Yeah, I know....I feel a little ashamed to be posting again all of 3 months after my last post. But time just sorta flew by after exams, the holidays, heading back to the US for Christmas...you know how the story goes. Before you know it, it's already mid-February and I'm wondering where the new year has gone already.
But anyway, new changes are up and I'm in Grenoble working with a bakery in the town of Fontaine, just right next to the larger French city of Grenoble. At the foot of the Alps, it provides a vast comparison to the beachy-town of La Rochelle. There's something about the mountains...maybe it's because Los Angeles too is nestled near the giant San Gabriel Mountains, that I got used to seeing them. They also happened to be a useful compass since my sense of direction is so abominable. That's another issue, but regardless, the mountains here are beautiful and snow-capped from all the snowfall during the winter here. To the north lies the Chartreuse, to the south and west the Vercors, and to the east the Belledonne range. Thus for this ample reason, Grenoble is often referred to as the capital of the Alps.
As for a little bit of history....historians first date references for this city back to 43 BC, when Grenoble was a little Gallic village named Cularo. When the Roman emperor Gratian visited Cularo, he was so pleased by the people's welcome that he made it a Roman city and named it Gratianopolis .... which led to Graignovol....and then just Grenoble. Not quite a logical name evolution in my thinking, but there you go. Grenoble grew significantly on account of its geographical position as a crossroads between Vienne, Geneva, Italy, and Savoy, and changed hands from the powerful Dauphin counts to the state of France when it became a province of the nation in 1340.
The city played a large part in the French Resistance during WWII. The Nazis were stopped near Grenoble during the Battle of the Alps, and the people managed to resist the German invasion until the armistice several years later. Due to its strategic position by the Alps, the resistance fighters were able to utilize their unique knowledge of the mountain passes and roads to create serious problems and attacks against the Nazi forces. Mont Jolla houses the Mountain Troop Memorial site, which was dedicated in 2000 to all the mountain troops who fought in 18 different battles...these battles include the Battle of the Alps in 1940, the Italian campaign that lasted from 1943 to 1945. Over 150,000 people who died in these Resistance movements.
Today, mountain sports are a huge attraction in this region both in the summer and winter - no less than 20 ski stations surround the city, with the nearest being Le Sappey-en-Chartreuse about a 15 minute drive away. It's quite easy to access the ski stations from Grenoble, and the heavily trafficked highways each weekend show no decrease in visitors this year. I've managed to visit a different ski station each weekend since arriving here and they offer plenty to do besides the traditional skiing and snowboarding options.
Grenoble. Is. Beautiful.
I have an internship with a bakery just across the street, and I'm learning to make all sorts of wonderful breads and pastries, and somehow bungle through it with my limited French. They think my American accent is funny, and I'm just happy that I can be understood half the time. Not a bad trade-off at all :)
My little house in Fontaine. I rent a studio on the first floor, and I think there are probably 7 other people crammed in this tiny maison...so perhaps not the perfect accommodation but it's my own room and super close to work, so I can't complain too much!
The beautiful mountains during one of our hikes from La Féclaz, the large ski station close to Chambéry. Since we didn't have our ski stuff at the moment, we took a snow hike instead up to the Croix du Nivolet, a monument all of 1,547 m above Chambéry.
The original cross was inaugurated in 1861 at a different location. When the site of the cross and its corresponding chapel were set to be demolished to make way for construction, the brotherhood agreed only as long as the cross were moved and thus spared from the scheduled destruction. The current site of Nivolet was thus chosen. It has since undergone several reconstructions due to hurricanes, natural disasters, and an attack during WWII. The current cross as can be seen now is a whopping 70 tons and 21.5 meters high (approximately 70 feet).
