News from Vienne & Haute-Vienne

Futuroscope re-opens

Objectif Mars, the new rollercoaster at Futuroscope, received rave reviews as the park reopened mid- June. With a reduced capacity and stringent hygiene conditions in place, the park will open daily in July, August and September.

Even with the lower capacity limits in force, you can still use the generous coupon on our back cover for your tickets on the day. Just present it (or a photocopy) at the ticket booth.

Once you are in the park, you can use the Lineberty virtual queue app to book your tickets for the 6 major attractions in the park to reduce queuing.

The majority of attractions are open, although 3D attractions are showing in 2D. With its 60 hectare parkland setting to explore (see the feature in our October edition), you can enjoy your day out without worrying about it becoming too crowded.

Digging for Treasure

Limoges has a long history dating back centuries, but little is known about what lies under the roads and buildings in the Cité district. Before the installation of a new electricity network, the National Institute for Preventive Archaeological Research (Inrap) is conducting nine surveys by excavating sections to study what lies beneath. So if you spot the archaeologists at work, they really are digging for treasure!

VIENNE INVITATION

To boost the department’s tourism, the Vienne is offering a 50€ refund to visitors.

Running from 1 July to 1 November, you can apply for your refund on presentation of receipts for visits to two tourist attractions and a meal in a local restaurant for at least two people.

For full details and the terms and conditions, see tourisme-vienne.com.

DIARY DATES!

Nuits Musicales de Cieux (87) are hoping that their festival dedicated to the guitar will still take place from 23-26 July – reserve tickets at www.nuitsmusicalesdecieux.com.

Festival des Lumières will take place in Montmorillon (86) with a revised programme from 28-30 August, see www.festival-des-lumieres.com for details nearer the time.

Warm up for the Tour de France by first watching the Tour du Limousin with four stages starting at Couziex (87) and finishing in Limoges between 18-21 August, see www.tourdulimousin.com.

The Tour Poitou-Charentes follows shortly after when riders will race from Montmoreau (16) to Poitiers over 5 stages between 27-30 August. See www.tour-poitou-charentes.com for details.

DATES TO REMEMBER

RENTRÉE 2020

All schools across France are planned to return on Tuesday, 1 September. Toussaint holiday runs from Saturday 17 October to Sunday 2 November inclusive and all schools break up on Friday 18 December.