par-tay!

We went to a francois' place to fete lolo's birthday. We had never been there before, and it is a wonderful apartment at the heart of downtown Grenoble. It is shaped like a donut, with the hole being the central atrium. There was enough room for all the kids to have their own rooms, and an eagles nest with views of the Belledonne and Chartreuse. We had an excellent fondue a la Les Alpages, washed down by plenty of Champagne and calvados. Later, there was dancing and some ill advised indoor improvised climbing.

Crémieu

We drove to Crémieu today. It was another unseasonably warm and beautiful day (in contrast to the oppressive grey of last week) and a perfect day for exploring a new town. It is only a one hour drive, during which time we saw the usual parade of Genevois supercars (Audi R8, Ferrari 599 in MAROON -- what kind of a person buys a maroon Ferrari?) . The trip there epitomized the dangers of not looking at a map before going somewhere in France: I don't trust the GPS because it frequently tries to take us on long scenic routes of industrial wastelands and closed mountain passes.... and I don't trust the French road signs, because they will frequently also take you on the least efficient route to the target. Additionally, you could be driving along, following signs to some town or landmark and then reach and intersection at which there are no more signs. So anyway, we went with the signs, because they are right *most* of the time, and got taken on another long agricultural tour. I think it only added around ten minutes to the route though. We knew we had arrived when we saw a fortified hilltop approaching, and then huge stone walls.

After loading up the double stroller with the progeny, we checked out the church

And walked up the hill to the castle

When I saw the following sign, I got quite excited, only to have my hopes dashed by a closed brewery door. Next time.


My favorite part was the covered marketplace




Which had magnificent beams and a stone roof



And peculiar rounded depressions on a stone stand at one end of the marketplace


I know what you're thinking, but they are not related at all to bodily functions. they are actually for measuring quantities of grain. According to the sign, before systems of weight and volume were standardized, many regions had their own random units. These depressions allowed for the measurement of the local unit of volume, which was the "bichet", which was 19.50 litres. Two bichets equalled one émine, and two émines equalled a setier. It sounds a little like our beloved English units, which us 'mericans are one of the only countries in the world backwards enough to still use. Even the English are trying to phase it out.
Next, it was time to sample the local delicacy: a sugared deep fried heart stopping bread, which was enjoyed by the whole family



Then, it was on to look at more impressive stone rooves:




We followed the GPS advise on the way out, and it was much faster. It was a bit less pretty than the way in: after a while we found ourselves in a huge industrial park with gigantic windowless buildings and what appeared to be a prison.

partay

We went to our friends place for dinner: raclette (with cheese from Les Alpages!). It was a good time, and five bottles of nice champagne were dispatched.

lack of updates

sickness, work and a lack of snow have conspired to prevent me from posting. The kids both had colds, Alex was teething, then chloe got a bad cold (which she has had for almost two weeks now), then Alex got conjunctivitis, then Zoe did.

Grenoble itself has been cold, but without snow, which everyone in Grenoble (including myself) has been griping about. I still have only been boarding once, and I am acheing to go. I spoke to a co-worker today whose daughter started skiing at one and a half year old (Zoe was not even walking at that stage) and can now go down green slopes unassisted.... so as soon as it snows I'm going to rent skis for her and take her skiing. I'm undecided about whether I should go on foot, rent skis myself, or board. I'm leaning towards renting skis so I can show her the motions. The only issue with this plan is that I haven't strapped on the loser planks in eighteen years, so it might be ugly.

Thanks to a former co-worker, we now know of a really great restaurant in the St. Bruno area, which we have been two twice. It's called La Frise. We have been twice now, and it is highly, highly recommended. I had the escalope de porc, which comes with potatoes that must have been fried in duck fat, and one of the best tarte tatins that I have ever had. It is served with ice cream, and the top (bottom while being cooked) is a delicious slightly cripsy layer of crisp caramelized sugar and apple. I would provide a picture, but our new camera turned out to have a defect, which the retailer has refused to do anything about, so we have been without it for four weeks. Never buy anything from PIXMANIA. ever!

dinner

We had our friends Cyril and Cecil over for dinner tonight, with their son. Lot's of fun, drinking, and talking about impending kids (she is pregnant with twins!!). They are in an apartment in Fontaine, but bought a place in La Monta, so they will be moving this summer.

Shopping and museum

We went to the new (and mysteriously deserted! woo!) Caserne la Bonne shopping center to replace my climbing shoes (blown out toes after a year of good usage) and pick up the new and much anticipated Petzl Grigri 2. After much debate, I started using the much maligned GriGri 1 nearly six years ago, and have never looked back. I'm excited to see whether this new device lives up to the hype. The Grigri 2 is not even available in the states yet. I guess proximity to the Petzl mothership in Crolles has it's advantages! Near the register, I had the idea to have Zoe try on child harnesses, which seem to vary considerably in their adjustability and comfort. Although the Petzl was probably the best in terms of ease of donning, it was a bit too big. The CAMP was a total disaster: I can't believe anyone buys them. The Fixé Apache was the clear winner: lots of adjustability and quite easy to get on. Time for some winter first ascents of alpine North faces with ZZ! YES!

After emptying our bank account at Vieux Campeur, we had lunch at Paul, which was simple, but excellent



Next, it was time to buy some clothes for Chloe and myself. Zoe assisted us by running around the store, and periodically opening the curtains to the changing rooms so that the whole store could see us in our underwear. Thanks, Zoe! Next, we went outside to the central garden. They have some nice reflecting pools with bridges over them, and more importantly, a playground! The playground is elevated, and has all kinds of exciting activities for kids. The most significant of which, is of course, the Big Slide:


From the playground, you are surrounded by new buildings. Many of them have sparkling penthouse apartments with rooftop gardens. Still more are currently being constructed, which makes me think the recession (la Crise) is hopefully hitting Grenoble a little less hard than in other places.

After dragging Zoe away from the Big Slide, we drove to the museum.

We bought memberships for the museum last year, and like our National Parks Pass, we have made excellent use of them. It is easy to do, however, because they are only eighteen euro per person, per year! Compare that with the prices that you have to pay for museums in the Bay Area. A day at the Cal Academy will set a family like ours back $60 -- a privilege of the middle and upper classes? I know that the museum does a few things to improve access for people who can't afford it, but they seem pretty small ( nine lines in the prospectus on this, compared to pages on the environmental design), especially considering the fact that it received 150 million USD in public money. Anyway, we love the Grenoble Museum, and are happy to be members, even if it seems like there are not very many other members! I have never seen anyone else show members passes, and I get the feeling sometimes that even the cashiers are surprised when we produce our member cards.

After walking around the museum for an hour or so, we walked down by place Notre Dame, to buy florentines and tartes aux noix at Bourbon

grenoble

first boarding of the season!

I went to les 7 laux today. It was a balmy and blue skies day. They have installed a new ski lift which absolutely rocks: twice as fast as the old one, and it gins you access to some ridiculous new terrain. I can't wait until it snows again.

MTB

went mountain biking with Lolo today: we rode to Mont St. Martin on the road and then down by the hiking trail. The descent was pretty technical: lots of water, mud and rolling rocks. I almost crashed twice!

Le Fuzz

The Gendarmes here have pretty sweet pursuit cars: Impreza STIs. AWD, 300 bhp, you know the story. Well, it turns out that as of this summer, 58 of the 73 had been destroyed -- oops! A new pursuit car was just announced: the Megane RS! This is a seriously fast car, even though it supposed to be pretty poor as a daily driver "comically stiff suspension" is the quote that I remember. Anyway, these are not ordinary RS (which are already fast), but modified by Renault to produce more power, with a higher top speed.

All caught up

all vacation posts now up. whew!

jet laaaaaaag

still jet lagged. We woke up at 10:30 AM this morning! Then it was off to the marche for provisions. Yesterday we braved the masses at IKEA to buy come cheap cabinets and lights. IKEA is the refuge of the expat/immigrant renter.

updates, galore!

below. Also, my three favorite photos from the trip

trip back

Today was the day we were not looking forward to: the long day of planes, trains, buses and automobiles to Grenoble. I used to get nervous traveling by myself (ever since I forgot my ticket once, coming back from Williams), but now I get pathologically nervous. I had weighed all of the bags the night before and made a last minute Target mission to buy a third suitcase, so I knew there would be no problems with exceeding the maximum weight. Tickets, passports, babies: everything was in order. We got to the airport in plenty of time and said our tearful goodbyes to the parents, then checked in and cleared security. A kind TSA person moved us into the family line for security, so we got through fairly quickly. At the gate, we were told that they did not do family boarding by one attendant, and that they do by another (and that it was at the discretion of the agent). This was not a good start to the day. The flight itself was a little less painful than the flight from Europe, but only slightly. The stewards and stewardesses were United employees, which is to say the worst and most unhelpful imaginable. Alex actually slept a few times, which was wonderful, but there were no in seat movie screens (on an 11 hour flight -- are you kidding me!?!) so Zoe was constantly bored. We had plenty of toys, puzzles, and an iphone loaded with Pixar, but she went through all of those in the first three hours or so. After a while, chloe and I resorted to playing with oranges with Alex to keep him occupied. Highlights were getting peed on by Alex a few hours in, and the United choice of videos. Specifically, they were playing Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations, which was filled with beautiful and delicious looking food footage. This was in between serving us some of the greyest, most nausea inducing "food" to ever grace the fold out tray of a 747-400. Thanks, United! I did learn that some of the best Szechuan food outside of China can be found in Melbourne, Australia though!

We arrived in Frankfurt groggy and sickly feeling, and then had the pleasure of clearing security again! I wish that one of these massive hub airports could be designed in such a way that you don't have to clear security more than once. Due to some airplane problem, we then sat on the bus to the airplane for a half an hour. The front of the bus was taken up by a contingent from the Canadian World Cup Snowboarding team, dressed in sponsor clothing and talking about their upcoming races. We eventually made it to Lyon, where they told us that Alex's stroller had never left Frankfurt! There was actually a long line of people queued up for the lost and damaged baggage counter: I saw three suitcases on the conveyor which had been ripped open, with clothes falling out of them. All of the luggage (including ours) was completely soaked, too. The only bright parts of the day were finding our car in the mega lot (I took a picture of the zone when I parked it), the car actually starting, and arriving to a home which had *not* been burglarized (most people that I know have had their house broken into in our area at some point). Good times!

Zoe and the parents

checking out the house

We toured our house today. My pineapple guava has fruited! And they are delicious!

Alex

Yank Sing, SFMOMA

Today we bagn the day with another item off the culinary tick list of the bay area: Dim-sum at Yank Sing. The food was perfect. I wish we could find such perfect Shanghai dumplings in Grenoble! Zoe, however, was largely uninterested in everything except for the deep fried crab claw


Next, we drove to the SFMOMA and got a parking space right outside! I had not seen the rooftop garden before, which is very well done


There was an excellent Cartier-Bresson exhibit (like ten rooms full of photos!). Zoe's favorite part of the exhibit was the beaded exit, though:


She also enjoyed the aerial walkway


As well as some excellent Rothkos, Diebenkorns etc


On our way to Berkeley we stopped at See's candies. I wanted to take a picture of Zoe in front of the heaps of chocolates, but was informed that photos are not allowed in the store! I feel honor bound to violate every anti-photo policy I can find though, and I'm sure they don't really care, so I took some pictures anyway. It was just too cute.

Remarkable photos of Detroit

http://www.marchandmeffre.com/detroit/index.html