Quacking Around France

We slept in a bit after our fabulous meal and what ended up being a rather late night. The next day (Wednesday, June 30) after a petite dejuner Lise drove us further into the Belledonne Mountains above her house. We went to a beautiful mountain pond that was green from the reflections of the pine trees around it in the still waters. We walked around it admiring the alpine scenery.

Next was lunch followed by a trip to the mountains on the other side of Grenoble, the Chartreuse Mountains. There we took a ride up the side of the mountain in the funicular. It was fun and scarey at the same time. We basically traveled straight up th emountain on a narrow track. The funicular opperates on a pulley system. As one car is going down another is coming up and they meet exactly in the middle. It is the kind of ride that makes the bottom sort of fall out of one's stomach.


The views on the way up the mountain were breathtaking as you can see. At the top there was a flat, green area where parasailers run and jump of the mountain to go sailing in the air before landing in a field below. I think that is one sport that I will give a miss to! We sat on the patio of the hotel up there and had a drink while admiring the view of the valley below.

Going down the mountain we had an even better view of the waterfall that comes out of the mountain rocks than we did going up. It was truly an amazing sight.

Thursday we went to a market in Grenoble in the morning. It was a very sensory experience. We the first thing we saw (and smelled) was the poultry stand where live chickens were in cages on the side. There was also eggs, and some of the live chicken's less fortunate bretheren neatly packaged in plastic. There was a meat man with every kind of meat laid out in a traveling case including horse (gross). The vegetables and fruit looked wonderful and fresh. We bought some for lunch. There were vendors selling clothes, lace, cloth, knives, dishes, fish, cheeses, and breads. Just about anything you could want was in this open air market.

After lunch we left for Lyons.