After a decent night's sleep, we were ready to do a bit of exploring in Grenoble. First up though, find a place for a coffee fix. Bearing in mind our past experiences with the quality of coffee in France, we approached this quest with some trepidation - do the French still make the worst coffee in Europe? Or have they finally learnt the art of espressing coffee? Sadly it is the former. We were loathe to leave the spoon in the mixture in case it dissolved. Ah well, at least it was coffee.

By the way, have we mentioned that it is cold here in Grenoble? Well it is, about 1C . In fact, on the way into Grenoble there were still traces of recent snowfalls on the ground.

So, after our hit of coffee (and I do mean HIT), we ventured into the city to do a bit of sightseeing. A quick check of the Lonely Planet guide revealed that there are literally dozens of sights to see - ranging from churches (duh!) to museums and historical sights. Having had our fill of churches and museums on our past trips, we decided to limit it to a couple of major sights - the Grenoble Bastille Fort, and the Grenoble Notre Dame Cathedral.

The Cathedral is located in the heart of the Old City and dates back to the 4th century. As with all cathedrals in France, there is lots of stained glass windows, gold inlays, and statues of various versions of Christ and the Virgin Mary. When we went in there was a mass in progress, so we were limited to how much we could wander around and see. Still, it was apparent it is quite a magnificent building (a smaller version of the Notre Dame in Paris) .

The Bastille Fort is accessed by way of cable car in the city. The cable car was built in 1934 (the first of its kind in the world). It rises from the city on the banks of the L'Isere River. Crossing the river it rises to the fort some 250m above the city. The trip up is quite steady, allowing you to take in the panoramic views of the surrounding mountains and city. Up top there is a myriad of walkways to explore the fort and its environs. Being so cold (below 0C), we did a quick tour of the walls and then explored the "Museum of the moutain troops". The museum was really interesting. It depicted the history of the French Alpine troops, formed to guard France's borders with Italy, Switzerland and Germany. We enjoyed the experience very much. For a small museum, it was very well organised, with excellent electronic audio guides (in english) available to explain the various exhibits.

After our sightseeing, it was time for some lunch. Where to eat? We were spoiled with choices. For no other reason other than "I'm hungry", we chose a small brasserie next to the cathedral. And what a great choice it was too. A typical french establishment - warm and cosy with traditional French dishes on offer. We both opted for a dish of local pork sausage accompanied with dauphinoise potatoes and green beans - simply superb. All washed down with a glass of a most excellent red wine. A great way to finish off the day.