Number one on the agenda today was to see the Fort De La Bastille (not The Bastille, the one in Paris, there's another one), up on top of one of the mountains. Here's a pic from the bottom:
And here's a view looking down on the older part of Grenoble from the top. I liked all the red rooftops:
My tour guide was lovely and extremely enthusiastic girl from China whose first language was Mandarin, her second was English, and was in the city to be a tour guide to learn French as a third language. Impressive. She took me all around the fort, teaching about the history of the Bastille in Grenoble, which is very interesting though it was never actually needed for use in war. Here's a view of Liberation Ave., which is both the longest straight road in France (8k or so), and the road that the Allied Forces marched up at the end of WWII. I can imagine what a sight it was if you could see it from this perspective.
For some reason, this sign was on the wall overlooking the city. I've thought about it and thought about it, but I still don't get it:
These bunks are still left from WWI, when soldiers stayed here in case they were needed, and they've been sitting here ever since. That's almost 100 years, folks:
Even though the fort was built strictly for defense of the city, it still had some great architecture inside:
Turret base from WWII:
I was there by myself, but had a great time anyway. Viva la France!
Did I mention that I took the easy way up (and down) by cable car? Did I mention there was also a heat wave? So basically you shut yourself in a sauna-pod for 10 minutes on the way up and down. Good thing it wasn't too busy today, so I only had to smell myself.
Back down in the city, I was reminded that Ice Age 3 was out. I don't speak any French so it was the "3" that tipped me off. : )
Tomorrow is my birthday!!!!!
No comments:
Post a Comment