Car

In our search for cars we have so far test driven the fabulous Skoda, which has been the subject of previous posts, as well as the Mazda 3 (like many other cars, available in a torquey diesel engine unavailable in the US). The mazda felt pretty good, but was quite a bit more expensive than the special offer Honda that we had previously driven. I like the built in nav system, and the visibility out of the back was better than the honda. However, it felt a little anemic on the hills, but the next step up in engine was the 185 hp diesel, which is probably more power than we need (ok, never thought I would ever write those words!) at considerably more expense. During my test drive we stumbled upon a cycling event which was a time trial up to St. Nizier. There were many fancy bikes, mostly full carbon race machines, with very serious looking riders. I watched a few get started and they were *hammering* up the hill. Later I discovered that it was a 1000 meter hill climb for 15k, and the winner did it in an amazing 39 minutes. Crazy. After this, we headed to the Honda dealership, for CZ to test drive the car (she hadn't last time). As predicted, she loved it, and we signed on the dotted line to reserve the car. So assuming all of the paperwork works out, we should have a brand new eurospec Civic next week! I know it looks small, but it actually has more trunk space than a BMW 3 series wagon, Ford focus, Outback XT, WRX, or the GTI with the seats up. It also has blue mood lighting and an ipod dock, but those had nothing at all to do with our decision.

Later on, we took the tram downtown to let Zoe frolic in the Jardin de ville

and took her up on the Boules to the top of the Bastille. We walked back down with her and ran into some friends of ours that were running up the hill (like we used to, when we were in better shape). More importantly, we went to the new storefront of Les Alpages!



I bought some Comte de Montagne, some Camember au Calvados, a super dry Picodon and some Roquefort.