Category Archives: Drawing

Life Drawing and Bob’s Paris

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Day 84,   Monday November 20, 2023

I want to attend as many life drawing sessions as I can these last few days in Paris.  I am still feeling quite tired after getting Covid the beginning of the month, so most days I am going to life drawing and then coming straight home.  I don’t have the energy for much else.

I am back at the Grande Chaumière again this afternoon.  Bob and I took the same metro.  I got off at the Vavin stop to go drawing and he continued towards the Place de la Concorde on the north side of the Seine River to do some more exploring.

The session is from 2:30 to 5:00 …only 2 1/2 hours, not the 3 hour sessions I am used to at home.  The time goes by much too quickly.  Today we have a wonderful model named Fanny.

Three 3 minute poses

I tried my Derwent Drawing sanguine pencil, but I didn’t like how it felt on the paper in this sketchbook.  Three 5 minute poses.

Fanny’s poses were naturally graceful.  Two 15 minute poses…

a  20 minute pose…

a 15 minute pose……and a final 30 minute pose.  Fanny was such a great model.  It was a good day!

While I was drawing, Bob explored the north shore near the Champs Élysées.  This photo shows the hoarding which looks like a giant trunk during renovation work on a Louis Vuitton building. How clever!  He saw a lot of the highlights in this area of Paris.

Bob checked out the Christmas tree in a Galeries Lafayette store.  I’m not sure I will have time to go see it for myself, so this photo might just have to do.

The 72′ tall golden tipped Luxor Obelisk on the Place de la Concorde was erected in 1829, on the very spot where Louis XVI was beheaded!  It has now become a symbol of peace and harmony.

The Fountain of Rivers is ornately decorated with mermaids and mermen.  

Jean Dubuffet’s Le Bel Costumé caught Bob’s eye in the Jardin des Tuileries.

This is a long street of shops near the Place Vendome…

with very expensive merchandise!

The original Vendôme Column at the centre of the square was erected by Napoleon I.  It was torn down on 16 May 1871, but it was subsequently re-erected and remains a prominent feature on the square today.

Too bad all these people who are lining up to get into the Louvre don’t know about the side door, where there is usually no line up at all!

The Roue de Paris is a 60-metre tall transportable Ferris wheel, originally installed on the Place de la Concorde in Paris, for the 2000 millennium celebrations. Too bad we didn’t have time to ride on it this trip, although it does look a bit scary.

The Pont Alexandre III is a bridge that spans the Seine in Paris.  The bridge is widely regarded as the most ornate, extravagant bridge in the city.  It has been classified as a French historic monument since 1975.

We both arrive home in time to make dinner and relax.  Our days in Paris are fast drawing to a close.

Life drawing and Exploring Paris

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Day 83,   Sunday November 19, 2023

I have two life drawing sessions planned for today.  One at the Montmartre Life Drawing Studio in the afternoon and another at an artist’s studio from 5 to 7 pm this evening. Bob goes out exploring while I am drawing.  Today there is some sunshine, and no rain!

The Eiffel Tower is visible on the skyline.

This interesting exterior belongs to Stade Jean-Bouin. The 19,904 capacity stadium is used mostly for rugby, but is also used for American football and association football matches.

Pont Mirabeau was built at the very end of the 19th century and  is adorned with four bronze sculptures representing the City of Paris, Commerce, Navigation, and Abundance.

A clever shot through the tree branches.

Can you take too many photos of this iconic structure?  I don’t think so.I attended sessions with the Montmartre Life Drawing group in September so no problem finding their location even though I was coming from a different starting point.  The first thing I see when I leave the metro is this impressive statue in the centre of a traffic circle.

There is a flea market on the median.

There are lots of interesting items but I don’t have time for more than a quick look.

Next I cross a bridge that goes over the top of the Montmartre cemetery rather than cutting it in half… again no time to go exploring.  Life drawing awaits!  I later read that Nijinsky, Degas & Zola lie in this tree-lined burial ground that opened in 1825.

We have a male model for the afternoon, Guiseppé.  We start with five two minute poses

followed by three five minute and a 10 minute poseA 25 minute pose…

and a 15 minute one,

then we end the session with a couple 10 minute poses.  Guiseppé was an excellent model, and fun to draw.

During the break I was checking out Google maps to make sure I could find the second session and I discovered that I had no internet!  Panic!!  A very kind young lady lent me her phone so I could write down some instructions, but I was worried about being able to find the next life drawing location.  Luckily when I was ready to go to the evening session the internet was back!  I was very relieved that I didn’t have to rely on my hastily drawn map.

Life Drawing Montmartre posts on their Instagram page…Here I am!

Screenshot

The second session was at the photographer J R Franco’s studio/apartment.  These two photos are from his instagram site.  You can just barely see part of my knee and sketchbook in the bottom right corner of this one…

and the top of my grey head I this one.  

We started with two 5 and one 10 minute pose of our lovely female model…seems I forgot to note her name.  I like having that information in my sketchbook.

I loved this 13 minute pose, draped over a couch and chair with her torso hanging in the space between them

It was going to be a session with two models but the male model had to cancel at the last minute, so Jean Robert modelled for us. We started with two 5 minute poses. I concentrated on his face…he had an interesting face.

two 3 minute and one 5 minute pose.  Then we drew both models together in a 10 minute pose,

then one more 10 minute pose.

During the break we had goodies upstairs in a loft area and a tour of Franco’s studio which was also his apartment.

It was a wonderful, full day, and I head home in the dark, but the metro is close by and when I get home Bob has supper waiting!

Dijon, France

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Day 71, Tuesday November 7, 2023

I forgot to post the drawings I did at the Lyon Zoo, so here they are.  It has been a long time since I have been able to draw at a zoo.  It was a cool day and most of the animals were out and easy to see.

Giraffes are hard to draw, they always look rather strange with their long thin necks and muscular bodies.

The monkeys are always fun but they tend to move around a fair bit.

Too bad it was time to go, I was really enjoying this, but the clouds were very dark and we wanted to get home before it rained.

I was really tired on the drive to Dijon after we left Cluny and when we arrived at our apartment I started to feel very congested…full of a head cold.  Darn…  Here is our apartment, it is tiny but has everything we need.  It is also on the third floor which was more like the sixth floor because the ceilings were so high and there were two flights of stairs for each floor.

This is our apartment building.  We are way up in the attic with dormer windows, on the back side of this building.

Here is the view from our windows over the roof tops.

We both stayed home today.  I wasn’t  feeling well and we were both happy to have a quiet stay home day.

Monte Carlo, France

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Day 57, Tuesday, October 24, 2023

The train ride to Monte Carlo is a relaxing 70 minutes. I like trains and would be happy to do more travel by train.  I do a bit of sketching, some are more successful than others, and even more people watching.  I sketch in ballpoint pen so  it is difficult to correct errors.  A tall, slim young woman dressed in black with very long black hair sits near us and a couple stops later another young woman who could be her twin gets on the train, also all dressed in black…and they sit together.  We can’t decide if they are related or friends.

The area near the train station isn’t very fancy but look at the size of the trees growing on these balconies!

We are soon in an area wth shops. This bridal shop had a sign in the window about a royal wedding but it wasn’t clear if they made the royal wedding dress.

We head up this very long set of very wide steps to get to the Palais Princier where the ruling Grimaldi’s still live.

There are some good views of buildings on the nearby hills.  The buildings are very close to one another, there is not much open space at all.

We missed the changing of the guards at noon, even though we thought we had planned to get there early.  Only our bus was late, and then our train was late….even best laid plans go astray.  But this guard walked right towards us and then kindly stopped so I could take his picture…or so it seemed.  Turns out it was where he always stopped to turn and go back the other way!

It starts to rain so we duck into the shops nearby.  I think this fridge magnet is the closest we will get to actually holding a 500€ casino chip!

And this is the closest Bob will get to being captain of a boat!

The old town streets next to the palace are narrow and packed with shops and restaurants and offers us a bit of shelter from the rain.

We hide out in this church for a while too.  it was nice to sit for a bit out of the rain, before we make our way towards the harbour.

There is a good view of the harbour from up here.

There is a lovely garden along the sea on our way down to the harbour.  I loved this sculpture called Invitation by K. Verkade.  One of the side benefits of writing this blog is that I take the time to do a bit of research on some of the things we have seen, and I end up discovering interesting new things…like this sculptor and his work.

Bob finds us a bench that is dry under several big coniferous trees that offer shelter from the rain, so we sit for a bit and have tea and cookies and take a selfie.

This is the view from our sheltered bench… but this sculpture nearby gives a more accurate portrayal of the weather! We saw this statue “The Cloak of Conscience” elsewhere on one of our trips, but I don’t remember where.  The artist, Anna Chromy studied at the Academy de la Grande Chaumiere in Paris, my favourite life drawing studio!   She is another interesting artist I read about today.   I did not know that this sculpture was also carved in marble and stands over 15 feet tall!  This website has some amazing photos of its creation.. https://annachromy.com/cloak-of-conscience/from-escavation-to-completion/

A big frame overlooking Monaco offers the opportunity for a rather wet portrait.

But then the sun came out!

And we walk down a very long ramp to the harbour area…

where we walk along some of the roads used for the Monaco Grand Prix.  Bob poses with this statue of the winner of the1955 Grand Prix, Juan Fangio.  The F1 cars have changed a bit since then!

We visit the Prince of Monaco’s Car Collection.

This new 3,500 m2 building holds  around 70 vehicles including racing cars that have competed in the Monte-Carlo Rally and the Monaco F1 Grand Prix.

Here are a few of Bob’s favourites.  

And of course there is a red convertible!

We stroll along the harbour where the rich and famous dock their yachts.  I think this is one of the biggest ones we have seen… even bigger than the one in Antibes near the sculpture made up of letters.  It has two curved staircases!

The people standing on the dock give an idea of the size of this thing.

The boats parked alongside it look very small in comparison.

Next stop is the Monte Carlo Casino.  I wish we could have taken photos inside.  It is over the top ornate, and yes, we walked through the gaming rooms where some of the James Bond movies were filmed.  Pictures are allowed in the lobby. so we prop our phone for a selfie.

We need to show our passports and pay 18€ each just to get into the gaming rooms…but we do each get a 10€ voucher to spend.  Interestingly, it is against the law for citizens of Monaco to work or gamble in the casino!

There weren’t many people gambling…I think it was a bit too early in the day.  We spend an hour or so trying our luck on the slot machines.  We spend our two 10€ vouchers and after putting another 50€  into the machines we aren’t doing all that well…

until we go back to the first machine we played and we start to win.  In the end our time in the casino only cost us 26€ and we had a lot of fun.  The casino is starting to get busier just as we are leaving.  It would have been interesting to be there later in the evening but we need to get home.

If you would like to see photos of the inside of the gaming rooms check this link. https://www.shutterstock.com/fr/search/monte-carlo-casino-interior

It is already getting dark when we leave the casino.  

We take selfies in the reflection of this giant metallic ball, with the casino in the background.

As we head back towards the train station we walk through a garden area with great views of the casino and the very expensive hotels nearby.

The casino is very pretty all lit up at night.

We pass a tree with these beautiful huge flowers that are at least as big as my outstretched hand…. and another big flowering Brugmansia.

Getting back to our train was really difficult.  There is construction and we can not find our way into the train station!  We walk around and around and although the sign says that we are at the train station there is no way we can find to get inside.  Finally we see a young lady who seems to know where to go, so we follow her through a door that says no public entrance, walk through part of a parkade and we finally find an elevator that takes us up to the train station.  We buy our tickets and then have to run like crazy to catch the train so we don’t have to wait for an hour for the next one….and it is packed, no seats, standing room only!  Luckily after about a half an hour most people get off at Nice and we finally get to sit down.  Guess who is sitting opposite us…those two long haired young women who rode the train with us this morning.  They were carrying shopping bags from Nice.  I was so thankful to have a seat but too tired to even try to draw.  it was a really full day.

 

 

 

 

Antibes, France

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Day 55, Sunday, October 22, 2023

Antibes and the Picasso Museum is our destination today.  We take the bus instead of the train but it is quite a bumpy ride that makes drawing a bit tricky.  I think I prefer the train.  Good thing it is only a half hour ride.

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As we walk towards old town Antibes we pass aa area that has enormous hanging planters and flowerpots.  They are really spectacular.

We head for the harbour to check out the ancient ramparts and an interesting sculpture.  There are some really enormous boats in the distance as well.

These boats are docked in an exclusive area, no walking past them… so  I take a photo from the ramparts.  Take note of the white van parked by the second boat to help give a sense of scale.  

Bob had read about this sculpture by Jaume Plensa called Nomade.  It is an eight meter high figurative sculpture which is located on the top terrace of the Bastion Sainte Jaune.  It is invites interaction by its viewers, including me.

“On the terrace, facing the sea at the corner of the ring wall, was a monumental sculpture eight metres high of a squatting figure, Nomade. All these pieces used the formal vocabulary developed by the artist over the last few years, based on letters. With this vocabulary, Plensa is suggesting that, beyond its simple mission of communicating a meaning, spoken or written language can also be seen as a kind of envelope covering the matter and energy that constitute us. “Like bricks,” he says, “letters have a potential for construction. They enable us to construct thought.” ~ Jaume Plensa

Walking along the ramparts we see more boats.  This one from Bali has its surfboards mounted on the back.  I think that most surfers do not own yachts.

There are signs with information about boats for rent, little boats…

and little bit bigger boats…makes me wonder how much it costs to operate the enormous yachts we saw earlier?  and no, I have absolutely no interest at all in renting or buying a boat…just not something I would enjoy, even if had that much money..

There is a little sand beach on the outside of the ramparts, and in the background is the huge yacht and the sculpture Nomade.

Next stop is the Picasso Museum.  Nice that photos are allowed.

I am not a huge Picasso fan but this museum has lots of information explaining Picasso’s  paintings and methods which help me appreciate his work. This huge painting was painted on three cement panels that are usually used as a building material.

There is a big display of his glazed platters which are interesting.

More people take photos of these copies of Michelangelo’s sculptures than of the Picasso paintings.I spend a bit of time drawing a couple of Picasso’s altered vase forms.

Here are couple more large paintings.  I forgot to take photos of the titles…

There is another exhibit on the main floor of the museum.  Paintings by Yves Zurstrassen, but it doesn’t interest either of us so we just do a quick walk through. Outside on the patio there are several sculptures by Germaine Richler which I quite like, and two young ladies drawing in their sketchbooks.  I love seeing other people drawing.  They were deep in conversation so I didn’t interrupt them.

Walking back to the bus station we pass these porcelain cups in a shop window.  Made me smile.

The streets are narrow and we have no idea what might be hiding behind those closed shutters.

While waiting for the bus we chat with two twelve year old boys who are absolutely bursting what energy.  One of them asks me to draw him.  It isn’t a very good drawing but he is happy with it. He has a lot of hair!

As the bus is pulling away I tap on the window and his friend looks up so that I can snap a photo.  Too bad I missed getting a photo of Emin.The bus ride home was even rougher than the one coming.  We are travelling on different streets because of all the one way streets in Cannes.  I definitely prefer train travel

Nice, France

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Day 54, Saturday, October 21, 2023

We catch the train to Nice this morning. We are both happy to be sitting on a train instead of driving and navigating.  It is a nice change and Bob can watch the scenery go by instead of concentrating on driving.

I draw on the train. I feel out of practice but it is still nice to be drawing…I haven’t done nearly as much of it as I had hoped to this trip.The Nice train station is really big, clean and airy.

It is a short walk from the train station to the main tourist area by the beach.  We stop at a park for our lunch, and I wonder if the water is from yesterday’s big rain…or if it is a fountain?

A couple minutes later I have my answer.  These two young boys had the best time playing in the water jets.

We laughed at this big dog who jumped and tried to bite every jet of water he passed.  He was having such fun.  There were such neat reflections too.

This very large sea gull was eyeing our lunch, just hoping a few crumbs would fall his way…I’m afraid a few did…who could resist that gaze?

After lunch we visit the Cathedral of Saint Reparata., which is a National Monument.  It is very ornate and in great shape…no peeling paint here.  

The flower market is beautiful and the prices are very reasonable.

We try some socca. It is a thin chickpea bread that is sprinkled with pepper.  We have to wait a few minutes for a fresh pan to arrive (it is brought hot from the ovens in a wheeled cart) and it is delicious! It is also a bargain at just 3€ for a huge slice.  I am going to have to try making this at home.

Even though we have just had lunch, and socca, I am craving a cassis (black current) sorbet from Fenocchio’s, a world famous ice cream shop. They have 94 flavors of  ice creams and 35 of sorbet, but I stick with my favourite.  

After my sorbet we walk towards the beach.  

Nice has a pebble beach, and lots of sun worshippers.  I stay at the beach to draw some of them and Bob goes for a walk and climbs to two viewpoint.  There is one on top of the cream round structure in the distance and another higher up on top of the hill.

I take a photo of someone who I think is Bob…and he takes a photo trying to find me on the beach.  Do we think alike?

This is definitely me, I am sitting right beside the two rinse towers…and I get a light spray every time someone rinses off!  I was settled in by the time this happens the first time so I decide to stay put, in spite of the occasional mist of water that floats my way.

I am happier with my beach drawings.

This fellow was sitting beside me and he was very brown.  He was also wearing black underpants, which appears to be a common thing here.  People are not shy about changing on the beach, women pull off their tops and bras to change into their bathing suits and I saw lots of men just wearing underpants as their bathing suit.  There were a few topless women as well…it is the French Riviera after all.

We do a bit of window shopping, or as they say here, leche-vitrine, which translates to lick the windows!  I have had a couple treats here, but gluten really doesn’t agree with me so I have to content myself with a bit of window licking!  Oh and did you notice the prices?  

We stroll along the boardwalk, people watching and enjoying the sunshine…

but the sun is getting glow in the sky and we head back to catch our train.

Bob notices something strange about this building… Here is a clue.

Yes, the whole side of the building is a giant mural!  We pass this interesting fountain…

and there are seven of these statues high on poles above the street.  Google tells me that they were created by Jaume Plensa, a Spanish artist who specializes in monumental art.

They represent the seven continents and the communication between the different communities of today’s society. They are titled “Conversation à Nice”and they are illuminated every night, with slowly changing colours.  Too bad we won’t see that but it is a long ride home.

We were in Nice over 40 years ago and visited the Matisse Museum.  I was hoping to visit it again today, but it closes during the noon hour, and then we just ran out of time.  I am OK with not visiting so many museums this trip, there are so many other things to do and only so much time.

Canoeing on the Dordogne River, France

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Day 41, Sunday, October 8, 2023

it is our last day in Sarlat and we are going for a canoe ride on the Dordogne River.  It took bit of doing though.  The first company we drove to was closed for the season but they didn’t bother to put that on their website.  We see a sign on the road for another company, and it says that they are open.  We go there and yes, they are open, just not at this location.  We give up and decide to drive La Roque-Gageac and walk around the town. I notice another canoe company near the river and before we know it we are in a canoe on the Dordogne River.

It is a beautiful day, +28 C, and there isn’t a cloud in the sky.  We pass houses built into the cliffs at Cénac-et-Saint-Julien.

The river is calm with just enough current to make paddling easy.

It is so peaceful and…

we see swans in several places along the river.There is the prettiest green seaweed and I see fish, Lots of fish, little ones and then some really big fish with whiskers…catfish? They particularly like hiding in the seaweed.  I keep showing them to Bob but he doesn’t see them.  I think he thought I was making up all these fish I was seeing until he took off his polarized sunglasses and then he can see the fish too.  He even gets to see one of the really big ones.  

We are having such a great time!

We pass three bridges and three villages with castles on our two and a half hour trip. This is the bridge at Vézac.

When we stop for our picnic lunch just before Vézac, these three sweet kids come down to the river bank to play.  I give them a plastic container to use as they are trying to build a dam on the side of the shore.  The little girl in the blue dress comes over and speaks very quickly to me and when I tell her I didn’t understand as I only speak a bit of French, her big brother comes over and very slowly and clearly tells me that it was very kind of me to give them the container and she was saying thank you.  When we  got back onto the river they waved to us and called out au revoir!

We pass ‘pirate’ tourist boats…

Beynac-et-Cazenac is another town built into the rock hillside…

and now we have passed Castelnaud-la-Chapelle.  We are nearing the end of our trip. But first we pass two of these strange half built bridges.  It doesn’t look like they plan on completing either of them although the bridge with a road bed is on both sides of the river and just has one section missing.  We wonder why.

Here is the last of the three bridges that we pass on our trip.  Our pickup point is a kilometre past this bridge.  We pull in and a short time later two vans come to pickup us and the canoes. We spent the time waiting for our pick up visiting with some people from Australia and Switzerland. We are so glad we were finally able to find a canoe rental company that was open for business.  Although I must say that both the employees we dealt with were rather rude and certainly not very pleasant.  This is the first time we have encountered anyone on this trip who wasn’t pleasant and helpful.  It didn’t matter though, we had a wonderful afternoon on the river.

When we arrived back in La Roque-Gageac Bob wants to explore the town but I am tired and sit in the shade at a little park while he goes exploring.  I draw a few of the people sitting around me while I am waiting.

I think it was a good thing I didn’t go with him as there was a lot of uphill walking.

Bob climbed up towards the troglodyte (cave dwelling) fort set in the cliffs 40 metres above La Roque-Gageac.  It is the remains of the 12th century fort that is still standing. The strong defensive position of La Roque-Gageac and this fortress meant that it held an important strategic and defensive position in the area.  Seems that there was an awful lot of fighting and defending one’s home way back then.Another view from the streets on Bob’s walk, and of the ‘pirate’ tourist ships.

On the way home we detour to visit Domme, another of France’s prettiest towns.  We hit detours and it took a bit to finally find it, but the view from this town was amazing.  We watched several hot air balloons flying high above the valley.  On was very very high, much higher than I we thought hot air balloons usually flew.  It was probably twice as high as this one! We bought some refreshing sorbet and just enjoyed the view before heading home to Sarlat to pack.  Tomorrow we are on our way to Carcassonne.

La Grotte de Font de Gaume, and La Grotte de Rouffignac, France

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Day 39, Friday, October 6, 2023

This morning we are on our way to Le Grotte de Font de Gaume.  Autumn is arriving here. These trees are the most colourful we have seen so far.

Fonte de Gaume is the only prehistoric site  with polychrome cave paintings that is still open to the public in France.  It became a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1979.  I forgot to take photo on the way up to the cave…I think I was excited about the upcoming tour.  This photo is from one of the tourist information brochures. There are more than 200 painted and engraved figures in Fonte de Gaume organized into compositions in the four main sections of this 120 meter long cave.  We visited all but the narrowest section in the Diverticule teminal and the short cave on the right of the entrance.

These drawings outside the cave give a hint of what we will be seeing inside.

The entrance to the cave is the cave on the right, we do not go into the other one.  Our guide was wonderful, he conducted the tour in English with a lovely French accent and he was very passionate and knowledgeable about prehistoric art and this cave in particular.

The paintings date from around 17,000 BC, during the Magdalenian period.  Many of the cave’s paintings have been discovered in recent decades. The cave’s most famous painting, a frieze of five bison, was discovered accidentally in 1966 while scientists were cleaning the cave!  No photos in the caves…so these pictures are from postcards and brochures.  Believe me, they in no way convey the beauty and grandeur of what we saw.

A very realistic engraving of a horse’s head.

There are many bison in the cave.  Our guide points our details and gives information about the paintings and engravings.  We are able to stand so close to these amazing paintings.  I am often standing in the same spot that the prehistoric artist who made this artwork stood.  Can you imagine?  It still gives me goosebumps just thinking about it.

Our guide saved the best for last.  He had each of us squat down so we could look up into a small hollow in the wall of the cave…and there was the left handprint of the artist.   A man or woman had signed their work, before there was even the concept of a signature…and there it was, just inches away. It was an incredible, emotional moment.  

If you would like to see a video of the inside of the Grotte de la Font de Gaume click on the link below.  If you then copy and paste this link into Google chrome you can translate the video into English.  It  takes a bit to figure out how to navigate and see the different paintings but it gives a good view of the inside of this cave.  It is very narrow in places, and we have to almost turn sideways to get through parts of the cave without touching the walls. http://font-de-gaume.monuments-nationaux.fr/

This second link shows the part of the video where you can get a better look a the paintings.  http://font-de-gaume.monuments-nationaux.fr/fr/entree/carrefour/suite/les-bisons-polychromes/

On the way to our last cave, La Grotte de Rouffignac, we pass several buildings that are built right in to the cliffs, and very close to the road.  Some look empty but many are still in use.

The roads also have a lot of overhanging rocks.

We get to the Rouffignac Cave early.  There are no online tickets, just first come first served. We find a pretty little picnic area beside the cave and have our lunch before walking up to the cave to wait for the 2:00 opening.  I found prescription glasses in a case near where we had our lunch.  Turns out they belong to one of the guides that works with school groups.  She lost them a few days before so she was very happy to get her glasses back.  My good deed for the day!  But somehow I forgot to take photos where I could.  The first photos here are courtesy of Perigord.com.

This is the entrance to the cave where we line up…we are first in line at this UNESCO World Heritage Site.

This cave is enormous, with almost 8 kms of caverns and tunnels on three levels.  We ride an electric train as our tour goes a kilometre into the caves.  It is also very cold, it seems colder than the 13 degree temperature of the caves we have already visited.  Perhaps because we are just sitting still? The first artworks we see are engravings…some of them were made by the artist using his fingers to mark the soft stone.  Rouffignac is famous for its Mammoths.  158 mammoths that have been found on the walls of this cave, this is 30% of all mammoth representations in prehistoric cave art.  Yet, curiously, there have been few mammoth bones found in this area. We also see cave bear claw marks all over the walls.  The parallel vertical lines below this mammoth are from a cave bear scratching his claws on the cave walls.

There were a lot of cave bears in this cave.  We pass through numerous hollow round areas.  These beds were made by cave bears to hibernate in the cave during the cold winters.  Cave bears were extinct long before the artwork on these walls was made…good thing!

These photos of the cave’s black line drawings are from postcards.

We disembark from the train at the Grand Plafond, or the Large Ceiling (I think it sounds better in French). The ceiling is covered with drawings of mammoths, bison, horses, woolly rhinoceros, and ibex.   The artist had to lie on his back to create this incredible collection of drawings as there was not enough room to stand.  The floor has since been lowered so that visitors can access this area.  I am amazed at how fresh and vivid the drawings are.  I don’t really know how to explain the impact these drawings had.  They were so realistic, they looked as though they could have been drawn recently instead of 15,000 years ago at the end of the last ice age by Magdalenian hunter-gatherers.   I was surprised to see that almost everyone in the group turned towards our guide when he started talking and they stopped looking at the drawings!  Really?  Couldn’t they have listened but keep looking a the artwork above our heads? It seemed such a waste to be standing here and ignoring these ancient drawings.  One very interesting drawing of a mammoth showed its anal flap. Sorry, no photo of that one. Yes, this is a flap that covers the mammoth’s anus to keep it warm.  Only someone who had very close contact with a mammoth would know about this detail.  This fact was used to help authenticate these drawings, as they were thought to be modern fakes when they were first discovered..

This is the last cave we will be visiting here.  We loved all of them!

Lascaux II, Parc de Thot and Lascaux IV, France.

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Day 35, Monday, October 2, 2023

The Lascaux Cave contains one of the most outstanding displays of 20,000 year old prehistoric art in the world and it is a UNESCO World Heritage site.  We were very lucky to get tickets to visit Lascaux II.  We had completely forgotten about needing to book ahead but thankfully it is not high season and we were able to get tickets for an English tour of the cave.  The Lascaux Cave was discovered on September 12 1940 by 18 year old Marcel Ravidat when his dog Robot investigated a hole left by an uprooted tree that had fallen over in a storm.

Of course we are visiting a replica cave. It was the first replica cave in the world when it opened in 1983 near the site of the original cave…however there are still no photos allowed.  The original cave was closed in April, 1963. The continuous flow of visitors (1500/day) and the carbon dioxide and human breath began to degrade the prehistoric paintings in the decorated cave.   Lascaux II is an exact replica of the two main chambers of the cave. This short video has a segment with a walk through the cave by torch light. This is what we experienced at Lascaux II.   We were standing in a dark cave, with only a flickering torch to illuminate these 20,000 year old cave paintings.  It was an amazing experience.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWUUiFxbEE4&t=87s

I manage to do a couple quick drawings while in the cave, but the lighting is poor and I decide to enjoy the experience and forget about trying to draw.

We visit Parc de Thot which is a small zoo with animals that are similar to those drawn in the caves…bisons, wolves, deer, and bulls.  There was an interesting short film and some displays in their building. It was a nice place to have our lunch but that was about it.

This display shows the different techniques that were used to make the cave paintings and engravings.  I was surprised to learn that paint brushes, pencils (pieces of pigment attached to sticks}, stencils and a primitive sort of airbrush were all used 20,000 years ago!  The artist would blow pigment from his, or perhaps her mouth onto the walls of the cave, sometimes even using a hollow bone for more accuracy.

This display shows one of the cave paintings…

and then uses black light to show all the engraved lines that are difficult to see.

After we ate our lunch I did a bit of drawing and Bob did a bit of reading before we left for Lascaux IV.In 2016, a new replica, Lascaux IV, was opened to replace Lascaux II. It is adjacent to the original cave and offers an even more authentic experience than Lascaux II, with changes in air pressure, along with a series of atmospheric cave scents and sounds. Once again no photos allowed however there is an interpretive area that has more replica displays and we can take photos there.

These displays are just as well done as the paintings in the cave..

It is nice to have a bit more time to really examine some of the the paintings up close and in better light.

They are spectacular, and photos do not come anywhere near ot capturing this incredible art that was created 20,000 years ago by Cro-Magnons, who were the first early modern humans.

This stag is particularly beautiful with its magnificent set of antlers.

This is one of the first figures we see when we enter the cave.  It is called ‘The Unicorn’ even though it has two horns.  It is an animal drawn from the imagination of the artist and did not actually exist.

There is a deep shaft that has the only depiction of a human, although it does have the head of a bird.  This is also in the interpretive area as it would be impossible to climb down the shaft in the replica cave.  Here we can walk in at the bottom and look upwards to see the paintings.

This gives some idea of the size of these paintings.  This is one of the largest animals in the Lascaux caves.

I like this bull.  It is the one I drew in Lascaux II.

This display showed the engraved lines of this bull.  Giving the bull two heads was used to portray movement.

Leaving the interpretive area we walk down this long corridor which has several theatres with more information on Lascaux and the history of the discovery of the caves.  There are over 150 prehistoric sites in this area.The last room we entered had huge animations which travels across three walls and sometimes over the floor and ceiling as well.  I particularly liked this one which shows mammoths from the Rouffignac Cave, which we hope to visit later this week. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2yv2ydzsJ0

We are the last people to leave and they lock the doors behind us after we walk out.  It was a great day.

 

 

 

Montrésor and Sarlat le Canéda, France

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Day 33, Saturday , September 30, 2023

We leave for Sarlat la Canéda in a heavy fog.  It is quite beautiful , but not the easiest driving.

Before too long the sun is shining and we are driving through farmland that looks a lot like Alberta. 

Then we drive through a beautiful forested area.

We stop for a visit and lunch in Montrésor which is listed as one of France’s 140 most beautiful towns.  The church is small but interesting.  The church was built to house this white alabaster tomb for three family members.  The stained glass windows and the carved wooden stalls all date from the 16th century when the church was built.

We walk along the river which has interesting information plaques and great views of the Château de Montrésor and the village.

Loved the reflections in the river.

There are some very large, very old trees along the way.  Bob is standing on the bridge just behind the tree.

Many of the houses are built right into the stone cliffs.  This little shop is an example, the ceiling and back wall are all natural stone.

I loved this sign in the window. It says “Turn off the TV and look at the sky.”

I also love peeking in windows and open gates whenever I have the chance.  You never know what you might see.  I wonder what happened to the owner of this little bookstore?

This gate looked interesting…

and it hid this tiny garden complete wth a chair, a bottle of wine and a very interesting statue.

The half-timbered houses date back to the 15th century!  In the background are the towers of the Medieval Keep of the Château de Montrésor.I loved this carved lizard, which is the symbol of Montrésor.

The Château de Montrésor is a medieval castle with a Renaissance mansion built in the grounds.  We decided not to tour the château and soon we are back on the road to Sarlat.

The canola fields are just starting to turn yellow here, much later than back home.

I have a chance to sneak a few sketches of people waiting for a bus at the gas station when we stop to fill up.  There hasn’t been much opportunity for this so far this trip.I notice that the leaves are staring to turn colour…winter is coming!

The hillsides are dotted with charming little villages.

Our bnb in Sarlat is right in the heart of the old town.  On the Airbnb website it says “Come and discover the entertainment, restaurants, shops, the famous market of the city with its local products, surrounded by the walls and history of the city of Sarlat. All at your feet.”  It should be interesting, we have never stayed right in the heart of an old city before. The circled windows belong to our apartment.