France!

Between hiking up mountains, and listening to my "coffee break French" free podcast to learn how to say (but not not spell) simple phrases, I've been having a pretty okay time in Grenoble. We're here for a week because Hasan has a conference here and I've never been to France, so what the heck!? So far, I've found that the stories about French people are not all true; people I don't know great me on the street with a smile and a Bonjour (in the morning), and as long as I ask in French, most people who know English are willing to speak in English. Though I have to say, when I try to speak the little French I know, I feel sort of like this video.

Grenoble is in the middle of the Alps. It's quite beautiful to be walking down the streets, turn a corner and see mountains at the end of the block. They say you cannot get lost here because eventually you will either hit a mountain or a river. So far, this has been true for me!








On Sunday, we took the teleferique (apologies in advance for my spelling) up to the Bastille, hiked around, and had the tiniest bottle of wine possible with our lunch as we looked over the city.














And the food. I have had some delicious foods...including these snails in garlic, pesto and butter sauce. Mmm! AND they serve water for free here. Come on, Germany, let's get on that boat!

Dahlias

Hopefully, we'll be moving shortly, but at the moment we are living quite close to a giant public garden...a dahlia garden to be specific. It's free entry, lots of benches, and the names of each type of dahlia are posted in front of them. Enjoy!