As some of you know, we went on a trip to France this summer. In the last installment, I shared a few photos of our week in Sarlat-la-Canéda, the epicenter of the Dordogne. In case you missed them, here are the first few articles about the trip:

Part One       Part Deux       Part Trois       Part IV

Part Five     Part Six      Part Seven      Part Huit    Part Neuf

Part Dix

When I started organizing our trip to the Dordogne, I had no idea that the region was so popular, with so many really interesting sites. Yes, I had been a bicycle tour guide in France for years, but the Dordogne was not one of my routes. Being the complete ignoramus that I am, I made no attempt to learn more about the region much less visit it.  Once I started looking in to a vacation rental, however, the Dordogne kept popping up, so I decided I might as well look into it. Apparently, the Dordogne includes two of the three most visited sites in all of France outside of Paris. Who knew? I guess a lot of people–just not me.

One of those places (#2 after Paris–any guesses on #1?) is the subject of today’s post: Rocamodour. Technically, Rocamodur is not in the Dordogne, it is in the Lot, but that does not stop the people of the Dordogne considering it as part of the region. Who am I to challenge the French? It was just a short drive from our house in Sarlat so it was a bit of a no-brainer. Right in the same area there was also an attraction called the Rocher des Aigles. I did a little research and discovered it was very similar to the Volarie des Aigles that we visited when we were in Alsace a couple of years prior. Simply put, the Volarie des Aigles was one of the more amazing wildlife shows I have ever seen: there were countless birds of prey that they had trained to fly out over the valley and then come swooping back in, inches over your head. I should say inches over the average Frenchie’s head, a couple of those gigantic birds need to recalibrate for an above average American–I got clipped a couple of times.

We convinced the family traveling with us that it was the ‘coolest thing ever’ (if you have not guessed, those were the words of the nine year old–a big raptor fan who was in complete awe the first time around) and we convinced them to join us, although they seemed a bit skeptical.

Here are a few photos that do not do it justice:

Some sort of Vulture. Vultures are cool but also creepy–‘coolpy’

This one almost got me.

That is a falcon on my head.

I only have a few photos of the birds, but let me assure you that something like this could never  take place in the U.S. There would be dead birds, heart attacks, lawsuits, and screaming adults every single show.  It’s too bad, too, because it is pretty darn cool.

After the whole bird thing (which was just as good as the one in Alsace), we headed over to Rocamadour. The place was bursting at the seams with tourists, but as I always say: ‘There is a reason that it is ‘touristy’.  Rocamadour is a town built right into a cliff.  Those words do not begin to convey what it is though.  Neither do these few pictures.

After Rocamadour, our friends left us to return to the house and the pool.  We decided that we had not yet had enough of crazy half-wild/half-tame animal experiences, so we decided to head over to the Montagne des Singes which was right next to the Rocher des Aigles. There had also been something similar in Alsace, but we bypassed it since the literature was rather cheesy looking. This place had even cheesier looking advertisements, but the younger son likes monkeys, so we kind of had to go.

Upon entering, they give you a bunch of popcorn to feed the macaques and you could only hold it in your hands–no bags, no pockets, and not in your shirt. It seems as though if the monkeys knew you were hiding it, they might attack you. There were also a few other rules: don’t touch the monkeys, they might attack you; don’t try and feed younger monkeys that were hanging on to older monkeys, they might attack you; don’t offer a some popcorn and then take it away, the monkey will likely attack you; if you drop a piece of popcorn while trying to feed a monkey, don’t pick it up–he will more than likely attack you; don’t get in between two monkeys, don’t run, don’t turn your back, and on and on.  All the warnings ended with ‘they will attack you’ which made me instantly think of violent scenes right out of the Planet of the Apes and in none of them did I come out as the ‘winner’.

Oh boy.

We walked around the grounds handing out popcorn to the monkeys. It was actually a lot of fun except when my younger got shoved.

By. A. Monkey.

Nothing in the parenting handbook for that.

Then there was the little ‘war’ between two of the ‘tribes’ and I was right in the middle of it. I almost soiled my pants. I can admit it.

Yeah, they are going to open one of these real soon in the U.S.

Um don’t feed that one–you might get mauled.

This is right before the shoving incident….

What supreme confidence and lack of fear….