France part two

Today we woke up to breakfast that was almost straight out of a French movie. Not that the food in itself was super spectacular but we ate outside and the mountain view was awesome. Even the toaster had its own extension cord to come outside. A very nice way to start the day! We then headed down the mountain to experience the Grenoble downtown, although on the way a bee flew into the car (windows are always open here, they don’t use AC) and down my shirt, which was a bit closer to nature than I had intended. Ah well, it was very exciting, moreso than our first stop, which was the train station to reserve our tickets into Venice. Unfortunately all the Eurail seats for one of the legs were sold out, so we had to get a full ticket, but she gave us student discounts and it wasn’t too horrible. Also one of the legs (there are three) is free with our pass – no reservation fee! Pretty cool. Felt very good to have that done.

Then we went back for a bit of time in the Laforet apartment, which is awesome and decked out better than an Ikea catalogue. Sophie makes so many things – bread, jam, you name it – so that was cool as well. They had some things to do, though, so for lunch we walked a few blocks to a nice restaurant they like. Unfortunately, their kitchen closed at 2pm, and we got there a half hour late. Incredible after being in Spain, where lunch might just get started at 2pm! People pointed us to the more touristy section where some restaurants were still open (although for a price, ah well). It was nice to have a salad that was actually green for a change.

The next stop was the telepherique, which looks like a line of little bubbles heading up into the mountains. You pay and, without much warning, hop in to it straightaway. And then bake, because they aren’t ventilated at all…but the view was great! They deposit you right on top of the Bastille, an old defense fortress, and so we looked around and then decided to start down because it was pretty hot (although not before trying some new Frigo products!). The hike ended up being a bit more strenuous than we thought, but it was very scenic. We stopped at a restaurant more than halfway down called Le Chalet to get some drinks, and I tried the ‘eau d’menthe’ or water with mint syrup. I’ve never had a syrup drink but it was pretty refreshing! With the remaining time before dinner we went back into town to Lafayette, which is like the French Macy’s. Peter had been feeling out of place with his too-american tshirts so we went shopping! He ended up with three very nice shirts (one of which is longsleeved and will be traveling home before us) and two silly striped shirts. Very French, those last ones. Ah well, they were all on sale!

Then it was time for dinner, which was to be back in the mountain house. Since there were too many of us for the car, someone had to ride with Dan on the back of his Vespa. Even though I had the beginnings of a bad headache I opted in – if nothing else it would be a distraction from my head! Past the initial feeling of needing to be strapped in more than I was, it was not that bad at all. My first motorbike-type ride, success! And of course dinner was great and filling. Hooray! It seems like we are doing less here, but perhaps we are enjoying it just as much, if not more! The scenery and the food...it is a great combination.