for our final day we decided to venture outside the city and "faire les alpes". it does seem a little silly that we've lived so close and hadn't gotten a chance to really experience the alps. we hopped on a bus for under 4€ that took us up into the moutains. in about an hour we were surrounded by alps. we missed the stop for the 'cute' little town we were planning on getting off at and instead ended up in les 2 alpes (so very alp-y it's even in the name of the town) which is apparently the premier place to ski around here. but we were without ski equipment and the sufficient funds so we settled for hiking.
we got some advice from the tourist office and after actually finding where it started it was quite easy. it was a nice, gentle slope, snowy but not too much for my new hiking shoes (that i was so excited to finally get a chance to wear). the path took us under the ski lift and right through the actual ski slope, which was a bit daunting. it was such a clear day and it actually got quite warm. we had shed several layers before we sat down for our picnic lunch - thanks to a supermarket we found that's open all day sunday (unheard of in france). we enjoyed the view and watched the skiers going down the slopes. we were hoping for some good falls but i guess that's more of an ice skating thing. we also decided the french must use skiing as their outlet for actually wearing color, based on some of the yellows and reds we saw.
on the way back down (we couldn't go any farther without snow shoes) we stopped to take some jumping pictures, vince's forté, before descending completely. at the bottom we discovered we had some time before the next bus so we enjoyed some drinks in the sun with a view of the mountains around us. from there we took the bus back to grenoble and just barely caught the train back to lyon. a fun little sojourn and a nice end to our mini-vacation. and i feel so much more accomplished now that i've been to grenoble and 'done the alps'.
we got some advice from the tourist office and after actually finding where it started it was quite easy. it was a nice, gentle slope, snowy but not too much for my new hiking shoes (that i was so excited to finally get a chance to wear). the path took us under the ski lift and right through the actual ski slope, which was a bit daunting. it was such a clear day and it actually got quite warm. we had shed several layers before we sat down for our picnic lunch - thanks to a supermarket we found that's open all day sunday (unheard of in france). we enjoyed the view and watched the skiers going down the slopes. we were hoping for some good falls but i guess that's more of an ice skating thing. we also decided the french must use skiing as their outlet for actually wearing color, based on some of the yellows and reds we saw.
on the way back down (we couldn't go any farther without snow shoes) we stopped to take some jumping pictures, vince's forté, before descending completely. at the bottom we discovered we had some time before the next bus so we enjoyed some drinks in the sun with a view of the mountains around us. from there we took the bus back to grenoble and just barely caught the train back to lyon. a fun little sojourn and a nice end to our mini-vacation. and i feel so much more accomplished now that i've been to grenoble and 'done the alps'.
No comments:
Post a Comment