Grenoble, Annecy, and the Alps

On Friday, we left for Grenoble and barely caught our train from Versailles to Paris. When we arrived in Paris, we then took a train to Grenoble that lasted three hours. And of course, me having the luck that I have, I managed to be the lucky person who got to sit next to a creeper. This was a black guy in black leather pants who had the deepest, gruffest voice I've ever heard and a unique body odor. Yeah, it was a long three hours. Most of the time he slept, and made random deep moans while sleeping. Eventually though, he woke up and started sipping on a large can of beer that he had hidden in the trash can in our compartment. That was about when he started talking about Sarcozy...what he said didn't make a whole lot of sense and I could feel him looking at me every so often, which was really uncomfortable. I was really happy to arrive.

So we go to our hotel and drop off our bags and Deem takes us around the city. We took the city's network of trams and Deem took us to some historical parts of the city--mainly just really old buildings and stuff. Then he took us to a cathedral, which was interesting because the cathedrals in Grenoble are much less elaborate than the gothic cathedrals we've been seeing--they were much plainer, and one was actually built right next to a bar (or rather the bar owner decided to situate his business next to the cathedral to provide some irony). Since Grenoble is located in the Alps, we were able to take a tram car that just looked like a big bubble up a mountain. Once we got to the top, we were able to see the majority of the city situated against the mountain range right as the sun was setting. It was beautiful and as usual, Deem planned that we arrive on this mountain at sunset. So we all took a million pictures and then took the bubble back down the mountain. Then we went to a restaurant that specialized in making dishes specific to that area--mountain food basically. So we ate this thing called a raclette which consists of the waiters bringing a giant chunk of cheese from a cheese wheel to your table and putting it under this heater for it to melt. Then they give you a plate of different deli meats, a salad, and a small bowl of potatoes. Michele, Roz, and I shared this meal between us and it was so much food. Michele and I ordered a pitcher of red wine between us and Michele really loves wine, especially if it's red wine, and at one point while I'm eating all the different parts of my meal, I notice that the pitcher is totally empty! I only had one glass of wine and Michele had already drunk the rest! Lol and she was pretty much really drunk from that point on. It was entertaining because Michele is not really a happy drunk, she kind of adopts this "f*** it" kind of attitude whenever she talked about anything. It was entertaining. In fact, the whole evening was one of the best I've had. I felt good after my kir (which is like fruity champagne) and glass of wine, Michele was was feeling better about the fact that she couldn't understand French well, our waiter was cute, and Roz and I had some great conversations. We basically laughed the entire evening. It was so fun.

Then we went back to the hotel, and Michele and Katie decided they wanted Deem to tell us a story before we went to bed. So we all gathered in the triple I was sharing with Roz and Michele and Deem told us the story of Charlotte Cordet, who was a young murderer during the French revolution. Interesting story. Then Deem left, Michele passed out, and we all went to sleep.

The next day, we left at 9:00 to catch a train to Annecy, a little French town deeper in the Alps. When we got there, there was a little market/festival thing going on. These people walked out wearing old fashioned mountain clothes and carrying these long horn-like instruments. I forgot to find out what they were called. But the players formed a circle and played these horns for the crowd, which was really cool. Then we pet this giant Saint Bernard dog who had a complicated name that I can't remember. Then we walked around the city some and walked through this huge marketplace that was selling lots of homemade items like james, pastries, candies--one stand was even making its own apple juice. We bought a bottle of it and shared it between us, and it was delicious. This marketplace was really cool because there were a lot of people dressed in old fashioned clothing from like the 1600's or something and there was lots of music and it was just very lively. We then ate lunch at a café and spent so much time there--our lunch lasted 2 and a half hours, but it was so good and worth it. That's basically how the French eat anyway when they go out--meals usually take 2 and a half to 3 hours. After lunch we saw a parade that consisted of musicians and dancers and horse-drawn carriages. They were celebrating the return of the farm animals from the mountains. For many months from spring until now (the fall) the farm animals of the city move to the mountains and spend the spring and summer months living up in the mountains and at this time with shepherds and at this time, they return from the mountains before winter hits and there's a parade and celebration celebrating their return. So after watching the dancers and musicians, the animal herds came through. There were herds of goats and lots of cattle and even some baby cows. They all had giant bells around their necks and a lot of cattle had their necks adorned with flowers. It was interesting--only downside was all the poop in the street after the parade was over.

After watching the parade, we went to a park that was just in front of the mountains. It was so beautiful. We were lucky to have a really nice day and the blue sky combined with the green grass and the changing trees and the mountains created a beautiful scene. There was a river bordering this town so we walked to the river and took a boat tour around the city looking at all the mountains. It was so beautiful and lots of people were on the water in their own sailboats or smaller boats. We even saw a castle on a little island in the middle of the river. We even met some other American students on that boat who were from California. One particular girl we met was named Apple--so apparently there are others who share the same exotic name as Gwyneth Paltrow's daughter. After the boat ride, we walked around the city some more and fed the many swans that lived in that city. Then we had to catch a train back to Grenoble. When we got back, we were on our own for dinner so Roz and I went out and bought a pizza to take back to our hotel room while Katie and Monika went out to clubs. Katie ended up coming back early, but Monika had some fun till 4:00 AM. Roz, Michele, and I just hung out in our room watching French TV, eating pizza, and talking. We talked for about three hours, which was really nice because we don't have many opportunities to actually do that since we're constantly on the go. So even though I stayed in, it was still really fun.

The next morning, Katie, Roz, Michele and I went with Deem to visit a small village in the Alps. Monika was tired from clubbing so she slept in and stayed in Grenoble. We took a bus to this village and did a 4 to 5 hour hike in the Alps. It was really hard because we walked uphill most of the time, but it was so worth it because the views of the mountains were incredible and the fact that it was fall made the hike even more beautiful. The mountains and all the different colored trees made for some pretty incredible scenery. We hiked all the way up to this small little cabin where this one guy lived during the summers. It was cool because the cabin was tiny and completely isolated. Roz and I peeked in the windows and saw a bottle of wine on the table with some glasses next to it. So I guess the guy did alright for himself. So we sat on the top of this mountain outside this little cabin and ate some food and then started our hike back down the mountain, which ended up being much harder than the hike up. My legs were hurting pretty bad and we were going downhill for the majority of the hike. And my butt is sore because of it. But it was time well spent--out of all the hikes we've done, that one was by far the hardest, but also the best. Everything was so awe-worthy.

After getting off the mountain, we walked around the village and saw more incredible views. The mountains are by far my most favorite type of scenery. The air was clean, the weather was perfectly warm and cool, and everything was colorful and green. We were all pretty ravished after our intense hike and unfortunately, France has this annoying habit of closing everything on Sundays. So we had to walk for quite a while before we could find a little food booth that was open. I ate a croque monsieur and then a chocolate waffle, and it tasted so good because I was so hungry. Then we found a place nearby that offered lots of air sports like paragliding and hang gliding. We found this area of astro turf that was used for the hangliders I guess to run off the side of the mountain. So Katie, Deem, Michele and I walked along this astroturf and I got up to the very edge of the turf that dropped off the side of the mountain. It was really scary but really cool at the same time. Then we had to catch our bus back to Grenoble and then take a train from Grenoble back to Paris and then a train from Paris to Versailles. We left Grenoble at 7:20 and I finally got back to my house around midnight. All in all, it was a beautiful weekend and we were so lucky once again to have beautiful weather for it. This weekend trip was one of my favorites, which is good because it might be my last one. Deem sadly leaves us this Saturday since we're halfway through the program, and Dr. Patton will take over and we've been told we won't have any more weekend trips except for a 10 day trip we will take around all of France later this month. Deem will be missed, but Dr. Patton should be fun too. More updates to come...a bientot!