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Wednesday, July 30th, 2008
Journey to Le Tour...Part Deux
After a fun two days in Gene it was time to head closer to our goal...LE TOUR.
Pat and I headed to the train station with help of our hosts Mother Barbara...and it we jumped on a French Train...destination...Grenoble.
There were plenty of great sites as we zipped at the edge of the Alps.
On the train Pat and I met a few travelers. A couple girls from Denmark who loved talking politics. One of the girls father was the head of the third most popular political group in Denmark. I hate talking politics in Europe. Our fearless leader doesn't tend to be a popular subject. We also met a Canadian Russian named Vova who had all of his belongings stolen from him in Milan two days earlier.
Vova agreed to help Pat and I try to jump on a bus to the Alp D'Huez where the tour would be arriving the next day. Upon arrival Vova did all the talking at the bus station in French....but it was quite clear with out words that that option was not looking good. No more buses today. No buses tomorrow. Our plan foiled. So we parted ways with Vova to head to the Tourism headquarters.
Inside I heard some English between an Aussie and an American. They were discussing LE TOUR. I approached them. The Aussie was biking through Europe. The American was traveling....the American agreed to show us where he was staying...enter Tim from Arizona to our traveling team.
Tim was staying in some University dorms that they rent out for 13 Euro a night. Free internet. Showers. Beds. And a nice view of another apartment building.
Pat and I decided we would walk around and check out the city.
On the train the girls from Denmark had a travel book...inside it says the one thing you cannot miss in Grenoble is La Bastille. So Pat and I continued our "travel up Gondola thingies" Tour and jumped in these pod thingies.
They brought us to the top of La Bastille which has an amazing view of the city of Grenoble.
.
Unfortunately when you travel as far as Pat and I did. There is no time to relax.
No time to relax at all.
All that sitting in the sun made me hungry for a waffle that I saw all these little kids eating.
Man was it tasty. Being in a 19th century fort. We felt the need to explore.
I caught Pat off guard hiding in the dark.
Pat then decided to defend the fort with an imaginary sword.
Foreign armies beware.
The whole time I was just wondering where the Tour riders were biking at that very moment.
We then realized we should meet up with Tim for dinner. What great success La Bastille was!
Tim is poor from traveling around Europe for several months so we offered to take him out to eat. It was the least we could do for his help in saving us headache and big bucks.
Delicious foreign food was had by all.
The waitress then told us we should try a green drink made by monks outside of Grenoble....called chartreuse. Green drinks made by monks.....sounds innocent. It wasn't....had quite the kick. Pat thought it tasted great! Sucked it right up.
Tim came to like it over time.
It took me awhile to get used to.
With the green stuff near gone...we decided to call it a night.
The next day we would have to wake up early to try and get a rent a car to drive into the
mountains to Alp D'Huez. LE TOUR!!!!!!!!!!! Here we come!
Journey to Le Tour...Part Deux
After a fun two days in Gene it was time to head closer to our goal...LE TOUR.
Pat and I headed to the train station with help of our hosts Mother Barbara...and it we jumped on a French Train...destination...Grenoble.
There were plenty of great sites as we zipped at the edge of the Alps.
On the train Pat and I met a few travelers. A couple girls from Denmark who loved talking politics. One of the girls father was the head of the third most popular political group in Denmark. I hate talking politics in Europe. Our fearless leader doesn't tend to be a popular subject. We also met a Canadian Russian named Vova who had all of his belongings stolen from him in Milan two days earlier.
Vova agreed to help Pat and I try to jump on a bus to the Alp D'Huez where the tour would be arriving the next day. Upon arrival Vova did all the talking at the bus station in French....but it was quite clear with out words that that option was not looking good. No more buses today. No buses tomorrow. Our plan foiled. So we parted ways with Vova to head to the Tourism headquarters.
Inside I heard some English between an Aussie and an American. They were discussing LE TOUR. I approached them. The Aussie was biking through Europe. The American was traveling....the American agreed to show us where he was staying...enter Tim from Arizona to our traveling team.
Tim was staying in some University dorms that they rent out for 13 Euro a night. Free internet. Showers. Beds. And a nice view of another apartment building.
Pat and I decided we would walk around and check out the city.
On the train the girls from Denmark had a travel book...inside it says the one thing you cannot miss in Grenoble is La Bastille. So Pat and I continued our "travel up Gondola thingies" Tour and jumped in these pod thingies.
They brought us to the top of La Bastille which has an amazing view of the city of Grenoble.
Unfortunately when you travel as far as Pat and I did. There is no time to relax.
No time to relax at all.
All that sitting in the sun made me hungry for a waffle that I saw all these little kids eating.
Man was it tasty. Being in a 19th century fort. We felt the need to explore.
I caught Pat off guard hiding in the dark.
Pat then decided to defend the fort with an imaginary sword.
Foreign armies beware.
The whole time I was just wondering where the Tour riders were biking at that very moment.
We then realized we should meet up with Tim for dinner. What great success La Bastille was!
Tim is poor from traveling around Europe for several months so we offered to take him out to eat. It was the least we could do for his help in saving us headache and big bucks.
Delicious foreign food was had by all.
The waitress then told us we should try a green drink made by monks outside of Grenoble....called chartreuse. Green drinks made by monks.....sounds innocent. It wasn't....had quite the kick. Pat thought it tasted great! Sucked it right up.
mountains to Alp D'Huez. LE TOUR!!!!!!!!!!! Here we come!
3 Comments
1) Wonderful. I love reading your travel blogs. Great fun to read and I can imagine the fun you must be having doing all this stuff.
LimeyGeorge Thursday, July 31, 2008
LimeyGeorge Thursday, July 31, 20082) Great photos and blog! Did you get a new cell phone? Leslie Thursday, July 31, 2008
Leslie Thursday, July 31, 20083) the Pod Thingies are VERY COOL! JMD Thursday, July 31, 2008
JMD Thursday, July 31, 2008Leave a Comment
