Exoudun

Our camera went MIA for a few days, but now that it has surfaced again, I can fulfill my promise: More pictures.

About 3 weeks ago, we had a visit from our friend, Elsa, who lives in Paris. She and I met because we were both teaching music lessons on Wednesdays in the-middle-of-nowhere, France, and took the same train back to Paris every Wednesday evening. We played 3 concerts together before Thomas, Alina, and I packed up and left Paris. We did some sight-seeing while she was here. This is a authentic Neolithic dolmen:

I insist on the "authentic" part because these stones, although reminiscent of Stonehenge, are recent constructions (Elsa's blocking your view of one of them):

Here we're actually on a plateau overlooking the small town of Exoudun. You get a great view of the town up here:

The current mayor of Exoudun is a long-time friend of Thomas's family. Under his encouragement, a lot of work has been done on this plateau, including the erection of a series of Neolithic-like stone patterns and a "Tumulus": a reconstructed, Neolithic burial chamber. That all covers one small part of the plateau. With the rest, he and another friend of ours have started an organization to re-construct a Gaulish encampment. They will have festivals, re-enact battles, and hold other events which would be interesting and hopefully bring tourists into the area. Here is Alina aiding in the construction efforts:

and here is Elsa in an enormous, ancient tree:

Coming here has become one of our favorite outings!