Dent de Crolles

Sorry for the huge delay in getting these blog entries out. I am in Paris right now and so I have more time to post about what happened in the past month or so. 

Dent de Crolles is a mountain in the Chartruese. On the scale of french hikes it was "easy" but for American standards that means "moderately hard". I went with my coworkers on a beautiful Saturday morning. The hike took us about 6 hours. We scaled the very steep front side of the mountain which was covered in grass and bare rock and when we finally reached the top plateau there was still snow up there. We had a little picnic at the top while drinking in the view of the entire Grenoble Valley. The hike was over 700 meters in elevation gain so we were pretty high up there. Coming back we went along the backside of the mountain. This was a much more gradual descent than the front side. Around the back we actually found an ice cave with a frozen cascades and a fine shimmering sheet of ice cold water falling from the ceiling. We refilled our water bottles (which wasn't easy since your hand got numb each time you reached under the falls) and then continued on our hike back. 

This is why I love the Chartruese. Looks a lot like
Yosemite but with more french people.

  

Eating all that cheese sure makes you strong.

Frozen waterfall that we found in an ice cave. Oddly enough, the cave was
filled with really slow moving flies all over the place. It was a bit freaky.

Sandrine's feet hurt on the way down. She was a real trooper by making
it as far as she did wearing shoes not meant for hiking. 

Dinner in Crolles

At the top of one of my hikes to the Bastille I met a very nice french couple whose names were Bruno and Monique. They were both older, and didn't really speak very much English but they liked travelling and had been to the US many times before. They invited me and Denis over to their house for dinner one day after work. Denis and I drove out to the town of Crolles, which is incidentally at the base of the Dent de Crolles. They kindly placed an American flag on top of a cabinet in an effort to make me feel at home. We had apperitifs around the coffee table and I did my best to keep up with the rapid french being spoken. We had lots of wine and cheese. It was a very french meal all in all, topped off with fresh strawberries and Chantilly creme. The coolest part I must say though is how welcoming people are here. I just happened to ask these people to take my picture at the top of a mountain and next thing I knew I was eating in their house. Lesson: Speaking the native tongue, even a little, can pay off big in the end. 

Grenoble Par Nuit

 Climbed the Bastille at night to take some city light shots. That's the whole story.

Ivan my Roommate

This is my roommate (the one with the pink hair) and a previous roommate named Maria.

I don't really remember how this picture came about to tell the truth.

Next Entry: Weekend in La Grave

Via Ferrata and Eating my way through Provence

Via Ferrata and why I nearly killed my coworker

My french coworker, Denis, said that it was "hiking with metals things". The rather innoccuous name "Via Ferrata" is actually a terrifying thing. You don't have to sign anything, there are no instructions. There aren't any people watching to help you either, you are on your own.You just hope you've attached the ropes to yourself correctly and climb up a vertical cliff. Then suddenly you realize that you can't turn back and that it's much higher up than you initially thought. At one point you have to traverse a single steel cable blowing in the wind across a 30 foot wide 100 foot down drop between two cliff faces. I think it was at this point that I threatened my coworker (all in good faith of course). I rewarded myself afterwards with homemade macarons and alcohol. I had bruises left on my arms from how tightly I was holding on for days afterwards.

Climbing up part of the Via Ferrata. 

On a different and very beautiful day I climbed to the top of the Bastille and decided to try one of the many additional trails that led off from the top. I ended up going down the path to the Mandrin Caves but I think it would be more appropriate to call it Shelob's Lair. This was seriously freaky. Even though it was entirely bright outside, this cave, which was constructed by French troops in 1844, was completely pitch black. There wasn't a single sound inside accept for my own breath and heartbeat. I had to use the flash on my camera to make sure that there weren't huge spiders chasing me in the dark. The legend goes that there is a treasure hidden somewhere in the depths of this cave but no one has ever found it.

Shelob's Lair!

Eating my way through Provence

Last weekend, my roommate and I headed to the city of Arles in Provence where my roommate's mother lives in a gorgeous villa. Upon arrival, there was some of the most amazing lamb I've ever had. This lamb was roasted with french rosemary and whole garlic cloves by my roommate's Maman Chantal. We had lamb, salad verte, haricot verts, a cheese course, lots of wine and bread. Our provencial lunch was followed with a dessert of local fresh strawberries and cream.

Breakfast everyday consisted of fresh baked bread, croissants, good coffee, local lavender honey, fresh butter, and homemade apricot preserves. Can you say heaven?

A most welcome pool. This got a lot of use.

A lot a lot of honey! Very expensive. I'll be bringing 6 of
these back to the states, somehow.

Lunch Day 2: Crustini with tapenade and caviar,
white wine and very very rare steak. 

After lunch on Day 2 we went to Nimes to see the Feria festival. It was loud, crowded, expensive and smelly. There was trash everywhere, lots of drunk people and far too much smoke. Another thing is that I think someone needs to tell middle-aged to older europeans that they need to dress their age. I saw wrinkly old ladies with tube tops and drag queen grade makeup. There were gross old frenchmen with spiked hair, popped-collar abercrombie polos and gucci sunglasses everywhere you looked.

A roman colliseum in Nimes France.

Back in beautiful Arles, we profiter de la sunset. Went for a swim and I read some more Harry Potter in French. 

The view from where I was staying.

 

After lunch on our final day in Arles we went on a nice bike ride to some roman ruins. My bike was made for someone half my size and who likes seats to be as hard as diamond. Couldn't walk afterwards. Provence is exactly as you would imagine it to be. Long, low hills fields of grass and dotted with trees. The skies are impressive with ever-changing clouds. Wildflowers were in bloom everywhere you looked.

Roman Aquaduct in Provence that used to power the
world's FIRST automated olive oil producer. 

Next Week:

Hiking to the top of the Dent de Crolles!

La Chartruese, Mon Anniversaire, Marseilles and the Devil's Q-tip

La Chartruese, Mon Anniversaire, Marseilles and the Devil's Q-tip 

One of the three mountain ranges surrounding Grenoble is called the Chartruese. With Denis, Sandrine and Florian, a guy who looks and acts uncannily like Drew Felker, we hiked to a waterfall up in the mountains. It was a beautiful day with many paragliders up in the air, jumping off the mountains. A great thing to do on yet another day off from work.

This is french Drew. 

Mon Anniversaire

Bought 30 delicious crossiants and had to endure smelling them the entire tram ride of the university without being able to eat one. Then at 10:30 I rang the bell that signaled it was croissant time in the office. They were gone in 5 minutes. For dinner went to the oldest restaurant in Grenoble, established in 1739. I had duck with honey, figs and a gratin dauphinois. Fantastic. I also received Harry Potter II and III in french. Went afterwards to a very strange bar that looked like something out of a New Orleans bayou.  A great birthday and a fitting way to celebrate 1/4 of a century.

Marseilles and the Q-tip

Marseilles is the oldest city in France, it also has the oldest port on the Mediterranean ocean, and the largest modern port in all of Europe. The city was built around the Vieux-Port which was where my hostel was located. After checking in I went out exploring the city which is very different than Grenoble. The streets are busier, dirtier, and more hostile.

The Vieux-port of Marseilles

I can't remember the name of this cathedral but it was one of the
most beautiful that I've ever seen in Europe. Very haunting inside.

The church at the top of the hill is the Notre Dame de la Garde.
It overlooks the entire city.

Had a lavande de Provence Ice cream in the old part of the city. Bought some soap, which is the specialty of Marseilles and ate lots of seafood (I actually didn't like the Bouillabaisse, too fishy). While out getting a pastis (a terrible combination of liquorice liquor, water, and sugar that everyone in Marseilles drinks) I met a couple (one Marseillais and the other from Ohio) who told me about a fantastic adventure that I had to do. Apparently there is a Portuguese man who owns a restaurant far away on a rocky beach and there are no roads to get there. He boats in every morning. When the weather is bad he puts all the food in a backpack and hikes there. They told me to get the spaghetti bolognese and the rosé. They drew out the route on the map that I luckily had in my pocket.

In my hostel I met a man from Portland who spoke French and wanted to come with me. I allowed it only as long as he only spoke french to me. Gotta learn somehow. We took two different city buses and then a private shuttle to get to the end of the road where the Calanques (rocky inlets) are located.

This was the end of the road where the shuttle stopped.
We had  to hike from here.

Hiking to the Calanches. 

Once there we had a climb along the jagged coastline for about an hour before we finally came to a shallow inlet where lo and behold there was a restaurant right on the beach.

The restaurant didn't even have a name.

This was the ocean front table where my Portlandian friend and I had lunch.

The islands off the coast of Marseilles.

For 17 Euros I had spaghetti bolognese, salade vert, une baguette, magret du porc, fromage, and two glasses of rosé. The restaurant could have charged ANYTHING that they wanted, it was such a destination, but somehow they keep their prices down. After a fantastic meal we went swimming in the freezing sea right at our feet. Dried off in the sun and then headed back to civilization. At the shuttle stop back at the start of the trail we found this man.

My Crepe Chef.

A frenchman from Breton whose dream was to ride his motorcycle along route 66. He made me a delicious crepes sucré.

On the bus ride back, I was talking to a girl in French when I found out that she was from Seattle, and not just that, but she lives about three blocks from me. Her friend with her was from Portland. They had just finished 27 months of the Peace Corps in Morocco and were couchsurfing in France. Obviously this was too great of a coincidence to just brush off so we decided to join them and their french host. They were heading to Notre Dame de la Garde, the huge, grand cathedral overlooking the city of Marseilles. We took a bus to the top and had a 360 degree view of the entire region which was breathtaking.

I also forgot to mention that I was wearing that ridiculous "French " shirt
that my mom bought for me. It doesn't look half bad though.
Oh and I got a bad sunburn.

Afterwards, while heading to get some ice cream we heard a roaring sound and were soon swept up in the election night madness. People honking cars and screaming. Flags everywhere. We escaped that and they wanted to go get dinner. I was close to my hostel and I still had my backpack from the day and was salty from the ocean. I ran home, took a shower, and was cleaning my ears out with a q-tip (an unfortunate addiction that I have) when suddenly something happened that has never happened to me before. The cotton part of the q-tip COMPLETELY separated from the shaft in my ear. It was stuck. I couldn't get it out, I couldn't hear. There was nothing that I could do so I threw caution to the winds and went back out into the world of nighttime Marseilles.

Crêpes salé, Cidre, Crêpes sucré, Glace. Very difficult conversations with french people since I couldn't hear.

Went home, woke up and hopped back on a train to Grenoble. It was only 1 Euro to upgrade to 1st class. Totally worth it. Got to Grenoble with tweezers being the only thing on my mind. Didn't work. Read online that olive oil will help get it out. Only result: a really oily ear and face. Only avenue left, journey into the terrifying world of foreign healthcare.

After seeing two different nurses (neither of whom spoke a word of English) who couldn't find a tweezers long enough to fit in my big ears I was sent to a specialist. For 37 Euro and lots of enduring French people laughing at me, Dr. Chion pulled out a huge wad of cotton from my ear and Voilà! I could hear again. He even checked the other ear because he didn't believe that it was ok. Then he made me promise in French that I would never do it again.

And so ended one of the most exciting few days I've had in a long time. Thank you Marseilles and to everyone for their Birthday wishes.

Skiing the French Alps, Soirées and Annecy

I did laundry today. Very exciting I know. It was however nice to know that I was being more energy efficient. I don't know why we don't dry our clothes outside more in the US.

My Dryer.

This was all in all a very exciting and jam-packed week. Work was good, I made lots of progress analyzing data and getting samples ready to be tested. Now if only I could start writing my actual paper. Feel free to bother and pester me to make sure that I've done it. Thanks.

French Alps

On the day of the election here in France the Chamrousse ski resort was offering lift tickets for 1 Euro if you presented a voting card. The weather was beautiful and my coworkers had an extra voting card for me. This meant that I only paid for the ski rental and was able to ski in the French Alps. I wasn't nearly as bad as I thought I would be considering I haven't skied for at least two years. Unlike the US, most people here ski, not snowboard. Little kids were zipping down the mountain at top speed and I did the best I could to stay out of their way.

My coworkers.

Denis and I getting ready to ski.
You can see the city of Grenoble in the background.

The alps were "incroyable" the mountains here have a very distinct, rugged look to them. They look wild.

Concert 

Focus.

Ivan, my roommate, plays violin in the local symphony. His concert was this week so I along with his girlfriend and friend went to watch him perform. Before the symphonic portion of the concert a french women's choir sang four songs, two of them in English. I could not understand a word of the english songs. It was good to see what it's like to be on the opposite side of the stage for once. I've been in choirs where we have often sung in French, German, or Italian and had no idea if what we were singing sounded correct. 

The concert was wonderful, a very professional group, and Ivan did a great job soloing for two difficult Bach pieces. It was however also interesting to note that the French group did not seem to appreciate the audience as much as an American group would. The conductor barely smiled or bowed during the applause.

Brazillians and the Local Hospitality

Strangely enough, I have been meeting many many Brazilians here. It of course helps since my roommate's girlfriend, Danubia, is Brazilian. They were kind enough to invite me to their Caipirinha party last Wednesday. Beforehand however I had a videochat meeting with my advisor back in Seattle. It was the first time that we had met since I left Seattle and I had lots to say. The meeting went very well, so well in fact that I wanted to do a little celebrating and since no one was around I journeyed out into Grenoble in hopes of getting a beer. I stumbled into the local watering hole where I met some intensely stereotypical french people. Smoking, too much makeup, hats, wine, mustaches, the works. They took a shining to me and we whiled away the afternoon attempting to communicate using a melange of broken french, english and sign language. Four people bought me wine that afternoon. I got home in time for the Caipirinha party where there was French, Portugues, and English being spoken. It was difficult for my wine-logged brain to speak in French but I managed ok. 

Then on Friday there was a Brazilian cineclub soirrée where they showed French and Brazilian movies and had shots of Cachaca. Three people bought me beers that night, I don't know if they think I'm poor or my accent is cute or the people here are just nice but it has been amazing to me that warmth and hospitality of nearly everyone I have met. Although, I must say the beer here leaves much to be desired.

HTC Afterworks

There is something here in Europe called Afterworks. From what I understand, companies throw parties and only invite a few people in order to generate hype and get consumer loyalty. HTC hosted one in Grenoble (Thank you Sandrine and Denis for getting me in) our name was on a list and we were immediately greeted with swag and free food. There was champagne, wine, cheese, duck, foie gras, tuna tartare, salmon, and a huge array of desserts, and it was all free. HTC was also giving away free phones, didn't win one though. Secretly I was hoping I wouldn't win because I would have had to go up and say something in French, daunting. 

HTC Afterwork Party. Very little alcohol was involved in this picture.

Annecy

The town of Annecy is a beautiful city in the Savoire region of France. It is located about an hours drive north of Grenoble on lac d'annecy. Denis, Sandrine and I journeyed there for the afternoon to see what all the fuss was about. 

Annecy.

The bridges and canals of Annecy.

The city is very much like a tiny French version of Venice. There were canals and waterways everywhere. They are known for "mountain food" which seemed to mostly consist of lots and lots of cheese, meat and potatoes. The city was much more touristic than Grenoble. I heard more English walking down the street than my entire time in the streets of Grenoble. 

Lac D'Annecy

The beautiful church overlooking the town of Annecy and the surrounding region.
We arrived just 20 minutes to late to go inside and look around.

Foods of the Week

Tarte Tatin, apples and vanilla with lots of butter.
It was pretty spectacular.

Duck. So good.

I didn't actually try it but they are advertising it like crazy here. Sorry Selina.