Grenoble: November 2010

29 November 2010

A report on a meal, a museum, a snowday and a hike. An explanation to come soon also.

The first few photos are of the Grenoble WW2 museum. The museum details the lives of the Grenoble inhabitants during their occupation by the Nazi's and Italian's.

The last few photos were taken just before the first snowfall while on a hiking trip.

Then it snowed later in the week (2 weeks before the date of publication on this blog). The snow did not stick.

The cafeteria is only open for two and a half hours a day. But the food is really good when you do eat it.

Nazi poster encouraging French men to work in armament factories in Germany, "You're family will be happy".

The announcement posted in Grenoble to inform the inhabitants that the city is free from Nazi occupation.

Leaving the museum, the Préfecture de l'Isère is just ahead.

Place Victor Hugo, typical Wednesday afternoon.

First snowfall

A look at the fortifications on the mountains during the first snowfall

An ancient fortification East of Grenoble

A view from the top of one of the smaller mountains.

A view from the other side of the same mountain as the one in the photo above.

21 November 2010

Internet is back for a bit

Didn't go anywhere this weekend. It rained a lot, but that is ok because I stayed inside to watch a lot of movies. Although it would be more fun to travel, I need to continue improving my french so that I can make the most out of my next semester. The giant ramp is part of the ski festivals that have been going on all over Grenoble. This ramp in particular is on campus and allows students to practice their aerial tricks like backflips during the lunch period. Obviously there is a giant air-inflated cushion for the landing.

A handful of American students invited me to a smores party. There was no campfire, we used the hotplates on a stove. The chocolate was Swiss, because it is domestic and the same price as American chocolate. Could not find graham crackers, so an assortment of french cookies and "biscuits" were used instead. We did have regular marsh-mellows though.

I have also included an updated picture of my fridge showing a pan of pico de gallo.

Artificial snow ramp

*It is worth mentioning that the peanut butter jar is no longer present in my collection

18 November 2010

Saint-Tropez

After Marseille, we went to Saint-Tropez. This small French Riviera town is a playground for the rich. Every store is a boutique and it is normal to see Bentleys, Porches and Ferraris. We didn't spend the night here because there is not much to see or do without paying a lot of money.

Boat from Wilmington NC

Because my camera has a small lense, low light pictures are nearly impossible

Agrandir le plan

16 November 2010

FLOOD!!!

Not too bad of a day. Yesterday I rode my bike across Grenoble in the rain to see the 12th annual film festival of the mountain. There was 3,000 people who attended the 5 free films. The event goes on all this week.

Lunch was good and balanced like normal. This time you can see my student meal card on the left because I forgot to put it back in my wallet.

Because today is Tuesday, I decided to do something very uncultural and order a Hawaiian pizza for four from Domino's (if you think that is weird, they also have Pizza Hut). On Tuesday and Saturday, all sizes (for 2 or for 4 people) and all types/toppings cost 8 euros.

The pizza was bought at 6PM. At 7PM I was in the kitchen when the sink just randomly started over-flowing (and with quite a force). Within ten minutes the entire kitchen floor was covered and it began to spill out into the hall. We informed the 24 hour desk guy, who informed the repair man. The problem is that the exit pipe to the floor is blocked, thus the water from the 4 kitchens above us all choose to exit through our drain. We spent 3 hours shutting off the water and mopping the floor with mops that were too small.