Day 3 A Long way down

Choosing where to stay on our train trip around France is part of the adventure. We wanted to stay at Grenoble because of a book we had both read and loved called The Tartan Pimpernel, the amazing wartime biography of a pastor turned resistance leader, Rev Donald Caskie. Caskie was the minister of Scots Kirk, Paris before the war but had to leave Paris when the Germans occupied the city, as he had preached against the Nazis for many years. He spent time in Marseilles helping fleeing Allies escape France. Sadly he was betrayed and arrested and spent a considerable amount of time in detention in Grenoble.

Grenoble is where three very scenic glacial valleys meet surrounded by snow-capped peaks. The scenery is grand and rugged. To get the best view we braved a rather peculiar cable car, known locally as the bubble, which consisted of five small perspex pods each of which contained six seats. This took us to The Bastille a 19^th century fort located at the top of the mountain. Our bird’s eye view included the amazing topography of the surrounding mountains and the very diverse city below. The old town with its terracotta roofs in the foreground and a growing regional metropolis in the background completed a wonderful vista.

Wendy bravely suggested that we would save a couple of euro by purchasing a one-way ticket on the cable car, meaning we could walk down the hill. It was a quite a challenge as the directional signs were scant and the terrain could best be described as rather steep. Most amazing were the dozen or so stone staircases carved in tunnels through the rock, which we had to negotiate.

  

We completed our day with a rustic local French meal at a local restaurant called La Petite Idee.  We shared local prosciutto, salami, cacciatore, cheese pie, rosemary rubbed lamb, creamy gratin dauphinois (potato bake), lemon cheesecake and pistachio and dark chocolate ice cream.  Our much trusted guide Lonely Planet rightly described it as a convivial setting.