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.

Puy L'Eveque

The nearest village to us is 4 kilometres away down a winding road. It is called Puy L'Eveque. It's a medieval town full of ancient buildings and cobblestone roads. The population must only be about 500 people, yet the creativity in that town astounds me.

On our second day here, Joe and I walked about Puy L'Eveque's narrow streets. In between many of the buildings, different things were strung: shoes, umbrellas, words. Masks and costumes abound in every nook and cranny.

There was always another happy surprise around ever corner we turned.

I smiled a lot on that walk.

Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain

We decided to celebrate our final day in Halsou by driving to Spain. Go figure....

Our destination was the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao.

The museum was designed by American architect Frank Gehry. It is constructed with titanium, stone and glass. To me the building was the star of the show. The art inside paled by comparison.

We spent over 3 hours looking at the paintings, sculptures, and art installations. They were all very interesting and thought-provoking.

And I discovered my newest favourite artist: Robert Rauschenberg. He created art pieces from scrap metal and found junk. A true kindred spirit! I could have taken all of his work off of the gallery walls and hung them in my house and garden.