The Cave Paintings of Trois Freres

In the depth of winter my thoughts focus on travel and the adventure of finding unique areas to explore. Helpless romantics dream of traveling to France for a number of reasons. The country is quite well-known for its romantic places and atmosphere. But did you know that there's more to see in France aside from the lovely romantic places? Yes, that's true and one is the cave paintings of Trois Freres. Les Trois Freres is located in the Commune of Montesquieu-Avantes, Ariege department, in the Midi-Pyrenees region of southwestern France.

Not all individuals appreciate paintings. Oftentimes, it depends on the person's taste and interests. If you're interested in cave paintings, you can also find some of them in France. Trois Freres shows fascinating images about the people of prehistoric times. Visiting the cave is like exploring the world many years ago. You can learn a lot from the paintings, but only if you appreciate them.

Though people lived primitively thousands of years ago, they seem to know quite a lot. They knew about the different patterns and seasons of life. The seasonal variations and their food supplies are the determining factors between living or dying. The cave paintings in France show this great knowledge about the ancestors of the French people.

Translated in English, Trois Freres means Three Brothers. The paintings on the cave show indistinct images of animals and certain figures which experts believe to be a shaman. Trois Freres attracted international attention because of the depictions in the cave. The paintings are found in the far corners of the cave and so you have to go deeper to be able to get a good glimpse of such a work of art.

The paintings have a graphical nature and was skillfully drawn. You can easily make out the figures to be beasts and cattle surrounding a high figure that reaches the cave roof. This central figure is about 70 cm or 2 1/2 ft tall and appears to be half human and half animal. The figure has deer antlers and wears a mask with an eye of an owl. Below the mask is a beard and the hands are hidden within bear paws or lion paws. The back of the figure can be compared to that of a certain animal and somehow it appears that the figure is wearing an animal skin of some sort.  The figure has an erect penis covered by a fox tail.

Experts called the figure 'Animal Master' and if you want to see the picture of the cave painting, you can go to France or you can search the net and simply type the words 'Trois Freres'. Find a link that will show you the painting itself. You can use any of the popular search engines in order to get a glimpse of the cave painting.

If you try to conduct a research on the net, you can read many speculations and comments about the cave painting. The painting is like the sketchpad of the prehistoric people. Animals or beasts were drawn on top of one another. Experts believed that the paintings are more than 14,000 years old or even longer.

Today, painters and other artists treat art as a process. It is the expression, recording, and reflection of the divine or inner nature of the artist. But did the primitive artists view art in the same way? Perhaps there's more to their drawings that what modern experts and artists can understand.

You can find other cave paintings in Asia and in Europe. To better understand the paintings, just allow your imagination to take over.

Travelling this spring?

Thinking of travelling this spring, consider England as a trip destination. When you are in England why not take a guided tour. Most guided tours of England focus on London and yet miss the beautiful and historic places you can go in the rest of England.  It’s a lovely country with lots of history and places in which you can truly have an adventure.

A favorite place for many guided tours of England is Stratford upon Avon.  Located on the Avon River, it was the birthplace of both William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway.  You may be able to stay in hotels that date back to the time of William Shakespeare, see his place of death and surrounding gardens and the Anne Hathaway House.

Guided tours of Stratford upon Avon will take you to Trinity Church where both William Shakespeare and Anne Hathaway were buried and you can see the lovely Hathaway Cottage—a must-see on most guided tours.  In addition, Shakespeare’s birthplace has been turned into a showplace of period furniture that takes you back to the time of his birth in a delightful little museum.

You may also wish to travel to Warwick Castle—another must-see destination on many guided tours.  It is perhaps one of the best preserved old castles in all of England.  Located along the Avon River, your tour guide will tell you that the original castle was built around the year 900 AD. Gradually, parts of the castle were added onto and fortified until it became the huge and sprawling castle you can see today.

Guided tours of Warwick Castle are available to groups and include the dungeons, the high buttresses, and rooms from various eras, including the Victorian Era.  One of the special features of this castle is that it has been outfitted with wax figuresmade from Madame Tussaud’s galleries.  There is an entire section of ornately decorated Victorian period rooms, complete with wax figures.

Often, guided tours will allow you beyond the castle walls and out into the massive gardens and conservatory, where visitors can have lunch and enjoy the beauty of the gardens.  If the weather is right, you will be able to walk among real peacocks strutting through the gardens.  All in all, it is a day worth remembering.

Guided tours that partake of the southern part of England will take you to the famous Stonehenge, built more than two millennia ago and a favorite tourist attraction.  Those who come during the summer or winter solstice should expect that there will be a crowd there at the crack of first daylight.

Fun guided tours of England will take you to Oxford, home of the famous Oxford University and to Christ Church, where some aspects of the Harry Potter movies were filmed, including the scenes in the great hall.  In fact, you can take an entire Harry Potter guided tour that will guide you to as many places as possible that were included in the filming of the movie.

After rolling past the many castle ruins, fabulous gardens and quaint British homes on one of the guided tours of England, you may forget all about London itself.  If not, extend your tour into the big city of London—a city that often offers  guided tours involving just those wondrous things you’ll find right there.  Take your time and enjoy all that England has to offer.  .

Facts About Credit Scores

If you are considering managing your debt, then one of the first things you will want to do is to know your credit score. To people who are not familiar with the term credit score, they often assume that this is the score that we get in our credit cards for the number of purchases that we have made every year. But nothing is further from the truth. Credit scores are actually the grade that you get depending on how reliable a person is in paying their debts and credits.

Credit scores are determined by a lot of factors, how much your outstanding debts is, how regular do you pay for it, how much you spend and how much you earn. It will also be determined by your past credits and how were you as a borrower. These are all being gathered and recorded by credit bureaus and credit reference agencies like Equifax, TransUnion and Experian.

So, if you think, you are the only one who knows that you owe a credit card company a big amount, think again because they do keep records and what is more, all the credit transactions that we get are being filed for future reference of every credit and financial institution in the country.

Credit scores is important because it can mean being accepted or rejected for a loan. With a really bad credit score, you may not be able to get a house loan, a car loan, a school loan and even a credit card. In short, with a bad credit history, your days of borrowing money is history. As an added salt to the injury, it is not only credit card companies, lending companies and banks that do get information from the credit scores.

Even private companies and government agencies use this to background check a current employee or a potential employee. You see, a credit score will determine a person’s financial savvy and sense of responsibility. This will also show just how much a person is willing to face up to a problem instead of running away from it.

This is especially true with employees that are being hired or were hired to assume posts that deal with really sensitive financial issues or those who are directly in contact with money. A credit history and a credit score are important in determining if they will be able to handle the finances well.

Mobile phone companies and credit card companies also use credit scores to determine the clients that they should target. People who have good credit scores are often those who have the spending power. Thus, they are good people to offer mobile phone packages and credit card services.  

In securing a loan, credit scores are also used in determining the kind of loan that will fit your credit profile. People who have high credit score are given higher amounts in loan, lower interest and longer time frame in which to pay the loan.

In contrast, people who do not have a good credit score may be refused a loan or at the very least be given a small amount in loan, much higher interest and shorter time frame to pay the loan. This is because credit card companies and lender also want to protect their interest. Low credit scores are more riskier and therefore warrant higher interest rates.

Debt Management

I know it is only 10 days into the new year, but the bills from Xmas and the holidays will be starting to arrive soon. Many Canadians overspend during this time of year and one of the resolutions made is to try and get debt under control.  Debt management is something that can be very beneficial to every one of you out there that seems to be struggling with managing your finances, which far too many of us know plenty about right. I want to discuss with you some important information about debt management that will hopefully be quite helpful to you all and will help to get you back on the financial path that you need to be on. 

Debt management can totally change your way of thinking and spending, whenever it comes to knowing exactly what kind of corners need to be cut and everything else in your life that could be changed to potentially help you out financially. Managing your finances properly can completely turn your life around and send you into a great big spiral of financial freedom, which so many of us only dream about our entire lives and normally never get to actually experience.

There are plenty of good and most helpful books on the Internet where you could find out all there is to know about debt management and different helpful tips that could guide you in the right direction when it comes to learning how to save your hard earned money for your future and the future of your children. Learning and growing as a person can truly benefit every single aspect of your life and get you set up for an incredible journey, a journey free from unnecessary stress that is caused due to too much debt.

Debt management can make all the difference in the world whenever it comes to your future financial freedom and knowing how to live much more by your means than ever before in your lifetime. You will finally have the opportunity to see and experience what it feels like to have the ability to sleep better at night because of knowing that your bills are going to be paid on time and you might actually even be able to save yourself and your family some extra money each and every month.

Having extra money is definitely a very nice change, especially whenever your used to having to always struggle, thinking to yourself that $20 is a great deal of money. It is so difficult to never have any money so that you and your family can go out and have a good time but if you learn better debt management, that opportunity might actually become a reality for you, over a period of time and patience.

Once you learn more about debt management, whether it is you gaining your knowledge from books, the internet or even from a professional, your life is going to take a turn for the better and you are going to finally know what it feels like to live a fun filled life, without all of the strain and struggles from piling up debts that can never possibly be paid on time or even paid at all