2014 EUROPE by Rail 7 - Astronomy 101

Over night there was a huge thunder storm, lightning display, and heavy rains. Even so we still got a great night's sleep and felt like we already had adjusted to the 6-hour earlier time zone change.

09:15 was the meet up time in the kitchen. We chatted over French-pressed coffee before our mystery trip departure that morning. It turns out Uncle and his friend Martin host an Astronomy Club in the nearby town of Anduze. A dozen or so folks meet at a tea shop run by British friends. We were invited to join.

The cafe is named Tea Potes with a double meaning. One is obvious in that they serve tea in pots and the other is that potes means "friend" in French. Downstairs they serve tea, coffee and baked goods. There we enjoyed cafe au laits and tea biscuits. 

After most had arrived we ventured up the tiny staircase to the most wonderful little study room. It has become a real cultural center to the community, with classes and clubs of various sorts meeting there.

Walls are surrounded with bookcases and stacks of books in all topics. Three non-matching end tables grace the middle of the room and a mix of a dozen differently styled chairs surround them. There are white boards for sketches and lots of knick-knacks for show and tell. The room was cozy tight, but cozy comfortable. You had to communicate with your neighbor (by eye or mouth) because you practically sat in their lap.

Then the discussion started. Uncle took the floor first, explaining how large distances between planets, sun, and stars are measured. Math terms like parallax and hypotenuse were reviewed. He also explained the 70% theory.

I do not remember this theory clearly so I just sent an email to my Uncle to sum it up in a few sentences. HaHa!! Sorry Uncle. I just looked it up on the Internet. Way too complicated for me or he to explain here, but go to NASA's website for a basic description: www.science.nasa.gov/astrophysics/focus-areas/what-is-dark-energy/ 

Then Neil discussed eclipses and how they occur. We each received copies of the geography of the surface of the moon and he pointed out various famous locations (Sea of Tranquility, etc). He explained how almost perfectly round craters of the moon came to be.

Someone mentioned the changing course of rivers. I vaguely recalled a recent newscast I had heard regarding this situation. It referred to the Rio Grande River border between Texas and Mexico. The group wondered if it was going to be left to nature to decide this international border or to be "corrected" by redirecting the river through man-made maneuvers. I think I remember that it was going to be "corrected."

When I got home I did not find anything about it, but did find this New Yorker Magazine article on the history of that topic: www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/moving-mexican-border

After about 1-½ hours we wrapped up and said our good-byes to Aline, the cafe owner. As we exited we found the schools had been let out early because there was a red weather alert (the worst level). We were a bit worried, but continued to lunch as it was on the way home. Luckily the restaurant had not closed due to the storms.

As an aside, my relatives had not experienced tornadoes (like in Michigan) or earthquakes (like in California) in all their years in France. Seems like a great weather place to be even with the heavy rain storms.

It was a scenic drive to the restaurant. Lots of roundabouts with art work in the center. Some structures were rustic country, while others were ancient and fortress-like. Lots of lush bamboo in this area. There were also a number of "sheep crossing" signs, but Terry said they always seem to cross with a shepard.

Lunch was at a lovely restaurant, La Ferme (farm) de Cordnadel (family name?). The complex consisted of indoor / outdoor seating on various terraces, a hotel and spa. The waitress spoke only French (but of course), so we were glad to have Aunt to translate for us. She seems to have mastered the language the best of my two relatives.

We three had another wonderful red wine and Mike had a beer named Leffe (which began brewing in the year 1240!!). We chose a fixed prix lunch at only 17 Euros. Mike ordered a butternut squash soup for a starter and the rest had greens with pine nuts and deep friend pockets of fresh goat cheese. I was in heaven.

For the main course they chose pork sausage made with rosemary, along with French fries. Mike said the sausage was the best he had ever eaten. I had the butternut squash soup from the first course as my entrée (to make it vegetarian). With the wonderful fresh-baked bread that filled me up.

Two interesting facts: 1) Butter is not served with bread in France. But the bread is so good you don't miss it. 2) Salt and pepper were served in a little pile on your plate (lower left corner of sausage pix).

From there we stopped by the computer repair store to pick up Aunt's computer. I was glad to see that. Later I would check emails and try to set-up our European SIM card. It was mostly unimportant stuff, but we got Cory's contact info (my niece's significant other) to try to set up dinner with him in Berlin.

As time went on the rain got harder and harder, so we decided to hustle back home before we got stuck somewhere. The rest of the evening continued our chit-chat. No lack of conversation as we had a lot to catch up on, and a lot in common to commiserate or appreciate.

We checked the weather throughout the evening and it did not look promising for the next day. We had a driving tour planned. If it continued to rain heavily as the weather report advised, we would cancel. We prattled on until 20:43, said our goodnights, and headed off to our bedrooms. 

At bedtime, I spied a downward bulge in the ceiling right above our bed. I wondered if the heavy rains would break through onto our bed during the night. I thought Uncle might come and check on it, but he said it had been there a while. We had a plan to switch to the upper guest bedroom if something happened. 

A very hard rain continued over night. You could hear the pounding but soothing sounds of it and the river through the open windows. Thankfully we did not have to revert to our back-up plan. We had another wonderful night's rest.