Sunday started early not because of skiing but because I was going to drop of the boys in Geneva for their flight back home. Thanks for a great great week guys, feel free to revisit any time!
Back in Grenoble I met up with Johanna for a sunday walkabout eating a nice lunch down-town and then walking the Isére esplanade. This esplanade is situatede just next to the river that runs through the city, and is only open on Sundays, all other days it's for driving only. The sun actually gave us some moments of light during our walk, on this otherwise quite grey day.
tisdag 30 mars 2010
The Birthday Party
The drive back from Saint Sorlin d'Arves was quite tiresome ending up in queues on the highway. Saturday is the exchange day where people come and go on all of the resorts, of course I knew this before but didn't care that much. Anyway the drive back to Grenoble took approximately 3 h twice the time anticipated. While back in Grenoble we were quite tired but in spite of this we decided to hit the town. We strolled around for some time checking out the shopping and food. This was actually the first time I got to walk around the city during opening hours, it's obvious that I will spend a lot more time downtown now when the skiing season sadly draws to a close. On our way back from town we met three madcap Swedish girls hanging out on a café, and as it turned out we hadn't seen or heard the last from them this day.
While back at the apartment we needed a nap and what could be better sleeping to a Saturday premier league game.
After the nap we needed to get ready for the evening activity, we had been invited to a French colleague of mine to a birthday party. The evening turned out to a really nice evening with wine and some really great home cooked finger food. By almost coincidence two of the three ladies we met earlier this day was also at this party, anyway they were all over the place giving some of the guests a hard time. The French guests were quite tied up because there was this rugby game on the TV between France and Italy, France won. Big thanks to Yann for a great evening!
While back at the apartment we needed a nap and what could be better sleeping to a Saturday premier league game.
After the nap we needed to get ready for the evening activity, we had been invited to a French colleague of mine to a birthday party. The evening turned out to a really nice evening with wine and some really great home cooked finger food. By almost coincidence two of the three ladies we met earlier this day was also at this party, anyway they were all over the place giving some of the guests a hard time. The French guests were quite tied up because there was this rugby game on the TV between France and Italy, France won. Big thanks to Yann for a great evening!
måndag 29 mars 2010
Les Sybelles
During week 11 I had some friends coming over from Sweden we were going to do some serious skiing. We actually did the booking before I knew I was going to move to Grenoble, the ski area we were going to is called Les Sybelles and the major villages are Toussuire, Corbier and Saint Sorlin d'Arves. They were quite happy about me moving here since I could pick them up at Geneva airport avoiding the long and tiresome bus trip.
Grenoble
First day we spent in Grenoble doing some sightseeing visiting some of the cafés down-town, taking the cable car up to the La Bastille drinking some Chartreuse. In the evening we had a Raclette session in my apartment gormandising on Raclette cheese and some interesting saussicons bought for this occasion only. After the dinner we headed out on the town exploring the city night life. Also big thanks to Fredrik who lent his apartment to me for the weekend, giving us plenty of room. I do sincerely apologise for the car parts and the vomit found in his apartment afterwards.
Saturday in Oz
We woke up on Saturday with beautiful sunny weather I also had a plan. Since our accommodation in Saint Sorlin d'Arves wasn't going to be ready until the afternoon I suggested that we could go to a nearby station driving the mountain pass Col de la Croix de Fer (pass of the iron cross) to Les Sybelles after skiing in Alpes d'Huez during the day. This was a good plan since google maps said it was only a 30 min drive over the mountain. Well this turned out to be really bad idea since the pass was closed and will not open until late May, the consequence of this was that we were forced to go back to Grenoble, this detour around the mountain range took us almost 2,5 hours. The day in Oz and Alpe d'Huez was however great, with some of the best skiing during the trip it was however only myself and Peter that was skiing, Andy and Jesper was feeling hangover or whatever and stayed in Oz testing the local pizzerias.
Les Sybelles
We were staying in a small calm village called Saint Sorlin d'Arves there is not much there besides some old churches a cheese cooperative perhaps it is most famous for its regularly features in the Tour de France route. Well we were staying in a quite crappy room containing some nice mold, spider webs and two guys from Gothenborg. We however quite fast found our place in this misery in a place called Beau Soleil with fresh interior and a cozy bar we were happy. We spent every evening in Saint Sorlin d'Arves hanging in this place. Another favourite in Saint Sorlin d'Arves was the l'Avalance café which was a quite nice bar featuring some really good live music.
The slopes in Les Sybelles are not very challenging and the altitude is not high but the system in whole is of decent size and if you relax and not stress the skiing, the area is more than ok for a whole week.
But the the single best thing with trip was the weather. Every day was sunny and warm, some days while eating lunch in the slopes we were probably having over 20 degrees. Of course the quality of the slopes deteriorate because of this, and the last day we were skiing in milkshake. Instead we enjoyed the terrace bars up on the mountain ridges drinking beer in the sun.
Now I'm looking forward to the next ski excursion to Verbier Switzerland, in the beginning of April.
Grenoble
First day we spent in Grenoble doing some sightseeing visiting some of the cafés down-town, taking the cable car up to the La Bastille drinking some Chartreuse. In the evening we had a Raclette session in my apartment gormandising on Raclette cheese and some interesting saussicons bought for this occasion only. After the dinner we headed out on the town exploring the city night life. Also big thanks to Fredrik who lent his apartment to me for the weekend, giving us plenty of room. I do sincerely apologise for the car parts and the vomit found in his apartment afterwards.
Saturday in Oz
We woke up on Saturday with beautiful sunny weather I also had a plan. Since our accommodation in Saint Sorlin d'Arves wasn't going to be ready until the afternoon I suggested that we could go to a nearby station driving the mountain pass Col de la Croix de Fer (pass of the iron cross) to Les Sybelles after skiing in Alpes d'Huez during the day. This was a good plan since google maps said it was only a 30 min drive over the mountain. Well this turned out to be really bad idea since the pass was closed and will not open until late May, the consequence of this was that we were forced to go back to Grenoble, this detour around the mountain range took us almost 2,5 hours. The day in Oz and Alpe d'Huez was however great, with some of the best skiing during the trip it was however only myself and Peter that was skiing, Andy and Jesper was feeling hangover or whatever and stayed in Oz testing the local pizzerias.
Les Sybelles
We were staying in a small calm village called Saint Sorlin d'Arves there is not much there besides some old churches a cheese cooperative perhaps it is most famous for its regularly features in the Tour de France route. Well we were staying in a quite crappy room containing some nice mold, spider webs and two guys from Gothenborg. We however quite fast found our place in this misery in a place called Beau Soleil with fresh interior and a cozy bar we were happy. We spent every evening in Saint Sorlin d'Arves hanging in this place. Another favourite in Saint Sorlin d'Arves was the l'Avalance café which was a quite nice bar featuring some really good live music.
The slopes in Les Sybelles are not very challenging and the altitude is not high but the system in whole is of decent size and if you relax and not stress the skiing, the area is more than ok for a whole week.
But the the single best thing with trip was the weather. Every day was sunny and warm, some days while eating lunch in the slopes we were probably having over 20 degrees. Of course the quality of the slopes deteriorate because of this, and the last day we were skiing in milkshake. Instead we enjoyed the terrace bars up on the mountain ridges drinking beer in the sun.
Now I'm looking forward to the next ski excursion to Verbier Switzerland, in the beginning of April.
måndag 8 mars 2010
Ski de fond
Believe it or not but the weather has not been that great recently, meaning that you do not want to pay 40 euros for a one day ski pass at one of the bigger stations. So this Sunday we decided that we should try some cross country skiing (the first time in my life). We decided to drive to the Vercors plateau which is quite close to Grenoble only about 40 min drive. We were going to a place called Villard de Lans which is known for its cross country skiing opportunities. Funny is that in this small town the guy in the ski rental had some Swedish language skills it turns out the guy once lived in Sweden working for Rossignol.
As we were all beginners we wanted to try everything so we started with Nordic skiing changing to skating in the afternoon. It turned out to be more difficult than I could possible imagine I fell several times, especially difficult was it to go down, you have no control at all just sliding, I was skiing like Bambi on ice, to the great amusement of Johanna and Mikael. A good thing to know is that you shouldn't eat Tartiflette in the middle of two cross country sessions. The Tartiflette totally blew me away stealing my energy for the second race. It was fun to try and I will probably do it again however not on the expense of a sunny day when it's good conditions for alpine skiing.
In the afternoon we decided to go for a walk down-town Grenoble, it was spring in the air and around 15 degrees. It felt amazing being able to ski in the morning, and in the afternoon sitting outdoors in a café, sipping on a coffee in t-shirt.
As we were all beginners we wanted to try everything so we started with Nordic skiing changing to skating in the afternoon. It turned out to be more difficult than I could possible imagine I fell several times, especially difficult was it to go down, you have no control at all just sliding, I was skiing like Bambi on ice, to the great amusement of Johanna and Mikael. A good thing to know is that you shouldn't eat Tartiflette in the middle of two cross country sessions. The Tartiflette totally blew me away stealing my energy for the second race. It was fun to try and I will probably do it again however not on the expense of a sunny day when it's good conditions for alpine skiing.
In the afternoon we decided to go for a walk down-town Grenoble, it was spring in the air and around 15 degrees. It felt amazing being able to ski in the morning, and in the afternoon sitting outdoors in a café, sipping on a coffee in t-shirt.
Le Village
At last I received an excellent meal in Grenoble! Though my previous restaurant experiences in this city not been bad in any way, I just haven't had that wow sensation until this Wednesday. We were an unusual big crowd this day, some colleagues visiting were also joining this day. We were going to this place called Le Village on Rue de Strasbourg just opposite to the apartment hotel were half the of the expatriate gang lives. The restaurant is really small housing approximately only around 30 guests with discrete and modern decoration. Wine and food excellent and the waiters professional. Le Village is also by the way featured in Guide Rouge Michelin 2009.
The following was on my menu this evening, I started with fish for starter and filé Mignon for main dish, the third dish was a wonderful fromage framboise and I finished of with desert Crème glacée au café, all in all very excellent.
The following was on my menu this evening, I started with fish for starter and filé Mignon for main dish, the third dish was a wonderful fromage framboise and I finished of with desert Crème glacée au café, all in all very excellent.
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