Grenoble

Grenoble is a really cool city - unfortunately, we were all pretty tired by the time we got there and so we saw relatively little of the city... all the more reason to go back again! The jazz festival was cool, though. Every weekend during the fete they have concerts in different venues accross the city. We saw Atipico Trio in the courtyard at the Bastille on top of the mountain, an AMAZING group called Huby/Boisseau/Baudault that played really innovative music that seemed to explore all the different sounds and percussion that could be made with a violin, bass, and piano, and a crazy performace called "Les Shadows" where the musicians played behind a silk screen and had their silhouettes projected on it with colored lights.

the bastille, where we saw the first jazz group.... can you spot the anti-CPE grafitti?

la téléphonique, a.k.a. the bubbles

the view from said bubbles

view from la bastille

gli Alpi!

mountain!

so this random guy saw julia and i walking around and insisted on taking our picture ... this process took about 10 minutes because he would take one and say it wasn't good, then take another ... then he kept telling us to move around to different spots so we could get all of the mountains in the background.... he also offered to give us his number so he could show us around. we declined.

non non non! il y a un truc... il faut une autre!

et maintenant les caves ... vous voulez une photo des caves, non?

the atipico trio

they were a lot of fun to watch. they did a little bit of clowning, a lot of wandering around through the "caves" behind them and the audience in front of them. they also spoke mostly in italian. yesssss!

julia likes rocks.

blocage!!

this is why we have no school....

note the tables and chairs stacked menacingly. non au CPE! yes to socialism!

Annecy

A very good weekend, indeed.

We woke up at 8 on Friday, having gone to sleep around 5 a.m. (eeg.) Took the fabulous SNCF bus over to Annecy, disembarked, got rained on, wandered in search of a map, found a hotel, got rained on, took pictures, saw a chateau... and were very impressed by the quaintness of Annecy.

little town, it's a quiet village ...

lake annecy: jewel of the alps, indeed.

interdit!

we look HOTT ... and warm!

linda, julia, and louise, when it finally stopped raining (WHAT?)

aerial view from our picnic spot at the chateau

.... that momma louise makes a pretty tasty sandwich.

entrance to the courtyard at the chateau

view through an old window in the chateau

we are HERE

julia is in a spaceman

art!

this guy takes confit tins (and washes them out?) and puts glass on the bottom, paints the surface, and then scratches out designs with a needle... cool!

i really like this.

it's by Barbara and Michel LEISGEN.

the figure is suppose to emphasize the separation between two frontiers.

everything is interdit in france.

nice street.

gorgeous canals in the vieux ville

pace



pics from Grenoble to follow ....

waiting for spring .... still!

mussels?

well, it's been a slow week in lyon. this weekend i just hung around, got some work done, and explored some new parts of lyon with julia. highlights: impromptu lunch with julia finn at the Brasserie des Ecoles in Croix Russe; Julia's saffron chicken; buying awesome earrings near the Opera "we'll just wear them out ..."; crazy opera (bunny suits?); fabulous mussels a la Lauren and Emperor's New Groove on Sunday.... oh, and how could we forget walking around in the rain? in any case, a decent weekend ... although i don't think i can stay another whole weekend in Lyon! i think i'll check SNCF and see if they have any last-minute deals. woo!

word has it that spring is coming, any day now... bring it.

not waterproof.

Vacances d'hiver

buttons, buttons everywhere and not a drop to ... never mind.

the paris flea markets were awesome!! there were antique dealers selling priceless antiques, cool funky jewelry, junk shops, notions sellers, and anything in between. treasured find: vintage hand-made lace.

happy, happy chocolatier ... we were very pleased to find that they had aztec hot chocolate with cinnamon, pepper, ginger, and cardamon in it ... it was just about the most delicious hot chocolate i've ever had.

... and they had a fondue fountain.

la tour eiffel

"le musichall" - a really cool restaurant that had a "light show" that carried on throughout the evening and quite possibly the most fabulously presented dishes i've ever had. note the amazing platter of dessert, served with scary red spun sugar claws. awesome.

mummsie!

napoleon III apartments in the Louvre

old man sculptures in the french galeries

mom & tom

candles & stained glass at Chartres

the labyrinth at Chartres ... was covered up with chairs.

me at THE buddha bar ... mom and i just stumbled upon it on our walk back to the hotel one day

cool buildings everywhere in Beaune, a tiny little village in Burgundy

from a little winery we went to ... we learned about "les grands crus", saw wine fields, and tasted wine straight from the barrel on our mini-wine tour




l'ivresse c'est l'art d'être plein, comme la plénitude c'est l'art d'être ivre Philippe Léotard