La Bastille

There are no classes scheduled on Friday afternoons at the CUEF (Centre Universitaire des Etudes Francaise = University Center for French Studies). I don’t have a morning class Fridays either! So, with our free afternoon, we met up with Paul and climbed to the Bastille. Most people take the bulles – translated as balls or bubbles – the first urban cable car system in the world, to effortlessly get up to the top of the mountain. Paul took us the hard way, though we didn’t actually run the trail, or stop at any of the exercise points to do chin ups or jumping jacks, and the bulles aren’t working right now anyway! The hike was comparable to hiking Mt. Si and very enjoyable for me. We all enjoyed the great views and photos opportunities!

We didn’t spend much time at the top; there’s a restaurant and some exhibits, but we weren’t there to spend money. So we headed back down the many switch backs, through some mud and some snow. Like usual, we wrapped up our outing at a cafe. For once we didn’t go to Pain & Cie, but to a tiny tea and book shop on the other side of the river. (Most of Downtown Grenoble is on the south side of the river as the north side is the face of the mountain on top of which sits the Bastille.)

The cafe is called The Bookworm, and it’s run by two British women. We all had tea and scones – I had Chai, one of the few spicy things since I’ve arrived! The French have great spicy mustard, but other than that and black pepper, they don’t eat spicy foods: even their curry is sweet. When I get home I’ll savor every Asian and Latin American food I eat!

This afternoon Paul is taking us to the Musee de la Resistance. The Resistance refers to those who resisted Nazi Germany during World War II. The second world war had a huge effect on France in many different ways, and much of today’s culture, politics, just about anything, has been influence by the French experience of the war – when you say, “la guerre – the war” you mean la Deuxieme Guerre Mondiale – the Second World War. Anyway, I will most likely be posting more soon, and we’ll see which cafe we go to today!