February 20, 2021

Saturday

It was absolutely beautiful outside at a balmy 60 degrees. We decided to start our morning with some bagels. I knew just the place! Bagelstein was the shop located directly behind my old tram stop on the way to the University of Grenoble. I would stop there sometimes before class. Each of us picked out our own bagel and toppings. We chatted with the owner while we waited for the order. Hearing our accents, he asked where we were from and we had a conversation about it. When we got our orders, we walked over to the jardin de ville to eat.

After breakfast, a college friend of Maggie’s met up with us. Nick is also an assistant and happened to be in town for the weekend as well. The group decided that we’d take the boules up to the Bastille so we could walk around. It was only a few euros, so it was a great deal.

We arrived at the Bastille and were rewarded with stunning views of the Verdun mountains and the Chartreuse mountains. The entirety of the city was visible. Clouds hung over the far ridge. Snow in the mountains was just gorgeous. I was excited to pick up a few gifts for my friends in the gift shop.

After some time in the sky, we decided to hike down the mountain. It took about 30 minutes and was a relaxing little jaunt.

All of us were a bit peckish after our hike, so we made our way back across the river to grab a bite to eat.

We ended up being able to each get something different. I got sushi, Maggie and Allie had burritos, and Nick was able to get tacos. I led us through the construction near Place Notre Dame to the botanical gardens where we enjoyed our lunch. Nearby, there was a wedding party celebrating. It was pretty cool to see everyone so happy and dressed up.

When we’d finished eating we went over to the park Mistral to see the iconic Mistral tower. This is the place where they shoot off fireworks on July 14th, the French national holiday.

Determined to get some beer fresh from the tap, we made our way back to the Place St. André to La Table Ronde.

Around 5:30 we decided it was time to get our wine for the night and head home. We said goodbye to Nick and went our separate ways.

We made it to the apartment to discover our host had occupied the table. We ordered our food from the burger place below and had to sneak it past them into the room. Although we knew they had to know we were eating in the room, we felt way to awkward to go out and eat with them. The burgers were great, even if we had to eat like fugitives. The rest of the night we chilled and listened to music while we played Cards Against Humanity.