France- Day 16: Underground and in the air!

Please excuse me if I am blunt, forget things, or make mistakes in this post. I am exhausted, and close to falling asleep at my computer. Today was really cool though!

We got up early, and my mom and I got into the car to head to the "Gouffre de Padirac" (The Padirac chasm). There were some pretty sights on the way there, as a lot of the drive was on the tops of hills. you could see really far- it was cool. When we got to the padirac chasm, there was actually a huge line that took an hour to get through, but in the end it was worth it! We descended down into a thirty five meter wide whole in the earth, to get to the bottom of the chasm, which was inhabited by all sorts of cool plant life that grew due to the strange light levels and humidity. Then we went down more stairs, and followed the start of a subterranean river (that had carve out a massive underground chasm. It was amazing! Eventually we got on boats and sailed down the underground river.

At this point we were 103 meters underground (And I was no longer allowed to take pictures once we got on the boats. You really should google pictures of the place- it is fantastic!). Boating down the river was amazing! The water was all crystal clear and peaceful, and the caves were beautiful. There was a huge stalactite (called 'Le pendeloque') that was 60 meters tall- one of the tallest stalactites in a public cave. eventually we left the boats and continued on foot. it was fantastic! there were crystal clear lakes with small calcite dams. You could hear that water was falling over the dams but the water was so clear and the lakes were so still that you couldn't see it.  Where light was shone into the water it was a beautiful blue, and where there wasn't light it reflected what was above it so perfectly that it looked like the water was insanely deep. Other times it barely looked like there was water there at all!

There is a huge vaulted area called the Great dome" that is 94 meters tall. There is only 9 meters of rock between the the surface, and the top of the dome. It was massive! There were all sorts of formations on the walls, and another beautiful lake at the bottom (with a beautiful drizzling falls back into the lower river)  there was also a beautiful formation (called "stacks of plates") at the edge o the lake. We got to climb up (on stairs) to near the top of the Great Dome and look down at everything. It was really stunning!

After that we wound our way back out of the chasm(and back into the sun!) I know it was a guided tour and all, but it would have been really cool to have been able to explore more. For some reason I feel really good in caves, and I just adore them! I think it would be cool to go cave exploring some day! Also, we bought a book about the Chasm, so I can show you guys all about it when I get home!

After that we hopped back in the car and headed towards Rocamadeur, which is a beautiful city, church, and castle built into a cliff! We climbed down into the city from the top. We looked around a lot, it was pretty cool, but full of tourists and really hot. (I had also been there several times before, so the sights weren't new to me. The architecture and location was cool, but the atmosphere wasn't as lovely as the village (St Cirque de Lapopie) we visited a few days ago. It was still really fun though!
We stopped in all sorts of little shops, and also stopped to eat (I had fish and chips). I found a jewelry stand for myself, and got a few souvenirs for people (that I am really excited to give! They are surprises though!!) Anyways, eventually we hiked back up the cliff, stopping to get some tasty ice cream. I hadn't had much to drink, so dehydration and heat was really getting to me.
 On the way back to the car I had to stop to buy water, and my mom came back and picked me up. I was light headed and felt dizzy and tired. The drive back was beautiful but scary! It was full of windy roads and huge drop offs!

I was exhausted when I got home and my legs were really sore from walking so much. We had hamburgers for dinner. Mom and I were originally supposed to go on a moonlight horse ride, but it was cloudy, so it got postponed until tomorrow! Anyways, I'm tired now, so goodnight!