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Published: June 19th 2009
Monday, June 15
Monday was our first day in the Rhone-Alps region of France. Grenoble is in a valley practically surrounded by high mountains with snow at their peak even in June. Pierre technically lives in the suburbs of Grenoble in a little town called Brignoud. From Brignoud it's easy to access the many hiking trails in the summer and ski resorts in the winter. When you step out of Pierre's house, your eyes are immediately drawn to the immense mountains at your doorstep. With so many mountains it's no wonder that Grenoble hosted the winter olympics in 1968. If you listened closely, you might even hear the "Hills are alive with the sound of music" floating on the breeze.
High in the Alps
For our first outing we decided to go high in the mountains to get a view and enjoy the sunny day. Pierre suggested we take the funincular up the mountain to St. Hilaire de Tuvet which sits at the edge of the Chartreuse mountains. Funincular is just a funny name for a cable car pulled up the side of the mountain on tracks by an electric motor. From the top we could see for
miles, straight across the valley to the Belledonne mountains. Paragliders were launching themselves into the breeze and floating endlessly over the farms below. Pierre and I climbed an observation platform in an area unused by the paragliders and took in the view. I could have stayed there all day.
Costco in France
At the end of the day we stopped at Carrefoure, which is a cross between Walmart and Costco. As you all know, Costco is my favorite store and since Carrefoure starts with a "C" just like Costco it was automatically good in my book. I headed straight for the Creme de Marron which roughly translates into Chestnut spread or jam. It is really delicious on bread and is sweet enough to be dessert. We picked up some other local specialities such as cheeses, yogurt, some foods for breakfast and of course some Coca Cola Light for Tiffany. Coca Cola Light is just Diet coke rebranded for Europe with a little bit more lime taste (my opinion, you may or may not taste the lime). So now you know one of our secrets for traveling inexpensively is to load up on food at the local grocery store.
Brilliant in its simplicity.
Le Accident
It was during the afternoon shopping that I had the first real problem of the trip. Pierre wanted to stop at one of the local farms on the edge of town for some fresh eggs and cheese. As we left the farm there were many cars zipping down the small country roads looking for a faster way home since it was rush hour. As I crossed a small bridge, another car coming from the other direction failed to yield and caused me to make a sharp right to avoid an accident. Unfortunately, the low wall of the bridge clipped the running board on the car and I could hear the horrible scraping sound as we passed by. Oh man, the feeling in the pit of my stomach was awful. When we got back to Pierre's house I assessed the damage and while it wasn't as bad as I thought, it was still a pretty nice gouge. The car rental company not going to love me later, but I wasn't going to let it ruin the trip.
At Home
Pierre and Christine share beautiful little home with 3 levels including a
loft they recently finished into an extra bedroom. Still, with so many of us it was a tight fit in the kitchen so we decided to eat dinner out back in the garden. And what a magnificent garden it was. Christine is a master gardener who grows many vegetables, fruits and even herbs such as lettuce, tomatoes, strawberries and chamomile to name a few. I haven't planted a garden in years, but the freshness of the vegetables we had that night made me want to grab the shovel and start digging right away. Now that is good living.
Observations: Driving in France
Driving in France is not as easy as one would think. Navigating is the least of your concerns because the signs are typically very good. I also brought a Garmin on the trip to help with driving in the cities. But just when you think it's safe and you are on the highway, zap!, the automatic radar clocks you going over the speed limit and send you a ticket in the mail. The automatic radar is everywhere now, compared to a few years before. My Garmin would light up with warnings every few minutes about radar
locations. Apparently the French President Sarkozy used to be the transportation minister and the radar was his idea. If you are going over the speed limit by as little as 3 kilometers per hour you can get a ticket and points on your license. 12 points and you lose your license. Even if you contest the ticket (e.g. that wasn't me driving !!) you still have to pay first, then prove your innocence later. I think I am starting to like the American system better.
Side Note
You may have noticed that I am running a few days behind on the blog. There has been some competition for the internet because Alyssa misses her friends on Facebook and Tiffany has needed to study for her classes. On Saturday, we take the TGV back to Paris and the airplane back to Dublin to start the next half of our trip. Internet access will be light the next 3 days in Sligo but I will post next chance I get.
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Ryan
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Keep it up
Hey Brian- I'm enjoying your blog as I slug it out in the real world back home. A trip like this might make you rethink wanting to rejoin life here in the states...lenient traffic laws and all.