Le Grotte de Pech Merle

A postcard of the stalagmites and stalactites.

A postcard of some of the cave paintings.

A postcard of a handprint.

Yesterday we took a long drive two hours east of Martignac. Our destination was 'The Pech Merle Cave'. We had already been to the prehistoric cave paintings in Lascaux three years ago, so we wanted to check these paintings out. Nothing prepared me for the sight I was about to see.

I had never been that far underground before. At the lowest point we were 50 metres down. The stalagmites and stalactites were crazy. Nothing looked real. It looked some weird ride at Disneyland. It looked like some psychodelic underwater scene.

We were warned that it would be cold below ground and were advised to take sweaters with us. Not surprisingly, we were the only ones without jackets. To us it was cool and refreshing. After all, we are Canadians!

When we got to the paintings I was spellbound. To think that human beings were in this exact spot creating art on these very walls 25,000 years ago! Mind boggling. It makes the 500 year old house we're renting seem like a baby.

My favourite paintings were the handprints.

I love France.