Grenoble

So now we are rested, fed, and a little shocked. I got up and was talking to Jim and Mick, when lo and behold: Mick starts getting an ironing board out of the closet. And I'm thinkin' to myself - "Is this the Mick I know, or have aliens stolen her and replaced her with some Stepford Wife imitation?". Then I remembered all those Grenoble Gazette notes about her transformation to a June Cleaver clone, and it turned out to be true.

Mick would never have done this in California. From now on I'm not drinking the water or eating the beef. Weird things can happen to you out here.

Caroline, Mickey and I headed out to play tourist after a lovely breakfast at the apartment. It was basic wonderful fare, including some really terrific pear preserves and a quiche a la' Mickey Cleaver.

We headed for the "eggs". This is a tourist Telepherique to the fort at the top of the hill over looking the town. It was built in the late sixties, which explains why it looks like it came right out of that old Woody Allen movie...

You can also get a sense of the type of buildings that make up this part of the town. It's all from the 1800's, and there hasn't been a lot of urban improvements since then. Aesthetically speaking it's great, but for driving, parking, and doing basic living things, it can be rough.

We went to the top of the Telepherique and walked around a bit. The view over the town was terrific, as you can see. But the clouds were too dense to see Switzerland and Italy. Well you can't see everything all the time. And Caroline was crutching along the whole way, which didn't slow us down very much at all. She's a pretty tough cookie.

You can see exactly where Jim and Mickey live from up here. Click here and look for the red arrow to see the location.

The town is really the main attraction, it's old, it's scenic, and it has a terrific location at the foot of the mountains in a very broad valley. There are lots of other things to see like the old Olympic grounds, the particle accelerator, and a variety of other cultural and anthropological museums. And then there are all the sporting pursuits, which aren't a part of this trip at all. But it might be nice to come back and try some paragliding or skiing.

After walking around the old town a bit we stopped for lunch. And in the true French style, we stopped for a while and consumed a number of things in a very relaxed way. I must admit some of the billboards had a certain attraction, which I tried to capture in some of the pictures.

On the way home Mickey and I had to stop and get some bread and desert items. Perusing a Patisserie is definitely one of the great pleasures of visiting France.