Climb Every Mountain

I named this post 'Climb Every Mountain' because that song is literally stuck in my head every time for the whole time I'm in the Alps. Not because I actually climbed a mountain. That would be ridiculous!

I wanted to visit Olimpia and see some of her city, Grenoble, before I left. And, I mean... it had been SEVERAL weeks since I’d last been to the Alps (this year is making me a little spoiled haha), so this was pretty necessary. 

Since Olimpia works on Fridays and I don’t, I decided to make a solo stop in Geneva, Switzerland on my way to Grenoble.

From the train station, I went directly to Lake Geneva. I didn’t need to edit these pictures at all because everything was bright, blue, and beautiful! It was a perfect and sunny spring day, so I spent a long time walking along the lake.

This fountain is pretty iconic. I almost wandered close enough to get sprayed.

My next stop was the old town.

You know I had to stop in the churches! This first one, Notre Dame, was close to the train station.

This next one, St. Pierre, was on top of a hill looking over the city. 

This church was unique because a few decades ago they excavated underneath and found the remains of the 4th and 11th century churches that were on the same spot. So in addition to the pretty church, I toured the excavations and saw remains of mosaics and a baptismal font.

After a little more exploring, it was time to head to Grenoble and meet up with Olimpia. The next day, we started off our sightseeing by taking a bus to the nearby town of Vizille. 

Even the bus ride was pretty. I love the Alps! It’s been a while since I’ve lived in Utah, so I’m not used to seeing mountains anymore.

There’s a castle in Vizille that we went to see, but the coolest part was probably the beautiful park next to the castle. You walk through the castle gates, and BAM, this view is waiting for you. 

Thankfully it was another lovely spring day, so we could enjoy hanging out outside for a while. It was all about the mountains, water, green, trees, a castle, and some swans. We were entertained by the swans. They make the weirdest sound when they fly. Also, I’m not positive that I knew swans could fly.

I'm always happy to pose on castle stairs. It’s Schönbrunn 2.0.

I would say this is one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen. Good job, tour guide Olimpia!

When we got back to Grenoble, we went to see Grenoble’s most famous site- the Bastille. And the ‘boules’! The Bastille is the mountain fortress that overlooks the city, and ‘boules’ is French for ‘bubbles.’ That’s what they call the little glass balls that take you up the mountain.

Here are my pictures waiting in line for the boules...

While inside the boule...

And on top of the mountain!

The 3 towers on the right were the Olympic Village for the Grenoble Olympics. Olimpia happens to like that they’re called the Olympia Towers.

I was a little afraid that I would be afraid of riding in a glass bubble up a mountain. Because I’m not a big fan of heights. It didn’t bother me a ton, though. It was enclosed so it wasn’t too bad! And obviously, the views were more than worth it.

When we made it back down the mountain Olimpia took me to...what do you know...another church that’s been excavated! I never knew something like this existed, and then I ended up seeing two combination modern/ancient churches in one weekend.

We wandered around looking around at options for dinner, and after looking at this places’s menu we had to eat here. It was my second American-themed restaurant in France!

I’ve never seen pancakes in France...only crèpes...so I was excited to eat pancakes. Unfortunately, they were less IHOP and more like crèpes that were a tiny bit thicker than normal. Still good, but I was still hungry after eating them. Good thing we also had giant milkshakes haha. Olimpia did a nice ‘America’ pose for this picture. Also, please look at the flag in her burger.

After dinner we did a little more wandering around Grenoble.

I stayed over one more night and got to go to church with Olimpia on Sunday. Guess who gave an awesome talk EN FRANÇAIS! Hint: not me.

So this was my last European trip with Olimpia! This year we’ve traveled through 6 countries together. We applied for this program together back in January of 2013, and even though we were placed in different regions we were still able to hang out a lot and have a ton of fun with each other. 

And besides having a travel buddy, it’s nice to always have someone to talk to...in English...about the things you love and hate about France. Culture shock is so much more fun when you can go through it with a friend :)  I’ll miss you, Olimpia!!