Spectacle!

Today was a work sponsored "spectacle" in Gieres. I really like this custom, and it is apparently done at many companies in France. I thought ours was pretty good until I heard about the one at a nearby Biotech which sounds even cooler: kids get a catalog of toys from which to choose, and they go to significant effort to make some kind of giant Xmas fair. Ours was a magic show, with the added bonus of Santa Claus! We all got onto buses at work and then took the inexplicably long ride to Gieres via the hateful Rocade Sud (a ring road where you always seem to be driving for hours to go a very short distance. It's like the Bermuda Triangle of Grenoble). Anyway, like last year, they kept the doors closed (WHY?!) while the kids and parents became irate, but eventually let us in. Next came the magic show, which involved things bursting into flames, ribbons out of the mouth, etc etc. With each trick I could see the audience full of engineers and scientists carefully dissecting the sleights of hands in their mind. There was lots of eyes squinting, cocked heads, and then slight knowing smiles. At various points, kids were called up to become assistants, but this backfired comically. The first volunteer was very nearly in tears by the end of her assistantship, and the second figured out the trick involving nested magic wands, and began intently trying to disassemble the trick wand. In each case, the magician reacted smoothly and was a real pro. The show ended with balloon animals, at which point the kids swarmed him. Despite a few cries for help, most of us parents left him to die. There weren't very many balloon animals to be had, and Zoe is pretty shy about things like that, so I was happy to see that the magician gave her a little balloon duck. Last but not least, it was time for Santa Claus, who was handing out bags of chocolates and books. Excellent!



Then it was back to the work cafeteria for snacks, which ran out very quickly.

Museum!

We drove into town for some museum action today. My fears that we would go a day without having to remove some kind of bodily fluid from an unexpected surface were quickly allayed once we arrived in the museum parking garage. It turned out that Zoe had stepped in some caca right outside the Tabac (there are usually heaps of it piled around there, which the Tabac people studiously ignore). Said caca had been liberally stomped into the back of the driver's seat, the floor, a stuffed animal, a book and an umbrella. Nice. Anyway, there was a new exhibit in the museum which was a bit underwhelming, as well as some nice new paintings in the otherwise non-changing permanent collection. Zoe's favorite is apparently a Chagal on the wall nearest to the Isère now!

Retraite aux flambeaux

We went the Retraite aux Flambeau, and I finally looked up the origin of the event. The page that I read suggested that it is to commemorate the taking of the Bastille... in July! I have to admit that I am a bit confused. Whatever the origin, it is very fun for the kids and we met up with the Aussies to walk through the streets, swing lanterns and light-sticks around, and watch the performers. It started raining a bit, at which point we retreated to the apartment.

commute

into Grenoble

for some cafe time with the kids

Montaud

Another shortish ride up Montaud and "Le Coing" today. I had a brief no-kid window and hemmed and hawed about which side of the valley to go to. Our town was still shrouded in fog, but I could see what looked like some blue skies over the Vercors. By the time I finally made a decision about which road to take, however, I was past my usual turn off so I tried a new route. Unfortunately it turned out to be a bike path that was not yet completed (but will be awesome when complete!) and I ended up scurrying down a muddy berm, across a creek, back up the other side, and eventually onto the bike path again. It was a little questionable in road cleats. Back on the path, it was still very foggy and visibility was ~100 feet and cold again, but I had a secret weapon this time: plastic bags over my socks

high f'in tech, I know. I hit the climb up to montaud from the St. Quentin side at the red line, which is a bit sad seeing as I was almost dead last on Strava, and soon emerged from the fog into a beautiful sunny day. People that live up there (and on velotel's plateau) must be enjoying a little schadenfreude on days like this. Anyway, I was happy to be out of the freezing cold, and savored the sun once I got to the church in Montaud.


From there, it was the mini-climb up to Le Coing, and then back down to the valley.

I'm not a big fan of the descent down to Veuray, and today was even worse than usual: a lot of frost on the road, usually right before a hard turn. After almost ending up in a ditch, I slowed waaay down and took my time.

The happy surprise was that the fog had burned off by the time I got back to the valley.

cold ride

went for a short ride up past quaix and near the col de Vence. It was very cold, but felt good to get out after a week with no riding. There was a bone chilling fog in the valley, and I could barely feel my toes by the end of the ride

A ride through the Drome

I went for a ride with Hank over the col des Limouches and Tourniol today. Another unseasonably warm "winter" day, and I was reasonably well insulated for the ride. Chloe and I have driven these roads quite a few times on the way to Ombleze, so it was nice to finally be on them outside of the car. There's a pretty spectacular cliff near the top of Tourniol, but it looked totally unequipped. My favorite townalong the way was "Barbieres", which sits at a notch in an impressive rock formation.

Wine, riding

I went for a short ride over Montaud with a friend from work this afternoon: slightly cold, but fun riding. At the beginning of the climb we saw a cat in the road, and as we approached, it became clear that the cat was not planning on taking evasive actions against the oncoming bikes. Despite seeing us coming from fifty meters away, it somehow ended up between our bikes. The unfortunate result was that the cat freaked out, chose the worst possible moment to bolt sideways, and got slightly run over my my friend. Not good. Earlier in the season, someone at work ended up with a broken collarbone after a similar kamikaze cat experience... So I usually stay well clear of them, or any other animal. After the collision, the cat fled and did not seem to be limping or leaving a trail of blood. My friend just barely held it together and managed not to hit the deck. Happily, no further excitement was had on the ride. We did see some more cats, which we stared down with great suspicion.

Later on, we went to the Salon du Vin in Noyarey with the same friend and the families, and had a great time tasting wine, foie-gras (I know, we are terrible people), Corsican saucisson, and of course the chocolate table





Since we had recently stocked up on some 2009 Bourgognes thanks to Franck, we went for wines that would be ready sooner… as in right now! Somehow that ended up being mostly Cotes du Rhones proper and Villages.

Later on, dinner at lolo and vero's. A full and excellent day!

Cherry Rocher

We went to the Cherry Rocher liqueur museum with the Aussies today. The museum is in La Cote-Saint-Andre, just forty minutes away, and it is certainly worth the trip. I've mentioned in the blog that I'm interested in different kinds of fruit alcohols (usually more distillates rather than macerations)m and the museum has a wonderful collection of stills, fruit presses and all sorts of other interesting machinery. They also have a tasting room, and an impressive selection of many kinds of alcohols.








From the museum, we all went to the "Paradis du Chocolat" chez Jouvenal which was also fun. They make a nut filled chocolate which are quite addictive, but with a bizarre name "Damnation".





From there it was on to the chateau and home