Prehistoric caves, April 8

Today was devoted to prehistoric art.  We started the day with a nice French breakfast made by Brenda.  Then, we drove into Les Eyzies de Tayac, and then to the only cave tour given top billing by Rick Steve's, the Grotte de Font de Gaume.
We were exceedingly lucky.  Only 80 people are allowed in every day so that the paintings are not ruined like the ones at Lascaux.  And, we arrived just as a tour in English was about to begin.  There were only 9 or 10 of us and our guide was engaging, articulate and descriptive.  He gave us a full appreciation of the skilled artists whose works we were seeing.  It is the last cave in Europe with polychromatic prehistoric paintings open to the public.  The prehistoric people painted them around 15,000 years ago. There are 230 animals, but we did not see them all as some are inaccessible to the public.  The artists used the cave wall shapes to help them portray the animal shapes.  They also used shadows to help show depth in the firelight which also made the animals appear to move and breathe.  They also showed a mastery of perspective,a skill that was then lost until the Renaissance.  There is no sign of any violence or aggression in the works, no humans, no plants.  It felt like a place of reverence.  And, as our guide pointed out, the same is true in the world's churches today...the same symbols are repeated and there is little depiction of non religious themes.  At any rate, it was very, very special and we feel very fortunate to have seen them.

We drove back to our chambre d'hôte after getting some local cheese and pâté.  Afterwards, we drove to Lascaux Two, the facsimile of the Lascaux caves which were closed in 1962. The facsimile is accurate to a centimeter and shows 90% of the drawings.  We were on a tour given in French which means we did not understand it all.  Plus, the group was large with some bored English children who couldn't understand all the standing and waiting.  However, it was still very impressive, particularly after the knowledge we got in the morning tour,  and you could imagine how impressive the finding of Lascaux was and how important.

Then....back to our room, email, more cheese and pâté and some reading.  A wonderful day, even if overcast with some rain.