Vagabondage Pt. 2

It's convenient when the notes you take for class can easily be used to tell your friends what's happening.


La Grotte de Lombrives 17/05/2010
The quote that I believe the Grotte de Lombrives tour guide recited to me:

Là dans les flanc creusés d'un rocher qui sur plombe,
s'ouvre une gortte obscure, un nid où la colombe
Aime à gémir d'amour
-Alphonse de LAMARTINE

Or maybe that wasn't it. Or maybe I can't read it as powerfully as a frenchman in a 60 million year old cave can speak it.
I had a personal hour & a half tour of la Grotte de Lombrives today. After walking about 3km to get there I'm glad the guy decided to do the tour anyway when no one else showed up. Turns out the guy likes 19th century French literature, too--pretty knowledgeable too. his eyes lit up in excited agreement when he affirmed that a lot of 19th century writers had cave, gulf, abîme imagery. And, he told me, it was the 19th century when all the shit in the cave was named.
The room they call The Cathedral and which has as much volume as the Notre Dame de Paris is massive! It was just me and the tour guide in this giant room. Before we entered he asked if I was afraid of the dark before turning off all the lights for about 10 seconds, them illuminating the whole room. It was just me and him after having climbed to about halfway to the summit and he said something along the lines of make any noise you want since the echo was so magnificent. But I couldn't do it. I couldn't disrespect the silence. There are violin concerts in the cave a few times a year, which I imagine are amazing, but I couldn't disrespect the silence of this giant room. On the return trip we both stood at the gate that closes off the Cathedral and listened in silence to la chant de la grotte. "C'est râre," he said, "d'avoir ce moment." During the summer there are groups of up to 60.
In the end he gave me a free ride down the mountain on the trolley. Good day.


La Grotte de la Vache 18/05/2010
[Translated from the French]
I had wanted to rent a bike to go to the caves (la Grotte de la Vache and la Grotte de Niaux) but today and tomorrow are the only two days that the store is closed. So, I walked very quickly in the sun with my hiking boots, suspenders and white t-shirt--feeling like a mountain man-traveler type, if not for lack of beard--but nevertheless I was late. When I got there it was only the woman who was the guide and second in charge. I explained to her my situation and she gave me a short but extraordinary private visit of la Grotte de la Vache and then she drive me down the mountain and up the 1km road to the Grotta de Niaux just facing us for the visit at 4:15. She was really cool. And when I was walking back to the hotel later that evening, she saw me while driving in the other direction and stopped to say hi again. A bit later, I stuck out the ol' thumb and an old man in a BMW SUV (weird for France) picked me up and drove me back to town.
I'll spare you my notes from the cave visit.


La Grotte de Niaux 18/05/2010
«Tout homme crée sans le savoir comme il respire. Mais l'artiste se sent créer, son acte engage tout son être. » --Paul Valéry (on an information sign before the entrance of the cave).

On the 1.5km long road which leads down from the Grotte de Niaux, overlooking the valley where lies the village of Niaux and just next to it, Alliat:

I've rarely felt more alone in my life. Not necessarily lonely, but maybe. It wasn't exactly a bad feeling, just lonely. I felt so small like never before, or rather so insignificant, en face de tout ce que j'ai vu aujourd'hui, tout ce que j'ai appris des hommes magdéleneans, et ces montagnes, ces grandes montagnes.