April 07, 2011: Grenoble - Banking in English, Laundry

Today we went to open a French bank account. We'd been hoping to avoid the hassle (you have to call about a week ahead to set up an hour-long appointment) and expense (basic account almost 100 Euros a year), but after some back-and-forth the university insists that only a French account will do if Mark wishes to be paid. Luckily I'd been in Grenoble long enough to find out from my new friends which bank (Rhone-Alpes) and branch have English-speaking bankers. So, in about 10 days Mark will finally have an account into which money can be deposited, which we will then hurry to spend before leaving so that we can close the account. Crazy.

On the walk back you could really start to see how the city is greening up - trees that were bare branched last week have leafed out , and the grass is turning vivid green. The tulips and daffodils are almost done for already - it seems like they just bloomed, but it's been almost a month now.

Early laundry day this week - I need to make sure we have enough clothing to carry us through our trip to Lyon next week!

 

A view down the tram tracks - I love seeing a roadway covered in green!

 

These topiary trees are a shape you usually see on short bushes, but these straight-sided beasts are so tall they must be created using a crane?