We went to Saint Antoine l'Abbeye today, which is one of the officially classified "Plus Beaux Villages de France". It's a beautiful small town with a giant Gothic Church and picturesque cobbled streets and alleys.
A few of the buildings had very fancy roofs:
Some more pictures:
Chloe and I had a wonderful meal at le Tour de Sens. As usual, all I had was an iphone to take pictures:
Highlights were the langoustines, scallops, cheese selection from Les Alpages, and the mega dessert plate. Overall, I think the most memorable dish was the pain perdue (French toast): absolutely fantastic, and the best I have ever had. I thought Thomas Keller had it perfected at Bouchon, but this was miles better. It was less pudding like, and somehow more delicate than the Bouchon version.
We took a drive to Pont-en-Royans today. Along the way, we tried to stop at several historic sites, but were thwarted by the signage. Official signs would lead us most of the way to a chapel, for example, and then all of a sudden the signs would disappear. We did eventually make it to the chateau de la Sone, but it turned out to be closed. The caretaker informed us that we could not even walk on the grounds until it was open in the summer. Nice. It does look very pretty though, so I'm sure we will be back at some point. In googling the castle, I found out that it is a hotel, too! Next, it was on to Pont-en-Royans -- one of our old haunts, and the gateway to lots of excellent Vercors climbing. 
We walked around town, and while the park by the river is very pretty, it is apparently the Vercors capital for people to take their dogs to. This wouldn't be a problem if they didn't have the charming habit of letting their dogs shit everywhere and then walk away without cleaning it. As a result, it's a bit of a fetid minefield down there. Perhaps best viewed from afar? Since we had promised Zoe a hot chocolate earlier, we went to a cafe:
then back to Grenoble
we went to Diamond light source to check out some of their beamlines and the MPL. Many exciting things going on there.
Afterward, it was back to Oxford, then on the bus to Heathrow where my flight was delayed an hour. Thankfully I was in the fabulous new Terminal 5, in which you can entertain yourself for hours with the shopping and restaurants. I had dinner at my favorite fast food place: Pret a Manger in the UK (maybe anywhere?), but kicked myself after seeing that there was a Gordon Ramsay restaurant. Oh well. I wandered around Harrods for a while, where I discovered that I had been a little naive about the prices of handbags. I did not know that it was possible to spend a thousand dollars on one. Also, no free wifi in the terminal as far as I could see. I also got a close look at an Audi R8 and a Lambo:
When I finally got to the lab car in the LYS parking lot, I discovered that the battery for the remote appeared to have died. I spent the next twenty minutes or so getting into the car and figuring out how to operate the ridiculous parking brake. I eventually made it home though, and before midnight.
more interesting talks today. I caught up with an old friend from my Salk years who is in the Biophysics Department there. After the talks I headed to the covered marketplace to buy cheese and find some things for Chloe.
Having done a little more walking around today, I can say that Oxford is incredibly beautiful. It's not like there are two or three historical and impressive buildings: there are miles of them! In my four AM stupor, I of course managed to forget to bring the camera, though. As a result, all I have are my iPhone crap pictures
The science buildings seem very well equipped, too.
Anyway, we went to the King's Arms pub to meet up with former EMBL folk, then to an Indian restaurant.
I was up at 4AM this morning to get to LYS for a flight to Heathrow. The roads were pretty bad and the plows were driving down the autoroute in pairs. Our flight took off on time, and landed with only one circle into Heathrow, but it was all a little dicey. I don't think I've ever seen an airport in that condition continue to operate (and I spend four years of flying through Chicago six times a year).
Ugly! The bus from Heathrow to Oxford got mired in traffic and ended up taking three hours instead of 1.5 Thankfully, it had free wifi on board! We made it into Oxford in time to check into the Royal Oxford (highly recommended) and have lunch at the conference/workshop. After a few talks, the traveling caught up to me though, and I started going through cycles of nodding off for a second followed by jerking awake. Thankfully, there was a coffee break where I loaded up on caffeine. The view from the new conference center is quite nice:
After the talks, Andrew and I headed to the Lamb and Flag for pints. At one point I looked up and saw a framed passage from 'Jude the Obscure' which mentions the pub! Dinner was very good back at the conference, but I was only semi-conscious.
Zoe was just flipping through a climbing magazine when she pointed to a picture and exclaimed "ROCK.. CLIMBING!"
so much snow today that we picked Zoe up from her nanny in a sled! Also, I was viciously attacked by Christine and Choe with snowballs packed around ice blocks.
We had planned a trip to meet up with our old firend Gauthier and his wife and daughter in Montpelier today, but the snowstorm and our lack of snow tires has made us reschedule.
We did make it into Grenoble for 'les soldes' though. 
In France, there are two main government-approved times for sales (I know, it seems a little weird to the permasale-habituated North American), and we are in one of the sale periods. Chloe picked up some very fancy boots, and I finally broke down and bought a jacket that is not made of advanced synthetic fabrics. I guess we all have to grow up eventually. We also made a stop at my favorite wine/spirit store in Grenoble: L'Echanson. They even had my old frequent buyer card information from four years ago in their computer! I gazed longingly at Whisky that I cannot afford:
and bought a bottle of 15 year old Calvados:
The appelation means that it is made in an old school copper pot still rather than a reflux still. I have had Calvados before, but it was of the moonshine variety, and was not very good. I don't think they trashed the beginning or ends of the distillate ("heads" and "tails"). After reading a few articles about it, however, I wanted to give it a second chance. I realized that my old approach to trying new kinds of alcohol was logically flawed: I would generally buy from the bottom shelf in order to avoid wasting money. Of course, it's much more likely that you will get something horrible that way. So this time I got the nice stuff: 15 years old. After a few tastes, it gets a big tipsy thumbs up, followed by a drunken fall into a snowbank. This stuff is pretty strong, but delicious. Christine bought a bottle of Caol Ila which had been double casked (once in Bourbon casks, once in something else -- sherry casks?).
Tons of snow on the road on the way back. I hope my snow tires get here soon! (I ordered them online)
A farmer came buy today selling his harvest. Chloe might have misunderstood that the minimum order was in fact quite large:
On the one hand, the apples and potatoes are *fantastic*, but on the other hand, I can't help but feeling that there is always someone there ready to take advantage of the expats (not restricted to France of course!).
Christine and I did an expedition up the snowy track across the street. She was in snowshoes, and I was on my split board. I had fashioned a mount for my mega headlamp. Unfortunately, the snow coverage was quite thin and I got smacked around by a rock. I ended up a little bruised and bleeding, but that just makes my snowboarding pants look that much cooler (big blood stain on the kneecap now).
notice the manly "oof" at the end.
I enjoy looking at mechanical watches -- particularly those that expose the movement of the watch in some way or another. If you have never seen a full "skeleton" watch (a watch in which the faceplate has been removed), they are worth seeking out, as they are truly amazing. Even partial skeletons or transparent backs are beautiful. Here are some things about high end watches that the unacquainted might find interesting:
The Tourbillon: In addition to complications (moon phase, alternative time zone, moon phase etc.), watches can contain single or multi axis "tourbillon". Tourbillon are essentially mechanical cages that rotate on single or multiple axes to counteract the effects of gravity. Like anything else cool in the realm of the high end watch, the down side is the cost. A multi axis Jaeger gyrotourbillon will set you back $3-400,000!
Jewels: Anyone with a passing familiarity with watches has seen the term "jewels" associated with watches. These are rubies or sapphires that are used as a very hard, low friction component for various gears and mechanical elements. Interestingly, they are a crystalline form of Al2O3 (aluminum oxide -- the same stuff as is formed when you anodize aluminum!). Also interesting is that abuse of the advertising of how many jewels in a movement (e.g. useless jewels) led to an actual ISO standard for what could be considered a jewel.
A very interesting watchmaker: Phillipe Dufour
. Mr Dufour has worked for Jaeger and Audemars among others and has been making his own watches since 1989. His watches are stunning, elegant and it seems like some watch aficionados think that they are superior to Patek et al. Having seen some photos comparing the calibers, I am inclined to agree! This guy (who seems to be from Grenoble!) has some nice pictures of his visit to pick up his watch.
High end watches are *expensive*. I think that most people think of Rolex as the quintessential "ridiculously expensive watch", but at several thousand dollars for the non marquee models, they are at the very low end of the ridiculous. One thing that I think people are not aware of, is that the servicing of these watches alone (every 5 years or so) can themselves cost several thousand dollars
Seiko makes a quartz regulated mechanical watch that they sell for $145,000. It is meant to showcase their skills.
We all went to col de porte for sledding today. Zoe was too tired to sled at first, but was not too tired for hot chocolate (through a straw).
I went SNOWBOARDING today for a half day thanks to chloe's extreme generosity and awesomeness. lots of powder and not too many people. My legs actually felt decent after their four year snowboardingatrophy, except when the chairlift whacked them.
We drove up to Chambery to wander around in the old town with the two mini-mes and an american guy from work who is doing an internship for the year. It was a little cold, but I love that town. Now, if only the synchrotron could be moved up there.
Also, I found my sharpening stones and started sharpening my kitchen knives. Next step: utility knives and Franck's knives!
Budweiser costs almost $2.50 a bottle here! Thank goodness it's so bad that I wouldn't even consider it at that price for a six pack
This is what you need for the true offroad experience
Of course, if you're going far, you probably want the half million dollar RV version
very jealous.. am home sick and the oe's are out sledding!
also, the town of Le Fontanil was offering horse drawn cart rides and Santa time!
but Zoe was terrified of Pere Noel.
this is all second hand because I was too sick to leave the house.
and some local franco-chavs were pelting our windows with snowballs in the middle of the night. Why?
This morning we went to the dermatologist to figure out what is wrong with Alex's face. The hypothesis is that it is a reaction to some mom-hormones which subsequently got infected. We now have corticosteroid creme, super fancy moisturizer and antibiotics for him. Even without the treatment, things are already looking better, much to our relief. It's so hard being vaguely repulsed by the way your son looks! Not to mention the guilt.
Anyway, last week we had arranged to go to the US consulate in Lyon to apply for a US birth certificate, passport and SSN for him, so we drove into Lyon without any major hijinx thanks to the marvels of GPS technology. Finding parking was a bit difficult, but with a little help from Chloe, I got into this ridiculous spot without even hitting the cars in front or in back of me!
skills!
The US consulate is in a nice building right on the quay, with big windows looking out over ... other buildings. We had an appointment at 11:00, but got stuck behind a scumbag businessman and his wife who were going on and on about the number of pages in the passport book, how they reside in Dubai but have property in France and the US, blah blah blah. Once they were dispatched, the embassy staff were quite efficient and we were out the door in no time. They even gave us a recommendation for a restaurant for lunch: La Manille. We walked there and were greeted by cooing (the yucky part of Alex's face was hidden under his snugglesuit) of the Maitre d', which always puts us in a good mood. We ate upstairs, and everything was wonderful. Chloe had some kind of fish special, but I was too engrossed in my perfectly cooked steak to pay much attention to it. Since Alex was being so good and sleeping the entire time, we even got dessert! I had a tarte au citron and chloe had a chocolate cake with creme anglais, with two espressos. Also, halfway through the meal we saw the security guard from the embassy, who clearly poached the resto recommendation from the attachee who gave us the name.
Driving back in the snow was a little sketchy.
Franck invited me to a wine tasting at Alp'Expo today. It was wines of the Jura and Bourgogne, so how could I say no? 
I brought Zoe with me to indoctrinate her on the joys of wine early, and it turned out to suit her just fine, since there was an impressive display of different Comtes:
which Zoe enjoyed thoroughly "TWO CHEESE!" (one for each hand). We tasted several Comte's, and all were quite amazing. I think that the chances of experiencing Comte like this outside of Europe are probably pretty small, even with Fedex Cheese via fromages.com. After all, some of these cheeses were of very limited availability even in france. I settled on the valempouliere from april 08, with the charles arnaud extra indeuillers a close second. All of them were fantastic though.
Next, I gave Franck a few expert tips on wine tasting:
(obviously it was the other way around)
We tasted many expensive wines, and the perfect pairing of Comte and Vin Jaune. Thankfully, the pours were not super deep, or I would not have been able to drive home. As it was, I had to wait a little while before leaving. Zoe was very happy throughout the experience, throwing the stopper to her apple sauce packets and making me sheepishly chase them down. The whole experience was great: Francks friends bought a big chunk of Comte and some bread, which we all indulged in as we tasted wines and talked. There seemed to be at least three categories of people in attendance: The first were the wine lovers who were there to enjoy the opportunity to try the best of the Bourgogne and Jura and maybe bring home a few bottles. The second were the get-down-to business people who arrived with large empty dollies and left quickly with large full dollies. The last seemed to be the frugal drinkers in search of a cheap and convenient buzz. To their credit, the younger ones did an admirable job pretending that they were enjoying the taste. The last category was not restricted to underage drinkers, however. The older drinkers were throwing the wine back with less pretense though. I saw one guy actually tipping his head horizontal to get the last drops out before immediately demanding more (no pause to reflect on the taste!).
We walked up to le mont saint martin today. I REALLY need to get a new baby backpack soon, I think. My hips are crushed!
After an exciting shopping trip to Carrefour and the laundry (where I paid 15 euros to wash our sheets!) followed by doing very little of anything, we bundled the little ones to attend the Retraite aux flambeaux. We didn't really know what to expect, having hear only that the lights in the village would be turned off, and the kids would be carrying lights. When we got to the appointed place, they were handing out sword like devices to the bigger children and adults and lanterns on rods with glow sticks to the little ones.
Rave time!! Actually, we milled around until darkness fell at which point they led a goat out, which was towing a bathtub with a sound system, trailed by two dancers. Yes, it was getting a little weird! Shortly before the sound system was started, we discovered that the swords were actually torches, and everyone began lighting them. The little kids had their light sticks snapped for them by their parents.
After torches were ignited, we all walked up to the church. It was pretty cool, and the whole time I was marveling at our adoptive country, and how different it is from the US. I just can't see a town sponsored event happening in the states that involves giving flaming sword-torches to kids (or even adults) and marching through a village! It would be a lawyers dream, I'm sure. Even the very young kids were amazingly well behaved with their torches -- treating them with respect and care, and even watching out for the younger kids. I have a feeling that in most places in the states, it would have rapidly devolved into flaming sword fights and trips to the hospital. Here is the walk up to the town hall:
There were lots of flares lit too, so there was a haze of smoke, which gave the event a pretty haunted feel to it. 
Zoe loved all of it, of course, and did an admirable amount of walking and torch avoiding. She didn't want to carry a lantern, but LOVED the light sticks. She actually went to sleep with them later that night because of her unwillingness to part with them.
coming home tonight in the dark, I passed some guy with a pitiful wheel powered light. As I passed, I heard him shift to try to keep up, and pretty soon it was clear that I was being pursued, so I slowed down. The guy came up along side, asked what kind of light I had, and then proclaimed that it was fantastique, and gave me his congratulations at having made it -- nice!!!
