Friday at the lake

Last Friday I took a bus with a couple friends to Laffrey where there were a few lakes and rocky beaches. It was nice, clear, and just warm enough to wear a bathing suit! We spent most of the time on the shore of the lake, and then walked around a little bit before catching the bus back to Grenoble before evening came.

Lake in the mountains

Flowers I keep seeing all over

Grenoble in the valley and le Massif de Chartreuse behind

A small hike and snowboarding at Chamrousse

I went on a small hike around Grenoble, and then a week later I went snowboarding at the Chamrousse ski station for the first time. I prefer Deux Alps, but it was cool going somewhere new and getting above the cloud cover over Grenoble. 

Goat I saw in someone's yard in the mountains

View of the mountains from Chamrousse

Mountains and skiers

Cloud cover over the valley Grenoble is in 

Lunch break on the mountain

Marionettes and free vegan food

A marionette festival has been going on in Grenoble for the last week or so, and I thought I would go to one of the pieces as I believe it is a type of theater that originated (or at least is quite popular) in France. Today at 12:30 there was a piece called "Faim de Loup" (Wolf Hunger) where there were a couple classes of children and other various people from the community. It turned out to be quite an interesting experience. The tickets were free with a donation request (I donated 5€) for the hour-long performance loosly based on Little Red Riding Hood, and at the end they handed out a free vegan meal, including a delicious chocolate-coconut dessert. I am pretty sure it was an experience that I never could have had in America

The free vegan lunch handed out at the end of the show

A very pretty valley

My last day with Christy and Roland was spent in the Chamonix-Mont Blanc area that was sooo incredibly beautiful with clear skies and a little bit of warm sunshine. The snow wasn't super good, but we went snowboarding/skiing at one of the ski stations. The views were so gorgeous, and I got a tinsy bit better at snowboarding.

La Vallée de Chamonix from the southern end

Mont Blanc, the highest peak in Europe

More gorgeous mountains

Christy on the mountain

Roland and Christy

Roland climbing up a ridgeline to ski on some fresher snow

Solemn snow and a market of rainbow

After a night in Grenoble and an early start, we headed north to Annecy through le Massif de la Grande Chartreuse. Few-day-old snow beautifully blanketed the mountains and little villages, but luckily the curvy road we were driving on was ice-free. We stopped at the monestary even though the museum is closed in the winter, and it was nice to walk below the jagged peaks and feel the mists of snow on my face as the soft wind blew it off tree branches. There were icicles nearly a foot long on some of the buildings. 

Snowy trees and peaks surrounding the monastery

Le Monastère de la Grande Chartreuse in a snowscape. This is where the two Carthusian monks who know the formula for the Chartreuse liquor live among other monks.  

View after a short walk from the Monastery

We continud north and stopped at a little town on the the north end of le Massif de la Grand Chartreuse where there happened to be a bustling market of everything from local knives to fresh local produce.

Here are some close-up photos of what i saw at the market:

Knife/cork screw for 8€

Tartiflette! Of course. 

Wooden pots of various types of olives

The candy in France, it is tasty, not to mention beautiful

We made our way to Annecy were we ended up staying the night. It was quite cold near the lake, but it was cool walking around the medieval city with its little canals a bit. Annecy is known as the Venice of France. I visited Annecy in October for the Fête des Alpages (click here to see my blog post on it), but it was quite bit different visiting the city with colder weather and a lot less people.

The lake and some boats

In the historic district; this castle is kind of a symbol of the city

Saxophoniste right by a bridge

Only in France could you find this street name

To Sisteron with my sister

For my mid-winter break, Christy and Roland came to France to visit me as well as the beautiful countryside and ski slopes! I took the train to Lyon to see them off the plane, and then we briefly drove through the old part of the city and the view of the city from the cathedral. 

We spent about a day in Grenoble walking around, eating tasty pain au chocolat, and going up the téléphèrique to the Bastille. It was quite windy and cold, but I still enjoyed walking around town.

Ninji graffiti on the side of a building!

Téléphèrique to the Bastille on a chilly February day

After a day in Grenoble, we then headed to explore the southern Alps where there was more hope of clearer and things none of us had ever seen before. We took little side roads in the car and tried to see the little French villages along the way down to a small town called Sisteron where we had a hotel booked. Sisteron is a medieval city with a citadell and gorgeous rock formations around it. It is located south of Gap and north of Digne-les Bains.

A little town and some snow on the curvy road in the southern Alps

The town of Corps, small and cute, nestled high in the mountains. It was ch-ch-chilly!

Pretty door

White cows - France has lots of them

Finally able to see some peaks after driving a couple hours south of Grenoble

We made it to Sisteron by mid afternoon, and parked the car near a little trail going up a nearby hill.

Trees we saw walking up

Sisteron through a tangle of trees at the top of the hill

Beautifully painted compass/map that identified surrounding landmarks

Christy and Roland at the top of the hill with French countryside in the background

Tiny little Sisteron - the citadel is higher up on the left

Rock formation across the river from town lit up

Arrow to the Citadelle. I feel like I am in Lord of the Rings... kind of; I don't really think they would have had signs like this.

Clock tower downtown and a little market below

The next day we hung out for a bit in Sisteron and then took a different road back in the direction of Grenoble. It was actually a bit warm, and the sky was clear for until about half way back. There is so much to see in France!

Chateau at the little medieval town of Tallard that we stopped at on the way north

Warm (enough) sunny skies and a mesa

View of the valley around Tallard

Our next stop was Lac de Serre-Ponçon that was clearly defined by bright blue water, mountains, and a huge dam. Apparently it is a popular spot for wind surfers and other water sports. We stopped at a turnoff and had our lunch with a  wonderful view.

The lake and surrounding landscape

Scene just leaving the lake

We headed north and got to Grenoble in the late evening and just stayed there for the night as we were going to get started a bit earlier the next day to head north. We drove through some really beauitful mountains valleys that we would never have seen on the train! I don't think I will ever get tired of seeing the little towns with a medieval church spire and grand mountains in the background. By the time we did get to Grenoble, the clear skies were not consistant with the south.

Fountain at one of the villages heading north.