Grenoble is freakin’ awesome! I don’t know if I like it more or less than Amsterdam, or any other place I’ve been, but holy crap the Alps are beautiful! If I ever had to stop living by the ocean for good, I think it would have to be by big mountains. I was initially a little stressed when I arrived, because apparently I told Fadi and Erin 8:00pm, but I got in at 9:00pm, and my train was late too, so they weren’t there when I arrived. TGV trains are so awesome and they go so fast. Except they leave on time, and don’t wait for anyone, so if you’re always late like me, it’s hectic. It’s even more hectic if they get you to change trains in Paris and you also have to change train stations in less than an hour. I had no idea where to go or how to call Erin’s cell when I got there too, haha. I just took a cab to their address and hassled the security guy until he called up for me. We had a couple drinks and went out to stroll around in the dark. This is another completely picturesque place with tons of old buildings and squares with cafes and sprawling tables and chairs. We ended up at a bar and had a beer, but we were all tired and they had class at 8am, so we crashed.
The next day I wondered around and saw the whole city before meeting them after their classes for more cheap wine. Around almost every corner of Parisian-like buildings you can see the Alps, it’s so cool. I got to try and remember some of my French too. I saw most of the famous landmark buildings, squares, and churches. I took Europe’s oldest funicular up one of the slopes for the best view of the city. Grenoble hosted the Winter Olympics in 1968 and you can see all the old venues on the way up the slope. The view of the city from the top is actually breathtaking (it’s really windy up there), and all around the city is mountains. You can see Europe’s tallest peak, Mont Blanc, and a couple huge ski resorts. The hike down, thank you for the suggestion Erin, was more of a death march, haha. It was worth it though, just a little bit more of a hike than I was prepared for in the heat. I could stare at mountains all day.
When they got back from their class (wine tasting near the Swiss border, I know, tough), we immediately made plans to drink cheap wine in the park. Sounds like a good idea. If you let people in Canada take bottles of wine and beer to public squares near the bars for the pre-drink it would be a shit show. We capped off the night with London Pub and some more drinking in the streets.
It’s worth mentioning that on this part of the trip I also rediscovered a like for bananas and ham sandwiches.
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