Bastille Day: View from the top

Three hundred meters above the river, but on twisting winding paths for more than a mile, not sure how much more. That is how you get to The Bastille, unless you want the easy way up by cable car. Two pictures from the lawn at the contemporary art museum of Grenoble.

We hiked to the top this morning. It took us about 2 hours, but that was with numerous stops to examine the surroundings, and at least 30 minutes at the top. History is often unkind and structures like The Bastille are common in Europe where they served as defense systems. The Bastille in Grenoble was originally constructed between 1823 and 1848in the 14th century as part of a far flung system of Parisian defenses. In the 1600’s in became a prison. It was mostly destroyed on July 14 1789 in an event that marked the beginning of the French revolution. Below are multiple pictures on the way up and from the top of Grenoble’s Bastille.

The view from the top show cases the mountains that surround Grenoble. Unfortunately, it’s another smoggy day in Grenoble and some of the shots of the Alps are worse than the ones below. We are told smog is common here, due to the mountains.

We were impressed by a large number of people climbing to the top. As noted, a 6 minute cable car ride is available. Yet numerous towns people appear to make regular treks up the hill, and many run up and down the pathway. We took the cable car down the mountain. I like climbing, but my knees voice objection to most downhill treks.

It is feeling as though 4 days in Grenoble is not enough. The town is packed with historical places to visit, from pretty squares to ancient structures like The Bastille. Then there are the numerous free museums, the markets, the Olympic zone and street art. We have tomorrow, a non-museum day, then on to Beaune. We will miss out on a lot. This is one of the challenges of travel, deciding how long to stay in each place. I feel challenged to have to plan ahead because trains and places to stay can have limited availability if not booked ahead. The greatest luxury would be to get up one day and decide to move on, then find a place to stay when you arrive. I do not possess the confidence to try that approach.

Tonight, about 7:30 I heard a tremendous noise outside in spite of the fact we have great soundproof windows. I thought it sounded like a pack of dogs, but when Sheila opened the door to the balcony, I heard chanting. It was a pro-Palestinian march down the center of the boulevard our apartment occupies. The march was accompanied by a few policemen to keep traffic in check. The group spent about 30 minutes in the one spot, then moved on with their police escort.  Fifteen days ago, a similar march was reported to have had 4,000 participants. I could not guess how many there were tonight. Pictures below, 2 0f the stationary group and two of them on the move.