the country where these samples reside). We decided on Bergerac first because it was the closest, and the rocks would hopefully be the easiest to find.
"Easy to find" translated into a full day of driving around random, obscure bits of country road, taking hour long hikes through weeds, and getting completely filthy. But we had a LOT of fun and were able to see beautiful villages along the way. For example...

I was actually surprised by our good fortune. We ended up with a LOT of Bergerac (the particular type of flint we were looking for today) and it also turns out that I have a particularly good eye for finding the stuff, and am able to lug a lot of the it around, through various terrain, back to the car.

Not only did we find a LOT of flint, what we found was quite significant in size.

But of all the pieces of flint we found, there was one that was surpassed them all, the one Alex refers to as "the one that got away". Sadly, we were unable to move it, and feared that the little Peugeot would be unable to transport it safely. A sad loss for Alex. But another fun day in France!

France Day 6: 6/3/10

2010-06-04T00:24:00.000-07:00

France Day 6: 6/3/2010: Yet another wonderful day in France! We woke up this morning and had a casual breakfast at a local patisserie before heading to the museum. I don’t think I’ll ever get accustom to such fabulous baked goods! We then worked for a couple of hours on the collection, took a leisurely lunch in the town of Les-Eyzies, relaxed a bit on a stone wall near the Vezere River, and then finished up the work day at the museum.

We had reservations for dinner at 7, and had time to kill, so decided to check out the “Prehisto Parc”-an absolutely hilarious and tacky area of land devoted to all things prehistory. This of course, was my idea. I had picked up the brochure earlier that day and was dying to see it. The park itself is located in an amazingly lush and gorgeous bit of woods, and the walk through the trees and singing birds alone was worth the price of admission. It was an added bonus that there were statues of Neanderthals hunting wooly rhinos, trapping cave lions, and slaying mammoth. And did I mention the sound effects? As Alex stated “If it weren’t for you I never would have discovered this place”. (Truth be told, he loved it, and we ended up buying stickers and a post card for Dr. Whittaker, who like me, will appreciate this place).

Bidding the Neanderthal statues farewell, we then made our way through the thick woods and winding roads up steep hills overlooking valleys to Auberge De Layotte, a fabulous restaurant in the south of France.

This ‘restaurant’ is a couple’s house (after dinner we got a quick tour. Alex told them to watch out, because living in this kind of house is my dream). The husband once worked as a chef in Paris for 4 years before moving out into the country, purchasing a 400 year old home, and partitioning off the patio as a restaurant. For 28 euros a person we got the following served ‘family style’. That is, all you can eat, presented at your table. Reservations are a must because he makes a limited amount each day. What he decides to make, you eat. The place was very popular, and by the end of the night all of the tables were filled by locals and their pets. Oh, and this restaurant is known for serving “Sauvage food”-stuff from the woods.

Appertif: This before dinner drink was made on site from delicious herbs and spices and “tasted like deliciousness” as Alex says.

Soup: Nettle soup. You know, the whole savage food thing. Literally nettles, and onions, carrots, etc. It was amazing. Alex had to stop me from getting a second bowl so I could save room.

Appetizers: Pate-the best pate ever. Even Alex liked it, and he’s not a pate fan. By the end I was just shoving it straight into my face without bread. It was phenomenol.

Head cheese: made from animal head. Not our favorite. Lacked the flavor of the other pate. But it was delicious none the less.

Smoked ham: Delicious in every way. Perfect meat-to-fat-melt-in-your-mouth ratio.

Salad: This included rose petals, and other edible flowers with a nice tangy dressing. It was pretty AND tasty!

Wine: Table wine was also included!

Meats: Duck confit with rhubarb. The confit was delicious. The rhubarb was wonderfully unusual and savory! Served with roasted potatoes.

Cheek of beef: Cow cheek (the most delicious tender part) marinated in red wine.

Cheese: 5 cheeses were given to us during the cheese course. They ranged from mild to stinky, to “you better not kiss me with that mouth” stinky.

Desert & Coffee: A nut cake (the nuts in this region are famously delicious) with 5 different kinds of jam. There was pine jam made from pine needles, basil jam from basil leaves, rose jam made from rose petals, dandelion jam from dandelions and a 5^th herb we couldn’t understand the name of. Probably only slightly toxic. J

Digestif: An after dinner drink to settle our stomachs after that intense meal. Alex had “the kind the men drink…or the ladies with mustaches” while I had the “rose”. I was at first offended, but Alex’s drink made me choke!

All in all a great meal, but I feel like one of those poor geese made to eat until their liver is nice and juicy for foie gras…Mmmm….foie gras….but that’s another story for another meal.

Tomorrow we head out into the world to look for rocks! Wish us luck. It’s going to be a hot day, and dirty, heavy work. But that’s why I married Alex…or rather, that’s why he married me. Either way, it turned out well for all parties involved.

We’re continuing to have a magnificent time, and are thinking about everyone back home. And despite what Alex says, I am not “kitty cheating” with all of the local cats. Just a little friendly petting. Tula and Dexter are still my true loves.

France Day 5: 6/2/10

2010-06-03T00:32:00.000-07:00

France Day 5: 6/2/10: Today was our fist official day at the museum, which consisted of-you guessed it-looking at rocks. We’ve done this work before together at the museum in Beloit, and have a ‘system’: Alex measures the rocks, weighs the rocks, and determines the kind of rock (senonian vs. Bergerac vs. jasper) etc. I sit next to him, stare at the computer screen, and type this information into the computer. Then (and this is the fun part) I label the rock with a pencil 9.001, 9.002, etc. It’s quite exciting.

Luckily we have other activities during our day to compensate for this tedious job. We are in the south of France after all! Today for example, I had my first omelette with mushrooms! Yum! And after ‘work’ we drove to Le Ruth, an archaeological site located directly next to Abri Cellier (the area that Alex’s dissertation is on). We pulled up, and an old man came tottering up, and invited us in to see his ‘museum’. It turns out this man’s grandfather was the landowner of the site. He, along with Collie (an American archaeologist) are photographed together at the site.

From there, (cane in hand) this man took us up to the cave, and then on an hour long (rather difficult) hike up into the hills, showing us the various bits of history. The entire time, he kept offering to help me up/down more treacherous bits of terrain. I, on the other hand, was constantly at the ready to catch him if he fell! When we asked if we could donate to the ‘museum’ he absolutely refused despite persisting. I think he enjoyed having people come by and go for a walk with him.

After the little hike, we drove around desperately trying to find a place to eat. We followed some signs to a restaurant located deep into the woods. It was a terrifying drive, and when we drove up, we knew immediately we wanted to eat there. Unfortunately they were closed. Fortunately, the woman who owns the place said we could come back tomorrow. We immediately made reservations.

So, that left us back in Limeuil with no where to eat (everything closes early, which was confirmed after a quick chat with the artist of our painting who happened to pass by walking his dog. Apparently we were memorable). He recommended a place nearby. In addition to great food (flambé for desert!) an amazing view (our table was literally 5 feet from the Vezere river), we also happened to find several large pieces of flint on our post-dinner walk!

All in all, yet another good day. We’re getting work done, seeing some amazing sites, relaxing, and Alex is enjoying driving his little Peugeot around the winding roads (which he says remind him of ‘Forza tracks’).

Les-Eyzies museum!

Le Ruth-an archaeological site, and where the old man gave us a tour, near Abri Cellier

Dinner!!

France Day 4: 6/1/10

2010-06-02T01:07:00.000-07:00

France Day 4: 6/1/10: Today was an exceptionally wonderful day. We started off by having breakfast in our hotel (bed and breakfast) complete with croissants, local jams, and a view of the Dordogne river.

We then made our way to the Museum de Prehistoire in Les-Eyzies where we met with several of the ‘museum people’ regarding Alex’s work there. They were extremely friendly, and we’ll be starting our work there tomorrow. Les-Eyzies is a cute town, and I’ve already made a friend “Francois”, a stray yellow lab that has apparently been wandering about for a bit.

Following our meeting at the museum we attempted to drive back to our hotel, but were unable to do so because the road had been blocked due to construction. This resulted in a rather exciting drive around the back roads of various villages, on very narrow roads high up in the hills. 1 hour later we arrived in Le Beugue, ate lunch, then decided to tour around the town of Limeuil, the little village our hotel overlooks.

Limeuil has been named “the prettiest town in France”, and it certainly lives up to this title. We walked all around the village, visited a glass blower (he and Alex spoke at length about their shared love of weird hobbies), and toured the Parc Panaromaique de Limeuil nestled among the ruins of the castle that once stood there.

Following the walk around the old castle we stumbled upon an art exhibition by Tim Williams who does water color paintings of the village of Limeuil. Seeing as how today was the first day of our third year of marriage, and the fact that we had spent the day walking around the various areas featured in his paintings (see how well I’m justifying this), we decided to purchase a painting. It turns out we were extremely early to the exhibition, which was fortunate. Once the exhibition started, everyone wanted the painting we had purchased. Despite being under dressed, a little sweaty, and speaking very little French, we were invited to stay and have a drink. It was quite nice.

We just ended the evening by munching on cheese and bread and drinking wine while sitting on the Terrace overlooking the Dordogne river and the village of Limeuil. Another fabulous day among many.

Below are some pictures of Limeuil, including a picture of the painter standing next to our purchased painting.

This is the view captured in the painting we bought!

Our anniversary present. A painting of the photo we took above!

5/31/10 France Day 3

2010-06-01T00:29:00.000-07:00

France Day 3: Limeuil (Les Terrasses De beauregard): I thought I loved Paris. It turns out the south of France absolutely trumps Paris. But I’ll start at the beginning of the day (5/31/10-our 2^nd wedding anniversary).

Alex and I woke up with several ‘mini goals for the day’. Goal 1: Breakfast-So before doing anything else, we ran off to our favorite bakery and got pan chocolate-my favorite. Goal 2: Get to the airport. After packing up and leaving our swank and comfy hotel, we boarded the shuttle for Charles De Gaul, where we picked up our rental car for the month. It’s a lovely 2010 Peugeot, and a manual. Alex and I don’t really drive manuals. And we definitely don’t do manuals in Paris. But, after finding a gas station (Goal 3) and only stalling 10 times, we made it out of the city and onto the highway headed toward Limeuil (Goal 4)(Goals 3 and 4 brought to you by the GPS).

It was amazing. 7 hours of driving through the most beautiful scenery in the world. Castles, rivers, little towns, chapels, etc. And Limeuil? The most beautiful of them all. Not only is this town adorable in every way, right on the Vezere river, it is filled with truffles and foie gras! Our bed and breakfast Les Terrasses De Beauregard is absolutely breathtaking, and I am not nearly eloquent enough to do it justice. It sits on top of a large hill, and our room overlooks vineyards, the Vezere river, and the little town below. The woman who runs the place is absolutely darling, and lives here with her family, 3 dogs, and 1 cat.

Our anniversary dinner was amazing. Tartare, foie gras, onion/garlic soup, lamb, duck 3 ways, potatoes with lardon, cheese plate, and tarts for desert. Alex and I determined we had 4 different kinds of animal (pig, lamb, duck, and goose) for dinner. And to top it off, the resident cat came sauntering into the dining room during dinner for some lovin’.

We’re having a fabulous time, and are absolutely adoring every second. Below is a picture of the view from our hotel!

This is the view from our hotel WINDOW!!!!

Paris Day 2

2010-05-30T13:08:00.001-07:00

Paris Day 2: 5/30/10: After finally getting a restful night of sleep, Alex and I awoke early and ran to the nearest bakery for pan chocolat (basically a baguette with chocolate inside). From there we took the subway to the Louvre where we sprinted through the museum in order to see as much as possible. In addition to the Mona Lisa we saw the 'Napoleon II apartments', amazing Egyptian artifacts, numerous statues, and too many other things to name.
After the Louvre, and a failed attempt to go to the catacombs (due to flooding-the idea of 6 million corpses in water is less than appealing), we went to St. Chapel, Notre Dame, and then embarked on a multiple hour quest for the Igor Stravinsky Fountain (as seen on our PBS Learning French video). We finally found the fountain (several pasteries and gelato later) and then made our way to the Arc de Triumph and the Eiffel Tower after stopping in the many shops along the way.

All in all a busy, busy, day filled with delicious food. Below are a few more pictures for your viewing pleasure. Now we prepare to return to the airport, pick up the rental car, and drive 8 hours to the south of France!

Me doing my best Mona Lisa impression

My idea for Dave and Barry's new dining room

The Louvre in the rain. Rather romantic under our umbrella.

Notre Dame

St. Chapel

The Arc de Triomphe

The Stravinsky Fountain

Eiffel Tower

Paris Day 1

2010-05-29T14:43:00.000-07:00

Day 1 Paris: Alex and I are sitting in our hotel room in Paris, full and utterly exhausted. The plane ride was horrible, but I am sure we will laugh about those screaming children years from now.

We arrived at Charles De Gaul airport around 9am Paris time (that’s 2am Iowa time). After discovering the only non-working automated ticket booth in the place, we finally found a proper kiosk to purchase our tickets for the subway ride into the heart of Paris. Several flights of stairs and heavy baggage later, we arrived at our beautiful hotel-the Meridien Montparnasse, with a room on the 15^th floor overlooking the city.

We immediately dumped our luggage and headed for the bakery with the biggest line to enjoy our first petite baguette and tarts (chocolate raspberry and lime) of the trip. After filling up on delicious baked goods we headed to the open air market being held next to our hotel in Montparnasse today. There were hundreds of stalls filled with delicious foods (fish mongers, butchers, produce people) and crafts. After enjoying a variety of deliciousness (lentils, cheese, samosas, and wild strawberries)we then struck out into the city to see Montmartre. It was wonderfully touristy, and aside from a gorgeous view of the Eiffel Tower, the Arc de Triumph, and the beautiful cathedral, we got to witness a sad mime (hiding from the rain so as not to wash his face off) and an organ grinder, and a lady decked out in purple playing an accordian. After enjoying more sausage (both sandwich and encased form) as well as some ‘street wine’, we headed back to the hotel to collapse for a well deserved nap.

Upon waking up, we walked the streets of Paris again in search of a nice place to enjoy our first ‘sit down’ meal. We ended up at L’Assiette where we enjoyed wine, planche de charcuterie (complete with wonderful pate which Alex let me enjoy the majority of). For dinner I had Turbot (a type of wonderful fish that was accompanied by amazing mushrooms) and Alex drowned himself in Cassoulet. Finally, for desert, we split the creme caramel, which literally made us both shed tears of joy.

At this point Alex insists that I include the fact that I had a very “Liz Lemon” moment at the restaurant when my allergies (I am in fact allergic to all growing life forms) kicked in, and I was shoving various pork products into my face, while clutching a wadded up ball of tissue, wearing my cardigan to keep warm, and was having hair issues. I finally fled to find a pharmacie, and pointing at my nose and eyes said “Allergies-help” and was given Zyrtec. After finally drying up Alex exclaimed on the walk home “That’s the first time I’ve ever been out to dinner with you and felt like the cute one”.

Tomorrow is our only full day in Paris, and we’re planning to see as much as physically possible before heading down to Les-Eyzies on Monday. Thus far the trip has been amazing, and wonderfully romantical. Below are pictures from today. Enjoy and Au Revoir!

PREPARATIONS

2010-04-14T12:54:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the Woods' Travel Blog. Given our love of traveling, new food and cultures, and the fact that Alex is an Archaeologist, we anticipate seeing a good portion of the world. We hope this will be a handy way to update friends and family as to our where-abouts when Internet access is available. Our first trip as a married couple was to a remote island in Fiji where we lacked running water, electricity, and doors, let alone the Internet. So, we figured our upcoming trip to France was a good place to start.

After months of hard work, deciphering e-mails in French, and researching geological maps, Alex received the first of what will hopefully be two travel grants for his doctoral dissertation. So, with 'Stanley' money in hand, we ordered our plane tickets to France. Things have been a bit hectic around the Woods household lately (Tamara -just- passed her doctoral dissertation proposal, and we're on our way out the door to a conference in St. Louis for an Archaeological conference where Alex will be presenting some research) so we took the afternoon 'off' to get our affairs in order for the summer.

We'll be leaving Cedar Rapids on Friday May 28th, arriving in Paris on Saturday May 29th at 8:45 in the morning. From there we'll head to our hotel in Paris-Le Meridien Montparnasse, and spend the next two days running around Paris as crazy American tourists. On the 31st (our 2nd wedding anniversary) we will pick up our rental car, and travel to the Perigord, where we will be staying at the Hotel Les Terrasses De Beauregard for 7 days until our little house in Les Eyzies becomes available. During that week we'll begin working at the museum, analyzing some of their collections there for Alex's dissertation. On June 7th, we'll move into our little house in Les-Eyzies, and stay there until July 1st, at which point we'll head back up to Paris and stay in the Normandy Hotel, leaving July 2nd to come home.

Whew. We're ridiculously excited, and trying our best to (in Alex's case) brush up on our French or (in Tamara's case) learn the necessities (like "Je voudrais le fromage!") So now we wait, and look at pictures (like this one-of the town we will be staying in for the majority of the time-Les-Eyzies), and guide books, and fantasize about the copious amounts of pate and cheese we will be shoving into our faces. Only 43 days until we leave!