So now that November is nearing its end, I am finally getting to do a little traveling! Last weekend I went on an overnight trip with NYU to Grenoble, a city in France that lies in the foothills of the Alps.
NYU offers three different trips to students over the course of the semester, which are included in what we already pay for tuition) and everyone is guaranteed to go on at least one. Cassie, Caitlin, and I all signed up for Grenoble and we have been looking forward to it since the beginning of the semester.
DAY 1:
We met at the Gare Lyon at 7:20 (the earliest time I have seen in quite a while) to embark on the 3 hour journey to the south eastern area of France. After we arrived, we were able to go off on our own for a little while to explore and eat lunch before meeting to take the télépherique (a cable tram) up to the top of the Bastille (a fort). Once at the top, we spent the afternoon enjoying the fresh air and beautiful fall weather on top of a mountain including views of the Alps in the distance.
After playing around the Bastille, we headed back down the mountain and boarded the bus to take us to the Chartreuse liquor caves. These are the largest liquor caves in the world and home to the erie green liquor known as Chartreuse (obviously for it's color). We got to learn all about the distillation process and the history of the liquor, which is made by monks. Fun fact: at any given time, only two monks ever know the exact recipe and quantity of ingredients to make the liquor! NYU even arranged for us to have a little degustation after our tour. My review: the taste is pretty odd, maybe a mix between liquorish and herbs.
By this point we were all exhausted, but the day was definitely not over! We checked into the hotel and had about an hour to rest before it was time to head back up to the top of the Bastille to enjoy the views of Grenoble by night and have our wonderful dinner. First we met outside the restaurant, Chez le Per' Gras, to sip some mulled wine and taste olive bread (both specialties of the area) I loved the atmosphere of this as everyone was milling around. It was almost like a bonfire, without the fire... if that makes sense.
The dinner was a four course meal! We ate pumpkin soup with chestnuts to start, then we moved on the the main course, roclette. Roclette is a little bit like fondu, you melt the cheese in this contraption and then you dump it over potatoes. They also brought out a plate of various meats that you can mix into you potato/ cheese creation. (this dish is not for the faint of heart... I was preparing to have my friends to roll back down the mountain) If that wasn't enough, for dessert we were served a decadent Nougat ice cream, made with the Noix de Grenoble (a nut that comes from the region) Finally we had coffee and expresso, before heading back down to the hotel to promptly pass out. Did I mention that the wine never stopped coming over the course of this meal (including the new beaujolais vintage that all of France was going crazy over last weekend)??
DAY 2:
We woke up early again and had breakfast at our hotel before checking out and throwing all our bags on the bus. Then we went and met up with the group to go on a walking tour of the old
city of Grenoble. Honestly, I could have done without the walking tour, as I would have enjoyed having a little more free time to explore and shop on my own, but it was interesting none the
less.
After the walking tour we got on the bus to drive to Pont en Royans, a small but cute town with some of the most picturesque views! There didn't seem to be very much going on here, but we enjoyed walking around the town anyways and having a nice long lunch in a restaurant over looking a small river and waterfall. Although some other students did choose to do a little hiking... you all know that's not quite my style.
The last stop of the day was the caves in Choranche. This was probably my favorite thing, aside from the roclette dinner, although the drive up the narrow, winding, mountainous road in an enormous bus did not please me quite as much... These caves are huge and filled with stalactites and stalagmites. There is also tons of water in the cave, ranging from little pools to smallish lakes. I was really blown away by everything in here... nature at its finest!!
By the end of the day we were all WIPED. We made it back to the train station in Valence and waited for the train to come that would take us back to Paris. The train ride back was really enjoyable as we talked about all the great things that we got to do this weekend!
Next up: Prague!!
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