My lesson for the day: feed the men you are with.
We were so tired last night that even though we had picked up a nice picnic dinner at the store, we were just too tired to eat it. In the morning, we had to get up at 6:45 am to try to make it by our ticketed time at the Grotte Chauvet located at Vallon Pont d’Arc in the Ardèche department of southern France.
It was 120 kilometers away but accessible from our location only by a series of beautiful but very narrow mountain roads where two cars cannot pass each other without at least one driving into the ditch. While the French authorities post a speed limit of 90 kilometers per hour on these roads, Christopher took a less suicidal approach to driving. We got there in just under three hours, just in time to make our tour.
I had insomnia the night before and, to get myself going, I drank two cups of coffee before we left—big mistake! I had to pee so badly that, even with a threat of being late, we had to find some place for me to go. We stopped in a tiny village and I jumped out at a tiny store to ask the owner to use her bathroom. Of course, she didn’t speak English, but toilet is toilette by any other name.
Another woman in the store understood me and said she would take me to the town’s latrine, warning me on the way that they could be terribly dirty. I really didn’t have a choice—at this point it was the dirty town toilet or the bushes—but the woman took me into her home and let me use her own bathroom! I was truly grateful for small French village hospitality. Definitely a pit stop; four minutes after we drove into this village, we were back on the road.
The original cave is a UNESCO heritage site, featured in Werner Herzog’s 2010 movie, Cave of Forgotten Dreams. But the original was permanently closed to visitors soon after its discovery to avoid some of the extensive damage that has occurred at other prehistoric cave sites — notably at Lascaux.
Cave of Forgotten Dreams (2010)
The reproduction is of amazing quality; we previously saw the Lascaux cave reproduction, but this is far beyond that. This reproduction opened just three years ago—the cave was discovered in 1994—and the fabricators recreated the geological features of the cave in addition to those created by prehistoric man. These included the “bacon curtain” and the thin noodle stalactites, which looked completely genuine.
The artists who reproduced the paintings used prehistoric techniques for creating the reproductions. Unfortunately, that means they are just as fragile as the originals, just not as old and priceless.
There was a little museum after the tour which depicted life around the time of the prehistoric painters, the Aurignacian period, approximately 32,000–30,000 years ago.
It was so cold outside, that it was warmer in the caves! At the last moment before leaving on this trip, I decided that I was overpacking; I took out my beloved and well-traveled giant red cashmere blankie. Every day since, I have regretted that decision. In Toulouse, at first, our host didn’t give us any blankets. And today it was so cold that a blanket would have been lovely. Better dressed for the weather than I, the wooly rhino had the right of it.
The cave was discovered just next to a giant natural stone arch. By the time we got there, over 24 hours had gone by without real food. Christopher and Nick went into full revolt by walking away and refusing to enjoy the scenery. I had to chase Tim up the cliff in his search for prehistoric artifacts and cave bear skulls. It got ugly. We ate our portable picnic out of the trunk of the car, in the rain, while standing in mud. Everyone was angry.
On the way back, we found a roadside antique store. Christopher and I insisted on stopping, but we couldn’t get the boys out of the car.
Three hours later, we had a very civilized meal at home.
Yes, Nick hates having his photo taken.
Tomorrow, unless there’s revolt or the mud doesn’t wash out, we go to Nîmes—an old Roman town.