vince and i, decidedly good travel companions, headed out friday afternoon for grenoble. the train ride was so short (a mere hour and a half) that i didn't even crack open my book. at the train station we met our couchsurfer, easily recognizable with his shaggy bleached-blond hair. he led us to his apartment, a 20 minute walk through the downtown. it was a beautiful day, the first day of nice weather this season, and everyone seemed to be out enjoying it. after depositing our things, our host (adrien) showed us around the city a bit before heading off to work. we walked through the small downtown area, saw the main churches, restaurants, and bars and then crossed the river. on the other side of the river there are a few streets lined with older buildings that lead up to the giant hill known as the bastille. it's not unlike crossing the saone into vieux lyon, whose buildings line the base of the hill that leads up to fourvière.
we decided to mount the bastille, as it were. every time i've asked for advice on what to do in grenoble this has been one of the first mentioned. you can reach the top either by walking a set of steep stairs and ramps (about 45 minutes without stopping) or take the boules, fun little silver cable cars that resemble the balls of the same game. needless to say, we elected to take the boules. with our student cards (ahem) it was a deal. going up was a little nerve-wracking at times (mostly for vince), especially when we discussed where the worst place to land would be. the view from the top was wonderful! from there you can see all of grenoble and the three mountain chains that surround it. this makes for a beautiful landscape but it also makes for heavy pollution as the air can't leave the city limits. if you ignore the fact that it's smoggy air it's actual rather mystical (mistical?) and pretty. we took some pictures and had a snack while enjoying the view before we headed over to the bastille (the actual fortress) to explore. there doesn't seem to be much left to go inside but we did stumble upon some caves that were fun to wander through, albeit damp (read: muddy).we made our way down on foot leisurely, stopping for nice graffiti, playgrounds, possible squatter sightings, and many joggers/bikers
(why you would bike there, with intermittent staircases, i don't know). by this time it was getting dusky and we were hoping for a nice place to sit and relax. grenoble seems to be full of students which is probably what gives it its international flair. at various times it reminded us of italy, spain, switzerland and england. it also seemed to have lower prices than lyon which we chose to take advantage of. though we didn't find a cafe (we got sidetracked by the pretty sunset) we did choose a nice indian restaurant where we splurged on tandoori chicken, naan, and rice (unfortunately not american-sized portions). the resto was very popular as it was full and the manager was clearly trying to get rid of us. we lingered a while to spite him and then returned to adrien's.all the walking must have taken its toll as we were completely exhausted. adrien returned from work at around 10 to find us dozing on the couches. he chided us a little but kept most of the mocking to himself as he prepared the couches for us to sleep on.
after about 10+ hours of sleep we were treated to a lovely breakfast of homemade bread and jam and fresh croissants that adrien went out and bought. afterwards adrien and jean-yves (another roommate) drove us and another friend, claudia, to a nearby festival they had told us about earlier. we were told it was very authentic. it was outside the city in a nearby mountain village. not knowing precisely where it was, we elected to get out and hike. we followed a path up the mountain that followed a small stream. when this ended we cut across to a nearby stone barn where the path seemed to end. after about 30 minutes of hiking we were ready to head back down but decided to try the other direction. several minutes and several barbed wire barriers later, we realized this would not work and backtracked the way we had come.
at this point we were hungry and eager to find this festival, which we did (we had passed it on the drive up). it was called the foire du boudin, boudin being a blood sausage typical to this region. quite literally, a sausage fest.
it was late and they had run out of platters so we chose to buy a meter to split amongst us. i was expecting some sort of strong sausage but when we cut into the gland (yes, gland) a heap of warm, mushy entrails spilled out. it looked like wet dog food but we tried it with an open mind. it was.. how to put this delicately.. revolting. we had trouble keeping it down. luckily the frenchies were off searching for a bakery (in trypical french fashion, they have trouble eating anything without bread) so they did not witness our pitiful attempt. they happily scooped up the sausages while we took care of the basket of fries. they teased us for a bit (and told us the french think jell-o is disgusting) but then moved on to mocking the 'paysans' who were in attendance. they used the word 'beauf' quite a bit which, roughly translated, means redneck.back in the city, vince and i had a much-needed snack (delicious pastries!) before heading to the modern art museum. though we were lucky to be in a great location, nothing in grenoble seems very far away. got our 2€ student tickets and enjoyed the gerhard richter exhibit (!) that just happened to be there. one complaint (that maybe extends to french museums at large): almost no wall labels. i suppose this is in efforts to force us to buy the audio guide. well it didn't work.
we did some more wandering at dusk before vince suggested we check out the view of the city
by night. so we hopped on the boules again to check it out (i just can't get enough of these things.. i think they made it into 60% of my pictures). the view was really spectacular. though we just missed the actual sunset, seeing the lights come on in front of the bright blue sky was really lovely. we got our fill of pictures before descending in the boules for the first time. they go fast! it was a little scary, i'm not gonna lie.after our ride we walked about 3 minutes to our couchsurfer's place where he had prepared a dinner for us - gratin dauphinois (scalloped potatoes), a roast chicken and more baked bread. so much for the bread boules (yes, more boules) we brought as an offering. it was quite a spread and we were very grateful. we decided to go out afterwards, partially to experience grenoblois nightlife and partially so we wouldn't be mocked for turning in before 11 again. we went to a bar courtney had suggested that was literally "1 minute" on foot according to googlemaps. it's called the 'boîte à sardines' and was definitely warm and homey. we tried chartreuse, the local drink (formerly made by monks in the town of the same name). wow, it was strong. and minty. mountain minty? it took some effort but we managed to finish them and stayed up past 12.
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