Grenoble

This is where I'm currently living... It doesn't always look like this though. As many of you may have heard the weather over here has been less than kind. Its been freezing cold and very snowy for the past week. However today the sky cleared up and the sun came out. As such I was able to take the money shot you see above. I even took a ride up in the Bastille in the Gondala you can see above the river.

I'm enjoying my stay here and certainly finding my French improving day by day (both due to lessons and the constant need to parler). Its interesting living in a city of a similar size to Wellington while in France. However Grenoble is very different from Wellington. For starters, as much as it's surrounded by the Alps it is actually the flattest city in France. Within the central city there is only about 5 meters of elevation change from one side to the other or something ridiculous like that. Also the city has been fairly free to sprawl so its density outside of the old town is more similar to a Le Corbusier project than the tightly packed environment in Welly. Huge apartment blocks are surrounded by large tracts of open space, most of which is fairly desolate.

By contrast the campus area of the Ville has really excellent public space. The above photo is taken from almost the exact same spot, one just before the snow arrived and one right after. This park is right at the centre of campus and seems to be very well used (some people actually built a small snow jump on one of the slopes over there). These mountain like extrusions held up by rough stone retaining walls (excellent texture) make a simple but very effective connection between the campus and the surrounding landscape.

I'll finish with something light hearted. I am living in a rather poor area of Grenoble and though everyone actually seems nice, I've been told by many people that a lone Kiwi such as myself should be careful. The next photo clearly illustrates why!