Today we were in the car by 9:30ish to head to a cave 45 minutes away. It has the oldest cave art - and the best part is that you ride a train into the 6 mile long cave. Once Sara heard about the train she kept asking "are we going to the one with the train?" -- So today we could say "yes."
I got up with Julia at 6:20. Dan slept 'till 9:00. Still a pretty early start, we actually got to the cave entrance at 10:30, and I believe they opened at 10:30. And when I say cave entrance, I mean, cave entrance. Right in the side of a rock, in the middle of a dense forest, there was a cave - and to buy a ticket - I walked right in holding Sara's hand.
We got tickets to the 11:00 train. We hung out in the cave waiting for our tour to start. The cave is 6 miles long, so we were just in the very beginnings of it. Julia loved running around in the cave. Her footsteps echoed and made a pretty cool sound.
At 11:00 ish they called for our tour to start. We were let in a door built into the cave wall that lead us deeper into the cave. After we rounded the corner we saw our cave-train. We got seats. We were all on one bench. Sara, Dan, Julia, then me. I knew it was best to give Julia a seat - versus putting her on my lap. That way she was sitting on her own terms. It worked. The train lurched forward to begin our journey into the cave.
It was dark. Cold. Not creepy. Majestic. This was *undoubtably* a cave that was inhabited 17,000 years ago. By early man! And they left behind art. Etchings and paintings of animals - wholly mammoths, deer, horses, etc. Incredible. Our train stopped several times to show us the amazing ancient cave art. No one talked. The girls didn't move. Sara was mesmerized. Julia pointed to the art -- even our little 1.5 year old really pointed to it -- as if she was saying "look at that!" -- I thought that was pretty neat. And it was amazing. To think that we were in a cave where they were living thousands of years ago. Bears also lived in the cave (not when man did) and left behind hibernation evidence. You could see where the bears slept and where they sharpened their long claws on the cave wall when they woke up after winter.
The paintings were awesome. Simply beautiful. It was dark in the cave (naturally!) but the train had lights and the guide had a flashlight. He showed us all the etchings - and seemed to have a passion for the sight. My favorite was when we got off the train deep in the cave. I wasn't expecting it. The tour was in French, so Dan said, "get off the train" to us when the tour guide said it in French - and I grabbed Julia and stepped off the train and onto the cave floor. Dan took Sara.
We walked over to where the guide was taking us. I was shocked. There -- all around us -- above us, and on the walls were cave paintings. They were everywhere. Huge ones. There was a horse painting that must have been 10 feet. And mammoths with long tusks. From people that saw them! Wow! I had Julia in my arms and she kept pointing at the walls - and I shared a moment with our baby -- as we were both in awe of the art - right before our eyes.
Beyond the art - it was just mind-blowing to be where these people were thousands of years ago. I mean we were excited about the 2,000 year old Roman bridge -- and these were 17,000 years ago. Not even really modern man - but our ancestors beyond that. They left behind these pictures for us to have, these were their visions - that we get to see on a rock - not on a memory card - but on a rock deep in the Earth. Un real.
We got back onto the train and it took us back. I don't usually buy things at gift shops, but I bought the 4.50 Euro English book describing the cave. That way we can show it to Sara and Julia - since pictures were not allowed. We did take a family photo at the cave entrance. Amazing.
After that we had lunch. The town where we ate had huge rock formations clinging to the cliffs along the road. And you could tell people once lived there -- there were holes in the rock -- that looked like windows - probably because once upon a time people lived there and they actually were windows. Wow. We had pizza right along side one of the cliffs. It was a great meal with two happy kids and thus two happy parents!
When we got back here I packed a bit (we leave Tuesday, but tomorrow is Monday so getting a jump start is a good idea). Dan played with Sara and Julia outside. Then he made dinner (lamb, pasta, strawberries) and it was time for baths and bedtime. Great day.
Quote of the day:
Scenario: After the cave we went to a local pre-historic welcome center, then we got ice cream. Sara got her usual strawberry, chocolate, and we got a second cone with mango. We let Sara/Julia have the cones, but we shared with them. Just as Dan was having some of Sara's ice cream Sara said:
Sara: "You know Papa, you should get your own next time."
[The tone of her voice was just so funny as she said that!]
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