Today we left our very tourista hotel after wandering around town looking for a patisserie only to remember that nothing is generally open on Sundays. Another hotel breakfast for us, one eating and then walking the kid while the other finishes. Ah, the joys of parenthood.
We travelled to Les Eyies about 60km away. Here there are caves with evidence of human existence dating back over 400,000 years. We walked through an amazing museum with videos and pieces of stone that had been worked into tools before the Romans were even Cesar's dream. It's quite an amazing thing to stand next to something you know is older than anything you have ever seen in your life.
Next, because my husband really loves me, we went on a tour of Le Grotto Chambarelles, a 240m (1/8th of a mile) cave under the river that has some of the oldest known cave drawings anywhere. As you walk deeper into the cave the art moves from simple scratches in the wall to more detailed depictions of horses, bison, mammoth,and rhinoceros (yes they lived in france ;) The artists began to use the contours of the cave to depict movement and to give the art 3 dimensions. For me it was amazing to think that this may be where art was created. I think that many different people crawled (it was originally less than 4 ft high at most points) through this cave passing the previous drawings to find a place to make their own mark. I think they don't know why, whether it was part of a spiritual ritual or a rite of passage. Although it was all in French, so there was a lot of pointing and nodding and my affirmation of, "Si!" (I'm still stuck in Italian ;)
I turned back to Paolo near the end of the walk to ask how he was doing. He said, "I'm bored out of my mind. We're wandering through the dark looking at chicken scratches....But as long as you're happy." Ah the things we put up with for love ;)
Next we had the most amazing lunch, and probably the best food since we've been in Europe in a random little restaurant in a random little village. The sunday market was just ending and a group of people sat down next to us and were laughing and talking. Then they sang a French folk song. Needless to say the fantastic food and being in the presence of people just going about their lives made it a very memorable moment. Tristan even sat in the stroller for 1 1/2 hrs without fussing. (that has yet to happen anywhere.) We were able to enjoy our food together without rushing. it was just fantastic.
We ended our day by checking into a hotel in Amboise, France in the Loire valley which is the wine region. Paolo went foraging for our dinner and actually found a pizza place that was open and sent him home with both pizza and pasta. When he got home and halfway through our meal he realized why the chef had been looking at him so strangely, and possibly why its been so hard for us to find takeout throughout the trip. He was asking in French, "Es'que vous avez un pasta que je peu portez avec moi?" Which was supposed to mean, "do you have any pasta that i can take away with me?" However, while the verb, "portare" in Italian means to carry, in french it means to wear. So he was actually asking, "Do you have any pasta that i can wear with myself?" We are still giggling and wondering if fettuccine or cannoli would look better on him.
More tomorrow...
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment