Grey Grenoble was the motif for the day but that is how the world works. I put my walking shoes and explored the centre of this big city and included a télepherique ride up to and down from the Fort de Bastille which dominates the skyline above the river Isère which meanders through the city. There is a ‘modern’ centre with wide boulevards, appartments, offices and shops and a smaller older town with typical narrow streets again lined with shops and lots of restaurants. As with all French cities there are plenty of churches. I checked out a couple and the Basilique du Sacré-Coeur was really different and more like a modern concert venue compared to the more traditional Église Saint-Louis. Both were interesting in their own way. You will see what I mean in the photos. Although there are trams everywhere I did not ride one as the area explored was quite compact. A worthwhile visit was to the museum of the resistance and deportation of Isère. I learned a lot about this part of France during WW2. At times fascinating and at other times moving. I was not aware that Grenoble became a place of sanctuary for jews and other discriminated groups although later in the war many were rounded up and deported to the horrors of Nazi concentration camps. The area also had very active and quite coordinated Maquis groups. There was a period when it was occupied by the Italian army who were typically Italian in that they were generally kind to the locals and particularly to the displaced groups. This was not in no small part to the leader of the army who seems to have been a decent bloke and not a fascist zealot. Let’s start at the Fort de Bastille with it’s panoramic views of the city. You might just spot the green ibis Styles sign on my hotel at the first cross street on Jean Jaures below. I have included a nice document from the museum which formaly recognises liberation of Grenoble. I took a walk into the Dauphin garden with again some nice views and plenty of use of colour, a feature of the city. Following that there are pictures from the Basilique and then the Église for comparison. Then there is a random selection of photos from the modern and older city hopefully giving s flvour of the place.