entry created: Thursday 23 October 2008, 4:14am (NZ time) latest entry  |  archive  |  about  |  contact  |  guestbook

Location:  Grenoble, France Local time:  Wednesday, 5:15pm Music:   Brrr! I'd forgotten what it was like to be North of the Cote d'Azur in October! Cold. I'm in Grenoble at the moment, where I spent some time in March/April last year. I'm catching up with friends before flying to Dublin, Ireland tomorrow. I've heard a pint of the black stuff (Guiness) tastes better there - I hope so, coz I've never liked the taste of it anywhere else! The other day I managed to fit in a quick trip to Lyon, France's third-largest city (after Paris and Marseille), historically known as the silk capital of the world, and 1.5hrs from Grenoble by train. Very cool city... so here's some photos from that day... Looking out across the Saône river. The many red roofs of the city (pop. ~3 million). The back of an apartment building covered with a huge mural of famous past characters of Lyon. Really well done, I thought. That's central France's only skyscraper. Lyon was once the capital of Gaul - the Roman name for the region of Western Europe comprising present day northern Italy, France, Belgium, western Switzerland and the parts of the Netherlands and Germany. There's even a couple of Roman amphitheatres here. (Remember Asterix the Gaul?) Lyon's town hall, built in the 1600s. I loved the way the roof shimmered in the sunlight. Apparently a very Lyonnaise scene. I wasn't expecting houseboats here. A BMX-er awaits his turn in the 'bowl'. This guy continued to impress the crowd. They like to drink here, it would seem. Unfortunately it appears that the local recycling scheme can't keep up with their consumption. < previous     next >