Today, Tuesday the 21st, the longest day of the year, and celebrated as the Fete de Ete (Festival of Summer) all over France, was the perfect day to relax and wander the streets of Grenoble. Dan would have his frustration maximized by the French bureaucracy, since he never had quite the forms and paperwork needed to close out his bank account, and we would have a muggy, warm, overcast day to ride the Telepherique to the top of the Bastille...a french fort back in the day, and a tourist attraction today.
Heading up to the fort was a bit challenging as the speed of the Telepherique changed from 1st gear to about 9th in a few seconds...
The views of the Isere River were beautiful, even in the overcast...
Looking back on Grenoble also provided some excellent sites...
As we arrived at the top, the sky started to clear for us, and the views just got better...and you can see Dan practicing his arm wing costume maneuver in case he wanted to fly off the mountain...with the Mom putting on the restraints:)
Postcard pretty, the old down is identifiable by the red roofs...
A picture of the "boules" heading back down to town...
It is here, just below the Bastille Fort, that you find the 24 Pizza places, in a row, on the same street, all making superb wood oven fired pizza (Nick.....) and everyone is convinced that they are somehow managed by the "family"...this photo has just a few side by side, but there are a dozen to the right and left of the ones pictured here...
By now it was 5pm, very hot, muggy and time for a quick dip in the Willson's pool...the alps as a backdrop makes for a refreshing dip:))))
Given the 24 degrees Centigrade in the pool...about 77 or so, Peggy decided to relax and read....
Our friend's son, Ben Willson, was also brave enough to take a dip with me...he looks a lot like his dad:)))
And knowing that Jim loves those self portraits, like I took when shaving the beard, here is another while enjoying the refreshing dip....
ooooh, that's a little scary...even for me....now it's time to finalize our Ben's train tickets to Lake Como for this upcoming Sunday...since our car is too small to carry all the luggage (including Dan's year worth of college stuff) plus 4 of us...and since driving packed in like sardines is not Ben's idea of a fun time...we will be relaxing with another awesome meal prepared by Grace....
and since you may not have seen a picture of our dear Grace...
The meal was wonderful...again...and we enjoyed God's lightning and thunder display from their back porch...wow
Tomorrow we leave Grenoble, Danny for the last official time...and head for the fortress town of Carcassonne....
Thanks for reminders of such great, great memories. And yes, I am so glad you're infected with saving on those toll roads. I can think of much better uses for 40 euros and especially not for parking! Much love to you all! Elva sends her love too.
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