Fireworks (2)

I have just got round to putting the final mud pictures on, since Viki thought the blog finished abruptly & she thought we were still in a mess. ( Leave comments, Vik; however am I going to get the notoriety of the 'myboyfriendisatwat' woman otherwise? Or the publishing deal?) Well of course we are still in a mess, this place is huge & ancient, but the grass has grown & the potager is restored. I will post prettier pics soon, but include the final one as it shows the famous pile of rocks, viewed by all visitors who had read about it in earlier Round Robins with gasps of mingled admiration & horror. We truly have dug them & heaved them ourselves, (yes, this is pretty much a royal we but I did do some,) and now the pile is a haunt of lizards.

On July 20th we gave ourselves a break & took a trip to the Vendée with the French class above mine. Marie-Christine has got it into her head that I am a person of culture & despite my absolute refusal to join her 'Civilisations' group to discuss history & politics, ( my French truly isn't up to it,), I am often included in their jollies.
I have to say this person of culture raised an eyebrow at the chosen venue, a sort of historical theme park with grand staged 'Spectacles' instead of rides, called Parc du Grand Fou.
We watched a cod rehash of Gladiator in an impressive amphitheatre & moved on to the Viking village. After happy bronze age people frolicked free of hunger, syphilis or bad dentistry, the V's arrived. One longboat sailed impressively round a bend in the river, (the settings for the spectacles were just that, spectacular,) but then one appeared to slide down a hill rather than round it & another rose from beneath the water. Marie-Christine must have heard Paul murmur in my ear,
"Hmmm, I never knew the Vikings had invented the submarine..", for as we all wandered off to watch 'Falcons Les Phantomes' (this won't let me do an ascii 'o' with a hat), she sidled up to me & said apologetically,
"I don't think this is quite your thing?!" with perfect 'ths'.

However, the Falcon thing was quite stunning, we had never seen so many birds of prey together, including huge vultures & eagles who were set loose from a tethered balloon way up in the sky, & all set skimming above our heads by the handlers. It was jaw-dropping & well-worth the entrance fee & bad food, all on its own.

I'm being unfair; the point of the visit was the evening show, a 'Cinescenie' which is the biggest Son et Lumiere in the world, ( I know, accents, it won't work today,) & this was quite stupendous; I would gladly travel back to see it all again.
We climbed up the side of what felt like a roller coaster, through an entrance hall like the NEC & emerged high up on an enormous grandstand, seating about 10,000 people, over-looking an outdoor 'stage' at least 1/2 a kilometre across. As Darkness fell, we took in the details: a huge lake, behind it a chateau, around were spread woods, a village, lanes, grassy swards, bridges, hovels & distant windmills. The spectacle began as a lone figure with a lantern walked around the setting while a voice set the scene; we were going to see the history of the Vendée. For 2 hours, despite the cold, we watched a cast of 1-2,000 actors, 24 horses, stunning light effects enact a history full of struggle & war. Wonderful set piece followed wonderful set piece, I abandoned my camera.
The finale was optimistic, even a little triumphal, & then the fireworks began. Only a week earlier I'd thought I'd seen the best fireworks ever, but these were even more amazing, they filled the night sky with light & flaming colours, burst after burst, around me everybody gasped, laughed, cheered, one lady wept. I have no pictures of this. If you're visiting the Vendée in the future, go, see.