An easy weekend

We have had a pretty active schedule over the last few weeks, and with 2-week trip to Italy on the horizon we decided to spend this weekend in Grenoble. On Saturday, we thought the girls might like some time apart, so Ella & I went climbing together in the morning (followed by coffee on the way home) while Katy had her first French social engagement in the afternoon — a birthday party for one of her new school friends.

The only real excitement of the day came when Ella and I were about to head off to meet Nat in the afternoon, when we heard a commotion outside. When we looked out we saw the Gilet Jaune (Yellow Vest) weekly protest heading along the opposite bank of the river, with riot police guarding our side of the bridge. We decided to bide our time. Then, when we did head out, we jumped onto my yellow bike (Ella dinking on the back) so that when we inevitably met up with the Gilet Jaune as they meandered around town (which we did) we could turn around and pedal away from them again ...

On Sunday morning we decided to go for a family walk. We considered heading up the valley towards Crolles, or across to Poya to walk on the edge of the Vercors ... but in the end we decided just to walk up the Bastille again! This time we went a different way to normal, starting up through the Jardin de Dauphinois, which gave us the chance to explore some new paths, stone walls and tunnels.

 

 

Once we got out near the top, there were enthusiastic attempts to capture photos of our friends, the baubles.

  

I opted for a panorama that included both girls, the Vercors, the baubles, the Belledonne and both girls again for good measure:



Not to be outdone, Ella produced her latest masterpiece entitled “the 5 moods of my little sissy”:



By the time we got down, the weather had turned and the wind had picked up, so it was nice to have our exercise out of the way and relax at home for a little while.