Font de Gaume, France

Time to go prehistoric, and visit the Font de Gaume cave near Les Eyzies, in Dordogne, France, and see the wall paintings.

Discovered in 1901, the cave has a high, narrow main gallery and several side passages. It contains about 230 engraved and painted figures, including 82 bison, horses, mammoths, reindeer, a woolly rhinoceros, and a wolf. Its most famous images are a leaping horse and a scene in which a male reindeer licks the forehead of a female.

The artists who created the figures at Font-de-Gaume extensively incorporated the cave’s natural relief, which give their paintings a three-dimensional quality. The animals were painted in shades of red, brown, and black, and were sometimes superimposed on earlier pictures, making it possible to discern a chronological sequence of artistic development. Most of the paintings probably date to the mid-Magdalenian Period of Paleolithic art (about 14,000 years ago), though some may be older.

Bergerac and Shutters

 Gina was fascinated by Bergerac - the architecture, the shutters, the bridge, and the toy shop

Toy Shop, Bergerac

Exploring the Redwoods

Went today, where we haven't gone before... explored the flatish part of the Redwood forestry research part of Rotorua, riding the bikes through the pine trees, and different exotics I don't know the names of.  The boys loved it, and my bum was sore at the end.  There were enough small hills for little boys to get some speed up, but not too hard to ride up.  Had a treat at the info centre, and the children entertained themselves with climbing logs and riding down steps.

Anneke and Oscar and log

Oscar on steps

Quinn on Steps

Tighe on steps

Anneke enjoying the mud

Exploring France...

Bergerac is situated in the heart of the Périgord Dordogne region, on the west coast of France. The city of Bergerac has wonderful elegant Renaissance buildings from medieval times.  Bergerac is renowned for its wine.  It kind of reminded Gina, of Napier and Hastings, with all the vineyards around.

Gina was intrigued by the shutters, as we don't have them in New Zealand.

Paris, and culture

Gina put on her walking shoes and discovered Notre Dame, Obelisk of Luxor, Place de la Concorde, and Assemblee Nationale.

Tourist time

Breakfast first, and then off to appreciate some art for the day...

 Visited the Egyptian section, just for Tighe...

Paris and Versailles Palace

You don't get this in New Zealand...

 

The doors were incredibly detailed.

The gardens were manicured and huge!