Monday, September 21, 2009

Fort de la Motte Giron

When Americans no longer need a military base, they condemn it, then pave over it.

When the Russians no longer need a military base, they allow the low grade iron to decay and hope that the low level radiation will keep away thrill seekers.

When the French no longer need a military base, they keep goats in it.

La Fort de la Motte Giron is a military base dating from the middle of the 19th century through 1950. Curiously enough, though during this period Dijon was attacked three times, twice by Germans and once by Allied forces, the fort has never been used, as none of the three armies saw any point in engaging the fort and instead contented themselves with occupying the town. Also worth noting that, despite extensive military construction, Dijon has not once held out against an invading army, though they have earned a number of medals for trying.

Today, the fort has bare walls, grafitti, no lights, and goat crap everywhere. The goats, while pleasant enough, are such tenacious poopers that unscalable heights and unplombable depths have been enshittened, thus limiting the fort's potential as a paint ball arena.

Connecting the fort to its satellites - small machine gun posts that today look and, thanks to the goats, smell like sewers outlets - are a series of underground tunnels which are almost cave-dark. French graffiti artists have, nonetheless, followed the frankly frightening furrows to their end; they are to be commended for their bravery but not their originality as their work is clearly derivative of American artists.


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