Gem of a Garden

Towards the end of our street Quai de France adjacent to the Porte de France (the western gate from the original fortification)  and halfway to the supermarket we pass a set of gates which lead into the Jardin des Dauphins. Having noticed this path on our numerous trips to get supplies, today we decided to ventured inside.

The small path leads steeply upwards and on our left, a large bronze statue of a lady on horseback looms above us. This is a monument dedicated to Phillis de la Charce, who is referred to as 'the Joan of Arc of the Dauphine'. In 1692, this French lady on horseback with sword in hand, led an army of peasants when Prince Victor-Amadeus II of Savoy seized the Dauphine region.

The gardens were the idea of Jean-Baptiste Dolle, a Grenoble merchant, who in 1785, suggested creating a park within the Bastille fortifications that Duke Lesdiguieres had built. He designed six superimposed terraces with a multitude of stairways and foot paths connecting them. He also built a roman-style house, greenhouses, planted trees, dug wells and carved out hills all while the locals called it the chateau of utter madness due to the extravagant parties held there.

Sadly the park was abandoned during the French Revolution. During the 19th century it was damaged due to the activities of the nearby stone quarry and factories. Thankfully though in the beginning of the 20th century the park was renovated and expanded linking it to the Bastille.

On the first terrace is a spider web which the girls quickly scaled up and down complaining of cold fingers (it was trying to snow at the time!) We then spied a Rapunzel tower and discovered a small spiral staircase inside. Ascending the staircase we emerge higher up with paths leading every which way. Another tunnel staircase led upwards and at the top we overlooked another playground.

More exploring led us to various little lookouts and turrets and more hidden staircases. Continuing up to walk along the top of the walls. Another level of gardens minus the play equipment was discovered plus another even longer staircase. Halfway up this one a large arch let in light and allowed us a glimpse of Grenoble below and the Vercor mountain in the distance. Our explorations ceased at the top of this staircase. The Bastille was another 30 mins climb uphill so we thought we'd leave that for another day and headed back down to continue on with the food shop.

Looking Around Lyon

Only 100km northwest of Grenoble lies Lyon, the third largest city in France. It was our destination for the day. As the sun began to peek over the mountains, we took the 9am train from Grenoble and arrived in Lyon mid morning. Walking through Lyon we noticed the oversize flower pots and the bams - our name for the trams with wheels or the buses on tram lines?!

Andy was walking us over the Rhone and Saone rivers to Vieux-Lyon, the largest renaissance old quarters in Europe which was built in 15th, 16th and 17th centuries when Lyon's silk industry was thriving, Unique to this district (as well as La Croix-Rousse, the district on the other side of the river Saone), are traboules. These delightful small passageways that run beneath buildings were initially built in the 4th century to allow a more direct access to fresh water. Later on the traboules allowed the silk workers to transport their textiles easily, quickly and safely from the elements. In WWII the traboules came in handy preventing the occupying Germans from taking complete control of this area.

Today there are over 400 traboules and the majority of these are on private property either used as entrances to apartments or for storage.  There are however a small portion that are open to the public, so Andy had us looking for a lion's head symbol used to identify these traboules. Absent of a lion's head symbol or any part of a lion, Andy looked at a derelict doorway and in a very convincing voice told us he had found the first one. We were not convinced but followed him in. This small passageway to us looked like the entrance to a variety of apartments. We all felt uneasy about the intrusion and were glad to reach the other end. Now in the heart of the old town with narrow cobblestone streets, hunger and cold was setting in and the majority of us were unconvinced about these traboules.

Luckily amongst all the expensive looking restaurants, we saw King Marcel, my burger is French and retreated inside. Happy to sit down in the warmth, we negotiated the menu and ordered lunch. The burgers and home cut chips were nice. Over lunch we discussed the traboules and decided in hindsight that it would have been better to do a guided tour but now didn't have time to. Post lunch we opted to do one more, the La Longue Traboule. We had no trouble finding this one, with a name plaque next to the door. We pushed the door open and entered the passageway. Traversing through 4 different buildings and courtyards, this traboule linked rue Saint Jean to rue de Boeuf.

Winding our way through the streets, we discovered a golden lion statue in the Place de la Basoche which was too irresistible not to climb! The Lion is one of the statues from the 2004 event The Lions Biennale - 60 lions, 60 places and 60 artists. Around the corner we admired the Cathedral Saint Jean Baptiste before purchasing a ticket for the funicular.

The 2 minute journey on the Saint Jean - Fourviere funicular saw us travel 400m and climb 116m. Climbing the stairs out of the station we found ourselves standing in front of an impressive looking building, the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourviere.

Finished in 1884, the Lyonnais architect, Pierre Bossan drew inspiration from both Romanesque and Byzantine architecture. Overlooking Lyon, perched on the top of Fourviere Hill, the Basilica dominates the skyline with it's four towers. These 48 metre high structures represent the cardinal virtues of prudence, temperate, force and justice.

We touch the lion's nose as we pull open the heavy door leading us inside. I don't think any of us were ready for what we saw. The interior of this Basilica was huge and amazing...... richly decorated gilded mosaics filling the walls and majestic massive stained glassed windows. One's eye is drawn upwards to the high vaulted beautifully decorated ceilings along the three cupolas then down the central nave ornately decorated to the altar with a statue of the Virgin Mary to whom this basilica is dedicated to. A peaceful place to pause for a moment.

Our exploration around Lyon continues - going further back in history to the Roman era. Only 300m southwest of the Basilica is the Lugdunum. Established in 43BC, this Roman colony was the capital of the province of Lyon. We explored the remains of the Roman theatres. Conveniently located side by side, the Grand theatre, is the larger of the two spanning 108m in diameter. Audiences of up to 10,000 people sat in the 25 stands under canvas awning to watch comedies or tragedies. The smaller Odeon theatre only sat 2,500 people and was commonly used by poets, musicians or politicians. We enjoyed discovering this ancient site.

Travelling by metro, our final destination for the day was at the request of the girls - Parc de la Tete d'Or. The largest and most popular urban park in Lyon. Boasting the botanical gardens, a (free) zoo, a velodrome, a boating lake and the list goes on! We made a bee line past the botanical gardens to the centre of the park where the zoo was located. On the way we saw the deer enclosure and the centre de recuperation des tortues de Floride - a waterway full of Florida Turtles - aimed at educating the potential environmental damage done when releasing pet Florida Turtles into the waterways in France.

Next into view was a fair, which we thankfully didn't have time for, before the edge of the zoo was seen. The noisy tamarins stopped everyone in their tracks. We skirted around the periphery spying various animals - flamingoes, buffalo, the giraffes nicely tucked away inside out of the cold, a zebra or two. Eventually we came across the entrance weaving our way from display to display trying to spot the animal without much luck - it seemed like they were all keeping warm hiding inside! To try and warm us up too, we bought freshly made churros - delicious and warm!

Originally aiming for the 5.20pm train, we realised that with all our sight seeing done perhaps we could make an earlier train. A little searching revealed there was a 4.20 train. It was 3.50pm and we were a 22 min google walk from the train station. Tickets were purchased en route and we arrived walking straight on to the train to enjoy the journey home. A great day out!

A Little Less Crowded

We rocked up to the Le Labo climbing hall just after it opened at noon. The crowd of yesterday was thankfully nowhere to be seen. We enjoyed scrambling up the different routes. Both Ella and Andy showed off their moves scaling the wall easily. Katy due to her age was only allowed to go halfway up the wall and I was slow to feel confidence with my own strength (or lack of!) But we all had fun!

Nestled Amongst the Mountains

Stendhal, a famous 19th century French writer is quoted as saying "A mountain at the end of every street" regarding his hometown of Grenoble. On a sunny clear day like today, you can understand why! It really is a spectacular place!

We discovered a small park near Porte Saint Laurent, a short distance from the apartment. The girls enjoyed playing on it before we set off in search of groceries! We were successful at finding the supermarket open but not as successful in going bouldering. The bouldering gym close to our house looked awesome inside but was extremely busy at 5pm so we've decided to try again tomorrow just after lunch hoping that it will be quieter.

So back to the apartment to discover a double game on the Xbox... 

The New Year Begins

Grenoble was cloudy and grey again today. We wandered across the Isere past the bottom station of the cable car and through the Jardin de Ville, a small formal garden associated with the Dukes of Lesdiguieres residence which was built in the mid 1600's. On the opposite side of the park we point out a modest building to the girls - Ecole elementary Jardin de Ville, the closest primary school. Could this be their primary school we wonder?

The town centre of Grenoble is extremely quiet with very few shops open or people around. I suppose it is New Years Day. We did find a cafe whose menu included bagels named - Bondi, Manly. Coogee, Bronte.  Happy to retreat inside into the warmth we entered half thinking one of the staff would be Australian but that wasn't the case. Another coffee fail for me. I haven't had a good one since leaving Sestriere.

Continuing on with our orientation walk, we discovered not one but two sets of Christmas markets both closed of course. We were hoping to find a supermarket of some sorts but we were fairly unlucky with that too.

Back home, the girls discover the Xbox! As we don't have one back in Australia, they were pretty keen to have go. Being winter here and with limited entertainment, this new toy will probably come in handy. Discovering the games was fun especially the river rapid one which takes photos of your moves and replays them at the end! We all had a go by the end of the afternoon!!