Woke up at 11 am this morning, very groggy to give the key away so the the meter can be paid. i usually wake up before seven as Tal is an early riser, but now 11 was not enough.
but no time to waste, in minutes i was outside, obtained some water and with fresh bread from the bolungery made some cheese sandwiches and some hazel nut spread sandwiches. soon we were on our way and drove up the mountain to le sappe des charteuse. the idea was to take a medium 3 hours loop hike. we parked at the village center and tried to figure out where the trail begins. we received incorrect directions to go up the ski slopes till we hit the GR9 trail. these directions were technically correct, but have you ever walked up a ski slope? even with no snow, it is incredibly steep.. we probably stopped for air every 100 meters or so, each step was difficult. but the mountain was green, with lots of wild flowers with a nice warm sun and blue skies. it was worth it. we ixsed our way up for about 2 k till we hit the trail at the top of the ridge. from there it became much easier. the trail passed by edge of a huge cliff. it was few hundred meters straight down. the trail is about 5-10 meters away from the edge, you go in the forest and every so often there s a gap and the view is incredible, below us is a long green valley with the grenoble suburbs and country side and behind low green hills, but behind them the high peaks of the Alps. about 2k later we reached a turning point. moti turned back down to the car and i decided to keep going on this trail. at first i reached a military fort, now a tourist destination. this fort overlooks the valley with spectacular views. I purchased another water bottle. finished 1.5 litters in the 1st uphill, warm day. the trail passed around this outpost and from there steep switchbacks down down down from 1350 meters to around 700 , very arduous on the break muscles. i then hit the road, and walked next to it till the trail begins again, this little bit of road was perhaps 200 meters, 2 minutes or so , but then, Moti happened to pass by, had a choice to get a ride back, but i declined , rubbed more sunscreen and continued walking. the trail was in a much better state since the fort on top, but now i started climbing once more to about 900 meters, then for several kilometers the trails goes up and down. I passed by more nice views of the cliffs and the Alps and the trail began to steeply descend once more. this is a forest of cedar mainly, some wild flowers and no visible wildlife. at around 600 meters again i reached the top of the bastille. this is a 19th century impressive fortifications overlooking grenoble. half the mountain here is fortified. this fort is a tourist destination as well. the is a rock climbing and adventure park within and on the walls of this fort. but i was too tired for rock climbing. i walked the ground where the cable car from the city center reaches, but after 8 miles or so with the city center being below, i can't take the cable car and i decide to walk down. the trail switches back and forth down for 3 kilometers till it reaches the city. a very nice trail with many stops of work out as many runners run up this steep climb, crazy people. but the trail also passes in the many levels of the fortifications. it is huge! and well maintained. on one wall i find a huge scary looking beetle, the most impressive wild life of the day. i did spot a falcon, but it flew away quickly.i reached the city center below and made my way to the hotel for a much deserved shower and 10.5 miles of mountain hiking.
i caught up with moti who was having dinner in the main square. we got some ice cream and then i was by my self to roam the city, as moti went to rest.
Grenoble is a big city, but its old center is fairly small, it is pedestrian traffic only on most streets, and the houses are parisian looking, with lots of big squares, people eating in many restaurants on the streets and everywhere is lively. i just walk around consuming ice cream taking photos of churches, statues and various interesting things. i pass by a turkish kebab place and enjoy a shawarma , very yummy, i continue to walk around and pass by a little theater full of freaks. 50 or so actors are dressed in english style wigs for the men, some pointy wigs of the women. lots of make up on everybody, freaky masks, strange get ups. i am not sure what is the event. i keep walking around enjoying the tranquility and the little finds. a bit of art on a building here, an unexpected tower there. i really like discovering city centers such as they have here. at one point i passed by a parade of the freaks. in the few gardens in this city, the locals are swarming all over the grass and in the other side of the garden a stage is set, i think the freaks are headed there. i checked at the hotel and there no festival in town, but i think the hotel is misinformed but my legs have had enough. 2 miles of city walk after the long hike is enough and now back at the hotel.
a month ago i received a call. "want to come to the euro?" " you have 10 minutes to decide". my indecisive other half was contacted. we checked the this week is on Alla's good week (fewer working days, hence less sitters and craziness) and to my huge surprise i was authorized to go by local house management. within a day the trip was fully booked and on tuesday i left work at noon and headed for the airport. 1st leg to washington was eventless. i was traveling without a camera or my laptop as i would be supplied with both soon. before boarding in DC, The airline people said it was very hot on the plane and we have to wait for it to cool, so 30-40 minutes delay till we boarded to a still hot plane, then we waited over an hour inside, some mechanical problem. this was not a new plane, no self choosing videos and i didn't see any movie this time, but spoke with a 17 year old for hours. very chatty fellow. i managed to get 3-4 hours of nap and an hour after scheduled time landed in geneva. no lines in security or customers, but luggage took a while. but as i headed outside for the shuttle. my hotel just arrived, perfect timing and 5 minute later i was having breakfast of good bread, hazel nut spread, yummy cheese and chocolate milk. after a quick shower we left geneva and headed for Lyon. the car was a mercedes. never drove one before. it was WTF from the get go. where is the reverse? how do you open the lights (its auto apparently), i had to adjust to german engineering after my plane corolla. but this car can drive fast. Moti is navigating and misdirects me as he mistakes Paris with perly, after a slight detour we return to the highway and reach the toll. Moti had some overflow of small currency and it is probably funny and annoying for the car behind us to see a guy in a mercedes spends minutes paying with 5 cents currency for a 15 euro toll. he must think we are pan handlers (some of them are very rich, it can be a rewarding career). we reached lyon and decided to avoid traffic and parked at the city entrance in some public parking. there was a hotel there and we obtained a local map and began walking by the rhone river to the city center. after 40 minutes of nice river views we entered the festive center. the semi final is tonight and the welsh are everywhere. all in red, drinking, singing happily. it was joyous to watch. the old center has tons of artisan stores and pubs, and all pubs are swarms in hordes of red wearing welsh. and these people are celebrating. we walk the old town, then climbed up the stairs to Notre dame where soccer fans were enjoying the panoramic views of the city with its 2 larges rivers and mountains all around. we passed by the impressive roman theater and made our way down to the old city. i was wearing a red short and had my welsh scarf from my most enjoyable 2 days in cardiff 6-7 years ago. since i have not yet visited portugal. i decided to support wales. Moti was also supporting wales today but had no red shirt and was frantically looking for one. he asked several fans where they got their shirts, but they all came with one from wales. offers to buy shirts off their backs were denied. after few hours of roaming the lovely city center of lyon we identified a store that may sell welsh shirts. since that store was closer to the train to the stadium, we hiked to it. No welsh shirts in the nike shop at the big mall but the Adidas one had some red shorts. i got a man united shirt and moti received a red adidas shirt. fully red, we stopped for sub way and headed to the train. it was clear in the city that welsh fan outnumber the portugease fans. this of portugal were rarely seen in the city and they were very quiet and that stood in contrast with the singing welsh. we boarded the free train to the stadium, finished the sandwich and then began trying to access the venue.
we had to deposit the camera, walking stick and backpack with the concierge. one security guy told me i can just have the camera, but another refused. had to dump it all. finally we were in and as i told moti all day. there was a shop selling shirts. it was fairly cheap as well. now Moti purchased an official shirt and cap. we bought overpriced water and headed to our seats. the atmosphere was incredible. red everywhere as this applies for both teams and here finally we could see the Portuguese fans , here they were loud as well. the pregame show was cute and our seats were on the center line, but a bit up. still great views.
at half time we went to answer the call of nature and then the call of popcorn. there was a bit of a line and 2nd half began and i made the mistake and stayed, to see ronaldo scoring on the TV monitor, to the roar of the crowds. i went inside quickly just in time to see the 2nd goal live this time, but still heading for my seat.
the game itself was not great, but the experience made up for what the game lacked. the welsh kept singing and at the end, the welsh players came close to the main welsh gate and clapped the the crowds who kept singing " Don't take me home, please don't take me home". the fans were singing this all day in the city, but now they would be going home. we were sad for them.
it took us an hour to rebound the train back to the city, very organizes but slow moving lines. after that we walked a while to the bus stop, then waited 20 minutes and finally the bus took us to he parking lot.
at around 1 am we left lyon after about 12-15k of city walk, many photos, many happy welsh at first and happy Portuguese later. with one missing things which will make the stadium cleaning crew very happy. cash.
the roads were fairly empty at this time of night and in an hour and a half or so we reached grenoble and parked out side (no hotel parking) after a quick shower, i was out. I was awoken by hotel staff ad 8:30, to ensure the meter is paid. i went to load up on provisions (bread, water, cheese and hazelnut spread, all the essentials) and on my return, a romanian person was trying to off load game tickets to Moti. he said there is a train to Marseille every hour and it takes and hour and a half no problem. as the talk continues the train time became 2 hours and more. the guy said he is going as well, he had 3 tickets he got from his family. he also has a friend who is a uefa official. possibly the source of the tickets. he sold them at face value, the tickets looked legit. it didn't take long for us to drop our hiking plans. we found that the train, the fast one is full and the slow once requires a train change and no train back tonight. so we went to the mercedes again and began driving 3 hours south. the car has no insurance in some eastern europe countries and also in south of france, but it was ok, since it is insured for moti only and i was driving... most of the way, but i did take an hour nap on the way, much needed.
as we reached the end of the tollway, moti went to park at some side way restaurant and parked next to a car with the owner and his dog standing nearby. the bip bip apparatus didn't make a sound and we didn't hear a thing but all of the sudden this french guy bursts out in accusations. it seems that Moti did scratch the other dude's mercedes, but no visible damage. after few minutes of ranting, he accepted 50 Euro and was on his way,
the question now was where to park, after lyon, we didn't want to be far and tried to find a place close the the game, in a sod out city, the closest hotel was full, but Moti convinced them to let us park in return of using the restaurant there. it still took us another hour to pass the city traffic. the parking lot here is narrow and after we parked we saw another scratch mark on the car... unknown origin. it was around 4 pm when we stepped out , very close to the stadium and the streets are full of french and german supporters , screaming, singing and mostly drinking. here scarves, shirts and noise makers were sold more openly and the streets nearby were sealed of to foot traffic only. this day was a scorcher. with few hours to go we headed for the noter dame cathedral, it seems that big french cities have a noter dame. this one was on top of a hill as well. we hiked up , watched the med sea unfold and the few islands nearby and the nice harbor views. we walked by a big abbey and then began walking back to the stadium, 15 minutes later we finally got a taxi which dropped us 15 minutes before the venue as roads were closed. we had a good dinner at the hotel and refreshed a bit in the bathroom and then we headed for the stadium in a sea of fans. this time we decided to be pro french but didn't get a shirt. i had a blue shirt and nothing more appropriate. now a bit wiser, i purchased water and food before the game that should last till the end. no more missed goals for me. the french were dominating in the stands, singing loudly and it was fun to watch and sing along. the game itself was much better and in the end, The french were victorious. when something happened at the end of the 1st half, no one knew whats going on, no replays, we didn't know why a penalty kick was given till much later. still no french could give a frog's butt on this decision. they were celebrating. as the game ended, we left quickly, no delays this time and we reached the car quickly. but there the mistake happened. we should have taken a left on the one way streets and escape the madness, but as insurance less, and law abiding citizens, we went right, and right into the ocean of happy french, we were stuck on a side street for 30-40 minutes moving a inch a minute where hordes of smiling people sing to us, wave flags and block us from leaving. it was fun to see, but it was late with a long way to go and we wanted to escape. finally we were let go of the mayhem , and drove a bit to get stuck once more. people and cars were blocking the roads and we had to get out of the car to block traffic to let us get out. we were moving and saw no cops directing this madness, till we finally saw a cop car. this cop was blocking the coastal road we were on. argh..... they were directing us back to the stadium!!!! both ways and google maps kept directing us to this blocked intersection, but we couldn't, we headed back, but finally we decided to tried the road again, left the slow moving road and reached the same spot and now no cops, not sure what happened but we were moving again, slowly and slowly faster till after 2 hours we finally left the city. we loaded up on night driving provisions and began heading north. since we didn't get much sleep the night before, and i was on a night flight the previous night, the drive was hard, but the milk chocolate , lots of water, face slapping, window opening, singing and other methods kept us alert and at 4 am we were in our grenoble hotel, exhausted. after a shower, i was out in seconds and woke up in 11.... and you already read what happened afterwards.
time to go to sleep, I have 8 hours of sleep ahead of me this night,,,,, a luxury, tomorrow we head for geneva, with another medium hike on the way some where.
cheers from grand hotel grenoble
