Troglodytes and châteaux

Saturday started well with a game of « Guess Who? » with Maman.

They learned to ask  questions in French: " has he got a big nose / white hair / glasses ? "  " Is the person a boy or a girl ? " etc.

We packed a picnic, and went to a Troglodyte village 15 km from Saumur, Forges. We were able to see farms, carved out of soft  limestone rock, and hollowed-out houses which are still inhabited. The area is set out like a museum, so there were old farm tools to be looked at, as well as various animals .

Caroline and I were amused by the awful translation into English of the guide which we borrowed to explain the site. Everything was "graved" into the rock, we visited "the stables, or chicken"  (kitchen? Who knows.) We might as well have taken the French guide, as the boys didn't understand  much of the explanation  unless we made a stab at imagining what the original had been., and then translating back.

Trog Dance.

Fighting form

 They saw their first guinea fowl,  and admired fan-tailed doves, geese, turkeys, guinea pigs,  and ferrets. More new words. They think that they would quite like to live inside a cliff.

We were only 20 minutes away from Saumur, so we went to look at the château.

 

A few knights and horses cantering around would have been appreciated, but we had to make do with the  Museum of the Horse featuring "Le Cadre Noir"  of Saumur, an internationally renowned cavalry school , and of course the amazing view.