Futuroscope!

Friday was a crazy day.  First I headed to the OFII office to finish up my last minute paper work in order to get my yellow stamp.  I am not legally allowed to leave France without it so it was very important.  But my silly fanny got on the wrong bus.  Well not exactly the wrong bus.  It was the right number on the right route but going the wrong way.  I was about an hour late.

The lady at the OFII office was very sweet.  I think the manager she called (because I was late) told her to make me come back on Monday.  She agreed but then put my stamp on my visa and told me to have a good weekend!  So sweet.

So I had my OFII stamp, it was Friday and I was itching to have fun!  I grabbed bus number 1 and headed to Futuroscope!  Futuroscope is the biggest theme park in France and the one of a kind in the world.  Instead of massive roller coaster rides it focuses on animation, technology, cinematography and every other visual art you can think of! 

Futuroscope is broken down by buildings. 

The first one I came to was called The Magic Carpet.  This building houses the attraction called “Travellers by air and by sea”.  This ride/show uses two different IMAX screens.  One of them is on the floor and the other in front of you.  It’s also in 3D so the images of the birds and ocean animals seem to fly right by you or leap up from underneath you!  I didn’t get to go to this show because I ran outta time, but it’s on my short list of places to revisit.  At night The Magic Carpet lit up!  It was so pretty I had to take another picture.

My next stop was to visit the attraction “The Future is Wild” in the building that shares the same name.  The Futuroscope website describes it as an upside down ball cap.  I call it the space ship! 

This is the one attraction I really wanted to see.  But first I had to get there.  On my short walk over I saw a little rest area that had koi fish.  So I took a detour.  I rested with the koi for a bit then walk through the glass maze on top of the water and marveled at the various mini mazes that were created out of baby plants!  The picture makes the area look big but it would have been a baby's maze.  My shoes wouldn’t have fit on the mini-path.

Then I got to The Future is Wild building.  This is the attraction people around Poitiers talk about (the older ones that is.  The younger talk about Arthur, I’ll get to him later.) .  What you do is sit in a car that has four seats.  Then you are told you are on a safari in the future.  You have special goggles to look though and a special hand bracelet.  The goggles let you see the animals of the future while the hand bracelet lets you interact with them!  It was so neat. 

They showed animals on land and in the sea and even showed what weird creature man would evolve into!  It’s a weird look brain with octopus arms.  Hahaha.  After the safari you go into a little room where the future ‘artifacts’ are kept.  They had all these animals they created some came complete with the future fossils!  It was wonderful.  I can’t wait for the US to get some of this stuff!

The next place I ran off to was called Dynamic Vienna.  The building was one huge water fall.  Inside house a two part show.  This first show was a slide show off all the things that you could do in the area but it also displayed a sand /laser show.  The sand would fall down from the ceiling and created images and the lasers would create the details.  This was something I’ve never seen before so I thought it was the best thing since sliced cheese.


The second show was a movie with moving seats.  The movie was about a man that was late for his wedding in Poitiers, because he overslept on the train.  So he jumps of the train and has to rely on a mischievous tree elf to get to his wedding on time.  It was funny and fun watching and riding though the movie.

There were these odd looking set of statues at Futuroscope. 

Fly me to the Moon was the next building I came across. 

I wasn’t able to go to this show… this time!  The show was another 3D movie about three flys that go into outer space on the Apollo 11 flight.   I think the building looked cooler than the show would have.  I might be wrong but there were a few things I just had to see before the place closed at 9pm (I arrived at 5pm because it was only 13 euros to get in after 5).

I took the bridge over to the other side of the park and took a picture of the kids play land.  This attraction is called The Tower.  I think they made it to look like the Eiffel but without helmets it looks pretty dangerous for the kids to climb up!

My next stop was to take pictures of the famous building The Kinémax!  It’s no wonder why I like this building so much.  I collect and study semi-precious stones.  This giant crystal like building left me speechless!  I was a little disappointed that the show “Hurricane on the Bayou” wasn’t open but it just gave me time to take more photos of the wonderful, great, grand building. 

Next stop was the Futuroscope Digital City.  This building is odd shaped and I love it!  The attractions inside are all hands on.  When you first walk into the lobby you see a weird wall made out of grass, cubed bean bag chairs, and circular lights. 

To the left is the PlayStation area.  This main attraction wasn’t something I was very interested in.  I am lucky enough to have access to the PlayStation all I want to at home so playing it here wasn’t that big of a deal.  Besides that the majority of the games where racing, sports or shotum-up-bang-bang.

They also had a holographic cube game.  A mirror reflected a hologram that you controlled by moving your hands around a cube.  It was fun to see the little kids trying to manipulate the image in the mirror.  I figured it would be easy so I stood in line (behind a sea of children) and when my turn came up the kids laughed.  I had the next kid in line help me.  Kids pick up things so fast!  I was amazed how the kid could move the image around so quickly while I was getting more than a little aggravated that my little image wouldn’t get out of the cube!  I still think I could have mastered it if I had one at home.  I hope Santa wins the lotto and is reading my blog! 

Another little interactive thing they had was this room.  When you walk past the screen the plants moved.  I think I spent a good bit of time laughing as I jumped ran though the room watching the screen react to me. 

I left the Digital City only to find where the Borg cube had landed! 

 

Resistance is Futile… in Futuroscope!  This building houses an IMAX show called Bruch with Genius that is projected on a circular screen much like you would experience at a star gazing show.  It was closed so I headed over to next “MUST DO” on my Futuroscope list.

I danced with Robots!  Nothing was special about this building.  The ride, however, made up for it.  What you do is sit in the chair on the platform.  You then get strapped in really tightly because the minute the music comes on the robot hand is going to spin you up, down, sideways, left, right, upside-down and every combination of the six!  Every song has a different ‘dance’!  It was so much fun.  The song that I got was “I love Rock and Roll”.  Perfect!

When I left Robot land it was almost time to go.  But first I had to go see the Arthur show.

 Arthur and the Mininoys or in English, Arthur and the invisibles, is the biggest hit for kids 4 to 12 in France at the moment.
Arthur is so popular that he is on his third movie.  I plan to buy the first one to play on the computer as a way to learn the language a bit better.  I’m sure it’ll have English subtitles in case I get lost on the plot.

 So far Wikipedia let me know that the plot is that Arthur visits his grandma, finds out that his grandma is getting evicted from her home if she can’t pay which makes him go look for the treasure his grandpa hid in the backyard.  In the process he gets shrunken (like “Honey I shrunk the kids”) and turned into a Mininoy.  He meets up with a princess and her brother and head off to find the treasure.  There is a sword in the stone deal in the movie and even a guy that looks and acts a good bit about Voldermort.  It looks cute.  Since it is one of the main attractions I had to go see it. 

Let me tell you, Do NOT EVER see a 4D movie if a 3D movies has ever given you a headache or you have even the slightest motion sickness.  After a minute of the wind blowing from fans, the car jerking up and down, and the 3D image on the screen zipped through a very poorly animated tunnel I thought I was going to up chuck!  I will never go to another 4D movie again. 

I did like the walk through the line though.  It was a lot like the Tree of Life at Disney where half the fun is walking through the line looking at everything along the way.

After Arthur I had to leave.  I hopped on the next bus home, collapsing the minute I got there.  I can do that since my bed is three feet from the front door.  Haha.  It was a wonderful day and another place to put on my return list.  My list is getting so long that I might not leave France for quite a while!
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Snakes and Castles

On Wednesday, Henry and I decided to be super human and bike two hours to Chauvigny.  Forty-five minutes in and I was toast.  It’s been so long since I’ve ridden a bike!  So we stopped by Casino, the Wal-Mart of France.  We got some food and headed back to Henry’s place to cook.  Lunch was frozen pizza, egg rolls, rice crispy treats, chicken legs, potatoes bites and apple pie!  Then we played a few rounds of table tennis before I went home.  On my way home I popped into the exotic pet store.  It’s about the only store with the name ‘exotic’ you’ll find me in.

I like snakes.

And lizards

After our failed attempt to go to Medieval Land I was a little bummed out.  So the very next day I hopped a bus and went anyway.  It was rainy but I didn’t care.  A thirty minute ride later and I was in Chauvigny!  This is the view right before you cross into Chauvigny.

First stop was Chauvigny’s Notre Dame.

The sign read:

Notre-Dame Church is the only place of worship in the lower town.  Inside, the transept crossing includes capitals illustrating Original Sin, and decorated with gryphons, large quadrupeds standing on their hind legs, and superb foliage.

At the end of the right arm of the transept is a large fresco dating from the late 15th and early 16th Centuries.  It shows Christ carrying an excessively large Cross, assisted by a crowed of followers.
A tour of the lower town includes the so called “Knights Templars” House (13th Century), and “King John’s House”, the Church of St. Pierre-les-Egilses and the Country’s Modern Art Gallery.

The upper town is altuated on a spur of rock high above the R. Vienne and its five fortresses regrouped within a single outer wall.  It is the only mediaeval settlement of its kind in Europe.

Surprisingly there wasn’t much to see at this church.  There was a neat statue of Jesus with a heart on His chest, the unknown kind man with the little kid, finally a statue of Miss Joan of Arc and this really large painting on the wall.  Other than that the stain glass windows where very plain, the oil paintings where in disrepair and it looked just like an ordinary church inside.

 

After poking around the Notre Dame I headed up the hill to see the mediaeval panorama area.  It’s like a rest stop for picture taking.  It was here that I got knocked down by a group of guys on bikes.  The camera fell out of my pocket and smashed on the ground.  It still works but has some really bad scratches on it.  I owe my sister a new camera when I get back state side.  Any who I got some really spectacular pictures from the panorama site! 

So then I couldn’t stand it any longer!  I had to go to the medieval town!  There are five castles in the Medieval City. 

Harcourt Castle has exhibits and holds events inside but was closed until April. 

The Bishop’s Castel is an old fortress but only the surrounding walls are still visiable.  Here is where the bird sho “The Giants of the Sky” is held.  They have falcons, hawks and eagles all trained for the show.  But this is another attraction that was closed until April.  I snuck over the fence to catch a few birdy pictures anyway!

Gouzon’s Keep is another castle that holds exhibits on Chauvinois’ industrial heritage… closed until April.


 

There is Mauléon Castle but it’s almost all in ruins now, so is Flins Tower. 

I could see the outside of these places so it still fun.  I’ll just have a destination to head back to in April!

  

 

On an interesting side note, I thought it was really neat the way the pigeons here rested on the ruins.  You can see them nesting in the air holes and squeezing themselves on the little ledges of the bricks.  It was peaceful the way they all just sat around and cooed at each other.

Still wanting the medieval experience I decided to walk around a bit.  This is where I found the Church of Saint Pierre.  The back side of the church was really easy to find.  It was harder to find a way inside.

It might be hard to believe but this small little door is the entrance to this impressive church.  The door was located on the opposite end and was pretty ordinary.  The only decorations it had was three pillars on each side that had odd looking animals at the tops.  I really didn’t know what to expect before I walked in this place.

You should never judge a church by its odd architectural layout!  Inside it looked as if someone painstakingly painted each and every brick white with black on the edge.  Then another guy got boarder-happy with the red and yellow paint!

 But white, black, red and yellow were not the only colors here!  In the middle of the room was a splash of rainbow!  The columns and walls were painted beautifully.  It looked like a fresh coat of paint had been put on this morning. There was even a painted banner on the wall that circled the entire room.

 There were two things that erked me about this church.  For starters it was ice cold.  I think being up so high might have been one reason.  The second was the dead people!  Why oh why would you have tombs in church?  Outside in the cemetery is ok but not inside the building!  I found one that looked like someone had moved the top of it over a bit.  So I stuck my camera lens down there and snapped a picture.  Don’t worry.  The camera says that there isn’t a body down there.  Body or not…. It’s still gives me the hebby-jeebys!

This church also had a neat little sculpture on the wall.  I have no idea what it is but I like it.

After this it was lunch time so I popped into a pub to get some grub.  But I was shocked at the prices!  I was charged 2.60 for a glass of coke.  That's too much for a coke in US dollars, now translate that to Euros and you'll come to the same conclusion I did.... I got robbed!  I couldn’t imagine what lunch would have been.  So I drank my golden coke and went exploring again.  This is when I ran into this cute little pottery shop.

 

 I found the Popular Traditions Museum up on a hill but it was closed.  It still made for a very nice photo don't you think?

Then I found the Espace. 

Espace d’archéologie industrielle (Donjon de Gouzon)

This 11th – 13th century keep stands on a hilltop that was the site of a human settlement 3,500 years B.C.

The various levels of occupation have made it possible to lay out an Industrial Archaeological Exhibition in the keep, with themes illustrated by objects produced at various stages in the region’s history.  The limestone quarries, porcelain works, and modern industries in Chauvigny are represented next to older trades and Industrial sites, many of which have disappeared e.g. the windmills, tile making works, and lime kilns.

To take visitors up from one level to another in this building, Sylvain Dubulsson, Architect/Designer, has built a lift that is a work of art in its own right.  It was a public commission from the Plastic Arts Department.
From the terrace, there is an unusual view of the mediaeval town, and the Vienne and Talbat Valleys.

Hanging around the little square were these little sitting figures.  I’m not sure how many there are to find but I did find two of them.  I guess Greenville wasn’t the first place to put up little hide-and-seek statues.  Although little mice that read ‘Good Night Moon’ is a bit more challenging than finding life size people made of bronze.

 

Then I pretended to be a fairy tale princes walking through the kingdom.  I snapped some more medieval feeling photos on my way down the hill.

 

I passed by this shop and it made me feel a bit home sick but I’m not quite sure why.  At this point I was starving so into Coops I went!  Now this is where I’ve been having trouble in France. 

<< You see this is what they show you at the door.

This is what they expect you to buy for dinner.  I don’t even know what that is.  I see some eggs with brown parts and some tomatoes.  I’m guessing that the middle is some sort of shell-fish (POISION, DANGER). >>

 This is the options they give you on the aisle beside the ‘real’ food.  >>


<< Oh and if you want to go cheap there is always the discounted chocolate Santa.  I had to get outta Coops before I bought a ton of chocolate.

To be on the safe side I walked into a shop that said Hot Sandwiches.  Safe bet right?  Nope… this is what I found.

I finally settled on a home-made ham and gravy hot pocket, coke and this tasty little chocolate mousse covered white cake in a chocolate peanut brittle covered base.  Hey don’t look at me like that.  I ate real food first!

 

After a nice lunch I headed back to the square to wait for the bus to go home.  Here I found a hidden monument that wasn’t on my tour map!

MEMORIAL DEDICATED TO THOSE WHO LOST THEIR LIVE AND TO FUTURE PEACE

Stones of Fellowship

Raised close to the Tree of Liberty, planted in 1948, this memorial, a six meter high monolith hewn out of Chauvigny limestone and weighing 12 tons, stands as a witness to those who lost their life and to a desire for future peace.  It was inaugurated on April 23th 1977.

As a symbol of remembrance

A list bearing the names of those civilians and soldiers, who gave their life for France, in wars since 1870, is sealed at the heart of a block of stone, extracted from one of Chauvigny’s quarries.  It was the wish of the Chauvinois to associate the names of these people with the memory of prisoners of war, deportees or exiles from the town, together with the memory of those millions of men, women and children oppressed, maimed or killed by war across the five continents.

As a symbol of future peace

A Peace yearned for not only in our town, but throughout the whole of France, Europe and indeed the entire world.  A peace that will bring freedom and contentment to all peoples.  This ideal is underlined by the many stones set around the foot of the memorial.  These have been sent from different countries, many of which have experienced, or are at present experiencing, human suffering though war and want.  Set in Chauvigny’s memorial, the stones shout out their messages of fellowship to all those willing to strive for peace.

Belive it or not this wasn't even all the stones!  But I was suprised that America wasn't on here.  Maybe my historian can explain.  After playing all day it was time to go home.  I got on the bus with plans of visiting this wonderful little town again in April!

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