After last night's drinks, everyone was happy to rise late again this morning. But at least today was sunny, which fitted in perfectly with our plan to visit the Citadelle. So after breakfast we headed into town to look for the bus up to the Citadelle. Along the way, we got an interesting view of the Citadelle rising over the city streets.

When we arrived at the Citadelle, we were greeted by this statue of Vauban, who designed the Citadelle for Louis XIV in the 17th century. He was the master engineer of his time and was responsible for many other structures and fortifications, as well as civil engineering works in roads, ports and canals. He also created many concepts for military operations, which remained valid into the 20th century.

He also had a good head of hair!

Arnim and Heidi were impressed by the Citadelle, and even though Rita and I had been here once before we were also re-impressed by the scale and quality of the construction, especially considering when it was built. Just as impressive as the buildings were the views from the Citadelle walls across Besançon below. The approach from the west along the Doubs and the continuation around the city are shown below from the Western Wall.

From the Eastern Wall, one gets an equally impressive view of the other side of Besançon, overlooking the Conservatorium, with our bimini just visible at our mooring. It's in photos like these that you realise how much more of "new" Besançon lies on the other side of the river.

As we were walking along the Western Wall, Arnim decided to keep a lookout for the enemy, and this was so tiring he decided he needed a lie-down to listen to some classical music.

We had a great day at the Citadelle, and as we were leaving I got a great photo of two goats - young and old!

Since tonight was our last with Arnim and Heidi, we decided to go into town for dinner at the restaurant where we hosted the seven Germans just a few days ago - at La Plancha. We started at an outside table, but about halfway through our meal it started to rain. The staff asked if we wanted to move inside, and we agreed, and within a minute or two everything had been transferred to an inside table. Obviously, they have done this manoeuvre a few times!

However, the two young couples next to us outside decided not to go inside. We later found out from the head waiter that they had later complained about the rain falling on their meals, and asking for replacement meals. Not surprisingly, the restaurant failed to agree after having given them the option to move inside.

The rest of the evening went well, with entertainment provided by two pre-wedding parties (one male, one female) that were in full swing.