Mountains and Geologists -- Grenoble part dieu

You can see part of the original wall that was built around the city.  Grenoble is in a valley surrounded by mountains.

Mountain range on one side of city.  There is a highway on-ramp here to get people headed toward Lyon.

There are green spaces everywhere -- this one is in the middle of a round-about intersection.  Flowers and French flags make this green area look nice against backdrop of the city and mountains.

Our destination -- the Bastille of Grenoble (the old fortifications)

The building is blowing bubbles -- just kidding.  That is the start of the gondola ride we are going to take up to the Bastille.  The first gondola was built in 1938 -- glad they have updated it since then.

Guess what I found -- it's another "lost in translation" -- whilst boarding 

We are heading out (and up, up, up) over the street and river in the gondola -- our own trip inside a bubble.

 The plaque below says it all.  This monument is dedicated to the memory of the geologists of the French Alps.  We thought Greg would appreciate the fact that geologists are appreciated here.

Mountains, mountains, and more Alps  :)

See those black holes in the base of that cliff face?  There are caves there -- and an emergency escape route from the Bastille.  See photo below -- they are a little bit bigger in that one.  Path leads toward the caves.

Mountains on the other side and mountains in the distance -- yes, they do a lot of skiing in the winter.  FUN FACT --   The 1968 Winter Olympics were held in Grenoble.  I learned that fact -- I wasn't born yet when they were held here.  :)

A view of the city from up at the Bastille.  It was a cloudy day so some of the view (of more mountains) was obscured.

This is looking directly below where we were standing at the Bastille.  You can see part of an old tower and wall that made up some of the ancient fortifications in the middle of the picture.

Yep, another mountain.  Haven't seen a molehill yet though.

I could add another dozen photos of mountains, but I think you get the point.  Grenoble has beautiful scenery as it is surrounded by mountains; a nice valley with a river running though it   We had a good walk back to the Tour de France after riding down from the Bastille in one of the bubbles.  It was a very lovely day.