Storming the Bastille

The Bastille, or Fortress of Grenoble lies on final promontory of mount Rachais, towering over 200 vertical meters above the city proper. The fact that the city center is almost completely flat makes this all the more dramatic. The walls of the fortress are built into the hillside, winding their way upward to the top which hosts a museum and restaurant.

Like any self-respecting French viewpoint, the Bastille has a 'téléphérique', or cableway, to the top. After an excellent dinner at the hilarious Ontarian Restaurant with my Ontarian friends on Tuesday, we took the cableway to the top. Here is the view of the city by night:

The next morning I decided to storm the Bastille on foot. I ran a road up and a trail down. The trail was gorgeous, it zigzags down through the forest and occasionally goes through arches and stairs of the fortress.

Almost on top! The last stretch of road up to the Bastille

The climb up had a fairly descent grade, although all the cars that pasted me were going pretty fast.

View of western Grenoble and the Vercors mountains from the summit of the Bastille

I think this is going to become my favorite run here because it's about 12 km round trip from my dorm, the view is great, and the trail up is nice. Plus I'm a fan of big hills!

On a complete different note, I just discovered the useful side of living with a mountain bike in my dorm room:

Improvised dorm room clothes line

C'est tout pour l'instant (That's all folks)!

- The Wild Bazilchuk