Le Puy du Fou

This past weekend, I had two days off, and I got to go to Northern France in a town called Les Epesses to visit le Puy du Fou. Le Puy du Fou is an attraction park (not as in roller coasters), which presents ancient time periods with dramas and spectacles. There were 12 spectacles all together, which we saw over the course of two days. Other than the plays, there were two villages built in the style of the 18th century and medieval times, fable gardens (which told French children's stories), fountains, a few concerts and a small zoo with all the show animals.

Joan of Arc's lance

It was a powerful lance. 

This was the second show we saw, and it was about Joan of Arc and her bequeathing of the lance to a young girl to protect the castle from the English. First the riders came in and did jousting exercises and riding tricks on their horses. Joan of Arc bequeathed her lance to the young girl, who would be in charge of protecting the castle, and then rode off with her fellow riders. Once she left, the castle was attacked by the English, and the girl had to fight them off with the lance; it was then that the huge wall descended and there was a great battle with fire coming out of buildings, etc. It was quite impressive. We ended up watching this show twice because it was our favorite, and we had a bit of spare time the next day.

Fountain

Falcons! Or some type of bird. I'm really not sure.

The church in the 18th century village.

Medieval village

Magic show

Puppet show!

Concert

Colosseum 

The Roman who stood up to the emporers.

Action shot of the gladiators.

Cutest lion ever. Not the slightest hint of menace.

The gladiator spectacle was superb! There was a chariot race, gladiator fights, lions, a hyena, a leopard, and a new Roman king at the end. One roman stood up for the Christians who had to fight in the Gladiator games because he had fallen in love with a Christian woman; he then had to fight in the games and, naturally, ended up winning, and was then crowned the new king of Rome. 

 

A wedding

A charge of cattle to disrupt the wedding.

This was the Viking show, which was incredibly epic. It began with a wedding, which was then disrupted by the attack of the Vikings; this included a boat that slid onto the set and also once that rose of the water. Basically, all Hell broke loose: they tore down a building, set a house on fire, attacked with all kinds of crazy animals, etc. Finally, the sought after tomb rose out of the lake and a saint came out of it, which terrified the Viking king, who repented and united with the king of the village. Then the saint disappeared and there was much rejoicing...Ok, I completely butchered the telling of that show, but it was quite intricate and awesome, and the video wouldn't upload, so that's the best I can do.

It was a fun weekend, and a long drive back to Pau (we drove all night and didn't get back until 6 in the morning).