Intimidation

Aggghhh I am losing my mind. 

 I did find a cute dress to buy. Hubs thought I should by something more than the area’s food specialité, The Calisson d’Aix.  So I have been out much of the day to find a shop that A. Had nice clothes and B. Wasn’t hugely intimidating and C. Was open.  Even here people would take exception to B & E.   The only store that carries my Anick Giutal is not open today, so, after being totally lost for several hours, I went into Antoine and Lili where the clothes are made in France of French made cloth! For some reason I find European shop attendants intimidating.   I went into Aubade for some lingerie but I could have bought a second dress for the price of a bra and panties.  And, many of the stores are simply not open on Sunday and Monday. 

I bought a very different dress. This is not it!

saw this old scooter out shopping in the rabbit warren streets of Aix.

Oh yeah. It is very hard to be a Celiac in France. In Italy it was easy. Everyone got it. Here this has flour and that and the other thing has big chunks of bread.

Not all French children are well behaved in restaurants nor eat everything.  Recently a book came out that proposed the idea that French kids were perfectly behaved little Stepford children. Wrong Answer Game Show Buzzer Noise~!! ! It ain’t so

And, contrary to mythology, there are an ample number of French women who are themselves ample.  So throw that “French Women Don’t Get Fat” book away!  Recently the NY Times posited that people gain weight when the food is plentiful. Since tht is the case here one can see o=people who eat, drink and smoke

Poured all day yesterday and we decided to stay in much of the day and read. HUGE shock!  Having to figure out which language to speak and then to try to speak it are exhausting.

Indeed I am back at the room again to write this and find myself dozing off. Tomorrow we are moving to an airport hotel in Marseilles, then, home the next day.  I can’t wait to get home.

VAUCLUSE

Finally able to post this picture of the church in Pavia, San Micaele. Please note that I was NOT in the earthquake in Italy. Drove through the Vaucluse yesterday on some twisty turns. It made me think of a book I read as a teen: A Village in the Vaucluse. 

Happy Birthday Don & Tell Me Where to Go

Provence (Photo credit: bkcasteel)

First it's my husband's birthday and it would be even better if he read my blog  so when I wished him happy birthday here he'd know!Alas, he commutes an hour and a half each way to work so has little time for fun like dropping by my places online.

Second, he finally has staff members somewhere I want to go: Aix in Provence and Milan. Yay!  I booked my housesitter and we have our tickets he's working there but I will not be.  Any suggestions for stores, museums, tours, sights, restaurants? It's a pretty quick trip in May.

SHOPPING!!!!!!!!!!!!! Image via Wikipedia

To Infinity and Beyond! Kinda Sorta

Mars,  Image via WikipediaThe European Space Agency recognizes that for humans to venture further into space, we face many challenges and technical problems.
But, how do we know what the issues will be without unnecessarily risking the lives of an entire team? After all, computer models can't predict what will happen when the computer malfunctions or when two astronauts hook up and change team dynamics.
Design Ref. Manned Mission to Mars, Ascent, NASA Image via Wikipedia To look at these challenges, ESA selected an international crew of five from Russia, Italy(&Columbia), France and China to simulate a Mars Mission at a special facility near Moscow.
The crew has simulated the entire trip, landing, walks on the surface, and the flight back.  They were not able to recreate a lack of gravity nor the extra radiation astronauts are exposed to.
They also handled delayed communications, monotony, and a complete lack of daylight in their small, windowless chamber for 520 days!  Yikes! Talk about seasonal affective disorder!
The crew has conducted experiments that will provide data to help determine what future space travelers will endure.
Aside from technology one of the biggest unknowns in space exploration is the behavior of humans confined in a small space under stressful conditions for an extended period. I don't think sub crews stay down 520 days.

Well the crew will be "returning to earth" on November 4.
After a quarantine period, the crew and scientists will meet the media at a press conference in Moscow.

Related articles

• 6 Guys in a Capsule: 520 Days on a Simulated Mars Mission (wired.com)
• Mars-500: red planet return countdown (rt.com)
• 500-Day Mock Mission to Mars Passes One-Year Mark (space.com)