Chauvet Cave

Chauvet Cave

First we thought the trip up here was for nothing. I was a little bit upset. We decided to go back when Jean-Marie pointed to a small opening in a formation of rocks. All the sudden I was a whirlwind, flying to the opening to check it out. I am always excited and want to be the first one. The opening was so small that I only barely fit through it. I turned my head lights on and my fingers were all shaky, because I was nervos. I could not really see something only with the head lights. So, I grabbed my big flash light from my back and switched it on. The other ones were still not here, they always take their sweet old time. I was speechless about what I saw. Is it real or I am just dreaming? It was real. What I saw was just amazing. I did not even realized that my fellows finally came in. The paintings are such in a good condition and the scenes look so real. My eye cought immediately the herd of mammoths. They are my favorites. Ah, they look so at peace and real. This artists were so good, they used the shapes of the rocks to make the animals look real. It looks like that the mammoths eat their grass and there are even some babies. Then I concentrated myself to the other pictures. Most of the paintings show a type of lion in different actions. Some are running around and some are resting and even some are fighting with each other. It seemed to me you almost could hear the noises of the animals and actually be in the middle of the whole scene, because the cave is kind of going around. It is hard for me to describe how I felt. I kind of wanted laugh but also cry. Never before saw I a such a thing. Now I also have a big respect for this artist back then. They knew how to do their job with simple instruments. I forgot to say, the cave has a small opening, but inside it is huge, if I say huge then it is huge. I was really surprised how preserved the paintings are. I am very happy that I was the first person to see this paintings.