Alesia

One thing about being in the French school system is that the history and geography that the girl learns is very different from what we were learning in Nova Scotia at the same age and, even though it is much older, in many ways it is much more tangible. So, at the end of grade 3 the girl is learning about the Gauls, the Romans and Vercingetorix so we can drive about 1.5 hours northwest to Alise-Sainte-Reine to visit the Alesia the site of the Roman victory over the Gauls in 52BC. Take that Columbus in 1492! (yes, I know things on the other side of the pond go back much further than that but now you can't get that ocean blue thing out of your head can you?) 

We had a beautiful day to visit and were able to enjoy some demonstrations of the protective gear and weapons which were used at the time.

The museum part is very well done, with lots of interactive displays about the history and the study of the site - although I must admit these guys were kind of creepy.

The park consists of two parts - the interpretation centre and an archaeological site of a Gallo-roman town about 3 km away so we stopped at a little park to have a picnic lunch and were carefully watched by Vercingetorix himself.