March 20, 2011: Annecy - Train trip, Crepes, Venetian Festival, Animal Parade

Today's blog entry has a new location - because we took our first day trip! We took the train to Annecy, which is about two thirds of the way from Grenoble to Geneva, but still on the French side of the border. The train ride took just under two hours, with stops in several towns along the way.

When we got to Annecy we found the pedestrian-only heart of the old city quite easily. The Sunday morning market was on, so the streets were packed with stalls selling many delicious foods. Also for sale: a baby pig and two fluffy kittens. And in other animals sightings: a girl with a rabbit in her jacket, its little head poking out.

The market was crowded, but as we got past it we realized that the festival was making the town even more crowded. Annecy is known as the Venice of the Alps, because it it criss-crossed by several canals, and this weekend they were having a Venetian festival, with people dressed up in elaborate masked Venetian costumes parading about town and posing to having their pictures taken. Everywhere a masked figure went crowds of people swarmed. It was like a sighting of a rare animal, or a high-end fashion shoot - the atmosphere really was crazed. I saw some of the biggest telephoto lenses ever, and I'm sure that the goal of some of these people was to capture an image of every different costume at the festival. It was both fun and bizarre - where else would you brazenly stalk total strangers for their photos?

We had lunch at a Bretagne crepe place; the main course was a heavier type of crepe called a galette. I had the tartiflette (a traditional Savoie dish of Reblochon cheese, potatoes and ham) with a side salad (a simple dressing on some of the nicest, freshest lettuce I've ever had in a restaurant). For desert I had the caramel beurre salé crep. Both were delicious.

We came home an hour earlier than planned, since we were a bit tired of the crowds and a bit cold from the weather (although it was wonderfully sunny in Annecy, the air was a bit chill and damp). Happily our train tickets are good for a month at a time - we just had to validate them before boarding to get on a different train than the one I originally bought them for. I will definitely enjoy planning more train day-trips for us in other parts of France.

 

Walking through the old city

 

Two young boys in matching outfits pose with the "Venetians"

 

A mother and her son escape the crowds for some peace on a dock

 

The view down one of the canals

 

Probably the most famous view in Annecy - the Palais de l'Ile

 

Look - my own boat!

 

Mark and I wave to the water

 

Reflection in a very smooth water feature

 

I'm thinking hammerhead shark...

 

Photographers madly shooting a posing pair

 

A Venetian looks over the shoulders at the cameras of those who were taking her picture only moments earlier

 

Lake Annecy - one of the cleanest lakes in the Alps

 

The bridges became impassable as the festival went on

Mark and I find a hidden walkway down the hill from the Chateau, which reminds us of our urban hike with David in the hills of the San Francisco area

March 19, 2011: Grenoble - Market, Musée Dauphinois, Walking

First thing in the morning we went to the market. Our first cheese guy definitely recognizes us now, and asked how we were doing; the new cheese guy from last Sunday wasn't there - I think he's a Sunday market-only stall. We bought half a round of brebis de Basque (sheep's cheese). In French-comprehension accomplishments we were asked if we had the exact change at one booth, and were able to understand and answer. We also bought a baguette that was especially delicious (Mark used it to introduce me to 'pain au chocolat'). We also got a roasted chicken, which we had for lunch, and which I will also use in sandwiches the next few days.

In the afternoon I revisited the Musée Dauphinois with Mark to show him the highlights of my previous day's visit. And we discovered a part I had somehow missed - the chapel. I'll have to go back to revisit it, since there was a concert taking place inside, making us too self-conscious to walk around inside sight-seeing.

After the museum we walked up to the Bastille, across and down through the gardens. It was intermittently raining, which would have seemed unfortunate but we got some amazing dramatic skies, with a rainbow and beams of light breaking through the clouds, sweeping across the city like searchlights. It makes me want to go back up again on rainy days!

It was raining heavier when we got back to the ground. We quickly went shopping at Monoprix since the rain seemed likely to discourage us from going out for pizza as I had planned (with its high rate of Italian immigration, Grenoble is known for having great pizza, and there's an entire strip of Italian restaurants on the other side of the Isére river). And we did indeed stay in - we had two mini-pizzas from the Monoprix deli (one with an amazing chévre, and the other with mushrooms and bacon) and a salad of arugula, heirloom tomato and brebis de basque, along with another bottle of our new favourite Savoie red wine.

 

I think this is the best city view I've seen yet - the dramatic beams of light are an improvement over the usual dull haze

 

A rainbow in the distance

 

More beams lighting up the télépherique

 

Me, standing in the top entrance to a tower with spiral staircase

 

Mark, standing under the sign pointing down to Grenoble, at the entrance to a forbidding passageway (in case you can't make it out he's grimacing, as if he's beginning the descent into hell)

March 18, 2011: Grenoble - Musée Dauphinois, Baguette Sandwich, Train Tickets

Today I went to the Musée Dauphinois, which was excellent, and free! It had an extensive permanent exhibition on the life of the people of the alps, which was very informative, particularly because it had signage in English. One of the most interesting things I learned was that in some alpine villages where firewood was rare they baked bread just once a year in one big communal bread-making oven. Each family had a differently carved bread marker, so that they could "brand" their loaves.

There was also a temporary exhibition about Vaucanson and mechanical figures. Jacques Vaucanson, a Grenoblois from the 1700s, invented the first robots and also created the first fully automated loom. Some of the mechanical figures shown were related to developments in prosthetics and artificial limbs - they were some great anatomical models on exhibit.

For lunch I had packed a sandwich of half a baguette with tomato, morbier cheese, nettle tip mustard, arugula and prosciutto (Mark got the matching half for his lunch). Delicious! I ate it outside on the terrace at the museum - although today was mostly sunny it was very windy, and too chilly to lounge outside for long.

At the end of the afternoon I walked over to the train station and tackled buying tickets to Annecy - we're going there for a day trip on Sunday to see the Venetian festival (Annecy is criss-crossed by many mountain-river-fed canals, and is thus called the Venice of the Alps). It went quite well - once again I was able to conduct my transaction entirely in French, including asking whether we would have to validate our tickets before boarding (yes) and whether seating is assigned (no).

 

Ascending the stairs to the Musée Dauphinois (looks like there's been some red grafitti down the centre that's actually been removed?)

 

Two women I pass en route, wearing matching red hats

 

The courtyard of the museum, with tulips in bloom!

 

Roman relics! 2nd century AD epitaph for Sextus Attius Atticus, the municipal magistrate of Grenoble

 

Body-shaped flasks for smuggling alcohol over the Alps!

 

How adorable are these? Pinecone toys (see how they're two animals yoked together?)

 

Differently carved bread markers for each family in the village

 

Spiked collars to protect dogs against wolves and bears in the mountains

 

A different bell for each type of animal

 

Looking down on the roofs, with spring trees starting to bloom

 

Forsythia in the foreground, Belledonne mountains in the background - my view while eating lunch

 

Lunch! Delicious half baguette sandwich

March 17, 2011: Grenoble - Happy St. Paddy's, Open House en francais, Traduction, Work, True Grit

Today I wore green for St. Patrick's. Since I was going to be my first French-only Open House coffee chat, I figured it would give me a conversational topic that I could practice ahead of time ("aujourd'hui je porte la couleur de la journée St Patrick"). And I pulled it off just fine - it led to a discussion of St. Patrick's Day in France - sounds like it's more of a kid's thing here - adults don't really celebrate it. And then that led to a discussion about our family backgrounds, and whether any of us had any Irish in us (not really, although I might a little). All in all the French-only chat was pretty good as a language lesson - the native French speakers in the group treat it as an opportunity to provide grammar and pronunciation correction for us English speakers and to explain unfamiliar vocabulary. At times the conversation amongst the French speakers got a little too rapid and I lost track, but I could usually catch the gist of it. After two hours I was feeling like I'd had a good mental work-out.

On the way home I dropped off Mark's documents to get translated, during which I easily found the office (behind the Ste Claire market), zipped in just before the noon-hour closing time and conducted virtually the entire transaction in French ("Je voudrais une traduction pour deux documents..."). I think that having just done two hours of French conversation gave me a confidence boost that I could handle whatever came my way.

And for a short while this afternoon I had work! Just a small proof-reading job, but it was a nice change of pace to have a deadline. In fact, I actually had to turn down an offer of an outing - one of the Open House members who lives near our apartment stopped by spontaneously in the afternoon to see if I wanted to join two of them for shopping, but I was still in the midst of work. It's interesting that in Washington DC I never made a point of joining any social groups, but here I have - but if it weren't for the language barrier, I probably wouldn't have bothered. And yet it's nice to have other people to interact with. France is forcing me to be more outgoing.

For supper I roasted our Hubbard squash, potatoes and brussels sprouts, and made an omelette with fresh chives (an addition to the window mini-garden), thyme and Morbier cheese. I served it all up with mini-beer! For a change I picked up beer from the Monoprix, and didn't realize until I got home how tiny the bottles were.

After dinner we went to a nearby movie theatre to see True Grit (in English, with French subtitles). The theatre was quite small (there was really no lobby, so the line stretched outside - and since there wasn't much of a sidewalk, the line stretched across the street; the street was more of a laneway than a proper road, but we still had to keep moving for cars coming through). I hadn't realized it was a Coen brothers film. It wasn't as quirky as some of their others, but it was quirkier than your usual western, which I liked. And you have to love a movie that's as ambitious in preserving elaborate dialogue as this one.

 

The mini-beer. I should have been holding one in my hand for scale purposes!

March 16, 2011: Grenoble - Post Office, Rain, Recipes

Our mail has arrived - Mark's diploma and our marriage certificate, courtesy of Denise's quick work. Now I'll get to work on having it translated and then we'll tackle the Préfecture again.

Finally some rain this afternoon, after seeing it predicted many times but not falling. And yet, still what I would only call a light sprinkle back home - I haven't actually heard the rain hit the ground. But it was enough that I took my umbrella when I went shopping at the Monoprix for supper.

Supper: couscous and arugula topped with stir-fried chicken, tomatoes and radishes. The radishes are a bit random, but they were in the fridge, and I haven't been using them up as fast as I had imagined I would. I had intended to buy chicken thighs, but it was only chicken breast for sale in the supermarket. I could have, however, bought two different cuts of rabbit.

One of Mark's co-workers enjoyed the brownies he made so much that she asked for the recipe. To be funny, Mark tore off the box top from mix package and brought it in. When he handed it to her she turned it over, thinking he'd written it on the other side. When she realized that the brownies were made from a store-bought mix she was appalled. Mark tried to explain about the extra ingredients we'd added to elevate it beyond the box (the banana, the chestnut honey, the chunks of Lindt chili-flavoured chocolate) but he's pretty sure she didn't take it in. Ah well.

March 15, 2011: Grenoble - Open House, Laundry....

I can't believe it's been two weeks already since we arrived. The time has gone by quickly, between settling in, discovering the city and enjoying the great weather. And I've only stepped in dog poo once (this is something of an accomplishment, since there's more dog poo on the streets here than probably anywhere else that I've traveled).

I went to the Open House coffee get-together this morning again. I met more people and heard more about life in France (bureaucracy is annoying, strikers don't get the kind of sympathy they used to,  transit doesn't always work as well as I might think, the French think there should be more signage in English for tourists, and kids aren't raised to be as polite as they used to be, although I think they are quite well-behaved compared to what I see in Canada). I had worn a light blue sweater, feeling spring-like - and then the other Canadian woman in the group arrived in an almost identical sweater. Uncanny coincidence.

One French woman gave me a comparison of markets across the country: in the south they are boisterous - you push your way to the front and handle the produce yourself; in Paris they are ultra-organized - you line up and you don't handle the produce yourself (instead you might ask the proprietor for two tomatoes for a salad for the next day, so that they can select the appropriately ripe ones for you). Grenoble seems to be a mid-way point - you pick the produce out yourself but there's an orderly line for paying, which suits me just fine - it's very similar to the Toronto way of market shopping.

There was also a bit of drama - one of the group member's dogs wasn't allowed in to the cafe - it had been fine in the past in a carrier but not today on a leash. The French expect to be able to bring their dogs everywhere unless there's a sign stating otherwise (and there was no sign posted), so everyone was quite put out that the dog had to be tied up outside.

In the afternoon I finally tackled the laundry. It was not as simple as you might think! There seemed to be many more options than I'm accustomed to, there were symbols that are unfamiliar (with no accompanying words to translate), and brief French words without enough context for Google Translate to catch the meaning. The wash took almost an hour - not too bizarre. But after two hours waiting for the dryer cycle to end, with no indication of how long it's supposed to take I started to wonder if our clothes were melting. I started searching online for reassurance that things hadn't gone horribly wrong, and was comforted to read others' reactions that doing laundry in France is incredibly slow. In the end it was about 2.5 hours to finish the drying cycle, and it still wasn't dry to my satisfaction (the clothes were hot but humid). I'm glad we brought enough clothing for two weeks so that I won't have to go through that so often.

For supper I tried making a vegetable soup with the addition of our leftover cheese rinds (a trick that was widely praised on various recipes from the internet). Initially it smelled delicious, but in the end it came out a bit blah. But it did give me a chance to use the local Savoy 'crozets' buckwheat pasta, which is in the shape of little squares - quite dense in texture - very fun.

March 14, 2011: Grenoble - Sick in Bed, Mini Garden

Well, today was mostly a day of recovery from whatever the strange and sudden illness was that hit me the night before. I'm starting to eat again, but slowly and carefully.

In the meantime I have lots of reading to keep me busy - the deadline for a contest that Jenn is entering is approaching quickly, and I aim to have proofread the remainder of her novel by then - I've got more than half left to wrap up in two days.

When Mark got home we made a brief trip to Monoprix - we bought a thyme plant that I can grow in the kitchen window, which makes me happy - a little mini garden while we're away from our own.