An adventure in my backyard

Good morning!

This morning when I got up, instead of wasting time on the computer, I decided to go for a walk. My residence is awesome in that it has a mountain in its backyard. So I put on a sweater and running shoes (very not French) and started my trek up the hill!

The forest back here reminds me of the cottage. It has fire-pits and even some forts. Can't wait to spend some time up at the lake this summer!

Fire pit

Pretty cool fort,
(Our "Pioneer Village" is cooler at the cottage though, eh Melissa?)

There are reminders of the old actual military fort all throughout the forest. Buildings covered in moss and vines, they’re so beautiful.

Walls surround different levels of the fort. They have slits, which I guess were for keeping watch.

I came upon some old stone stairs and followed them up to (unfortunately) a wall too high for my 5’2 body to hop over.

My shoes were too slippery to grip one of the slits, so I started heading back down. I took a peek over the wall at another point and could tell there was definitely something pretty cool over there. 

So I thought back to climbing the wall at the top of the mountain (La Bastille) a month ago, and remembered again, brain over brawn.    

I was able to tie off my shoes to a branch and wedge my socked-feet into the little crevices, in order to the top. Then I pulled the branch over to get my shoes back. (And if you’re wondering, I had just as much fun editing this picture as I did climbing the wall.)

From the top :)

On the other side, there was a cave/tunnel. These are spread all throughout the mountain, man-made by the military many years ago. Some are closed off, but some are still open. I lucked out with this one.

I passed through the “tunnels” to a look-out with such beautiful views. 

That closer mountain, that’s the Bastille where I climbed to last time.

Then I found a TOWER! 

(Just one more little wall to climb to get inside)

I'm in a tower at the top of a mountain in France! Eeeek! 

 Here’s a view of my res from up there:

My residence building is called "Vercors", named after one of the surrounding mountains. It's the closest building with the flat roof.

On my route down, I passed through more caves and the original entry to the fort (this wasn't open last time I was here).

As well as the "télépheriques" or the "balls", "bubbles" or "spheres" us Anglophone exchange students call them.

This morning was much more successful than I'm sure it would have been if I had spent it studying for my midterm. Who really goes on exchange to study anyways??

Bisoux,

Christina