Well, through the magic of Google Translate, I could make all of my necessary tour arrangements in Les Eyzies (you need to reserve tours at least two weeks in advance to guarantee a slot on the limited tours).
It's amazing that I can simply type in my request and voila, instant translation (although checking the German, it's a bit formal). I could even hear how my words sound when a synthesized French voice read it back to me. Understand it? Ha! I can account to three and name some colors, that's my French for you. I am immersing myself in some tourist French so I can buy a baguette, find the right trains, and ask where the little boy's room is. Then there was the matter of having to call Sites prehistoriques de la Vallee de la Verzere to pay for said tours. Only by phone. No e-mails. Sigh.
My mother-in-law, a student of the Sorbonne and a Peace Corps resident for a time in Nigeria, came to my rescue. Done and done. Except for the part when Bernadette, my faithful and patient contact in Les Eyzies (who has read more than her share of bot-translated French) said I would need to rent a car to make my tours on time. Huh? But I Google mapped everything and the first two sites are within a 10 minute walk! Oh. You say that the ticket office opens at 9:30 a.m. and that my Laugerie Haute tour is at 10:00 a.m.? Uh-huh. You say that the ticket office is 5 km from my first scheduled visit? I see...
So, now it's off to contact Joel at Bike Bus to see if my mountain bike can be delivered early so I can possibly make the tour.
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