Friday, July 31, 2015

Post #2 -This Ain't Peggy Fleming's Grenoble

From Geneva, our trip took a turn South, to Grenoble. On the way, we stopped in Annecy for lunch. Doc ate bone marrow ravioli. Gross, right? It was a cool town, but this post is all Grenoble, so don't distract ME. Before we get into any personal details of our Grenoble experience, let's look at some fun facts about the city itself! (thanks Wikipedia!!)

Little did we know that the venerable city of Grenoble (population 150,000 non-bathing residents) dates back to 43BC. Named Gratianopolis, after a Roman Emperor in 381AD, the name eventually evolved into Grenoble, likely because no one understands a damn thing the French say. Come on, get those marbles out of your mouth already!

The Bastille is one of the main tourist attractions of the storied city of Grenoble is the Bastille. For those unaware, The Bastille is the name of a fortress culminating at 476 m (1,561ft) above sea level, at the south end of the Chartreuse mountain range, overlooking the city of Grenoble, France. You may not remember that the Bastille was the longtime home of the man in the iron mask. It made a somewhat inhospitable residence for Phillipe, lacking many of the basic staples of modern comfort. Phillipe, for those that did not read Alexandre Dumas' masterpiece, was the twin brother of King Louis. Phillipe was royalty, slumming against his will in a backwater Grenoble dive.

So let's talk about our Hotel. The Hotel Royal.

Seriously. I am not making this stuff up. Much like Phillipe, our royal crew did some serious non-consensual slumming in historic, venerated Grenoble.




Is that Branford in your pocket, or are you just happy to see ME?


We had to stay in Grenoble only because of the tunnel on D1091. For more details, see the link below. In summary, our plan to stay in Briancon as an easy connection to Alpe d'Huez blew up like Oprah at a fish fry, as a result of some dodgy French engineering. The tunnel collapse meant we had to re-route our commute. What was originally a 90 minute drive became a white knuckle switchback-ridden 3 hour tour. Solution? Stay a night in a low budget Grenoble hotel, hit L'Alpe the next day, then directly on to our style pad in idyllic Briancon*. My lovely bride searched for and found a place that looked acceptable. So we booked it. conveniently located next to a fine restaurant, Le Coq Noir. The peoples were not happy.

Why? Well, let's just say free range air conditioning and Le Coq Noir played pivotal roles in the overall downward groupthink spiral. NO A/C?? Blasphemy to Texans/Badgers and the Pennsylvania Dutch alike! Next to Le Coq Noir?? (did you know that means Black Cock?) Well, Black Rooster. But you are following me. Oh, and the elevator was the size of a large dumbwaiter. One person and a carryon bag. And some faith in mankind. Still, we made the best of it. The guy working the front desk was a massive hulk of friendliness***. Seriously nice guy, with very friendly service. Just remember that as an offset to Le Coq Noir.

Late that afternoon, we assembled the bikes in the lobby for a little shakeout ride. Fueled by some Heineken and pre-Alpe angst, we hit the road for a 15 mile tour of not-so-GreatNoble. When I say hit the road, it's an unfortunately literal description for the Ticket. As we wrapped up the spin, which included some tense traffic interactions, Gypsy dwelling drivebys and a spritzer of French rain, Big man lodged his tire in a drainage grid, going slo-mo endo. Damaging his already shoddy hip, his knee, his ego, and most importantly his big ring shifter. Less than 24 hours from the Alpe Assault and we had a game changing mechanical. [LOW POINT OF TRIP].

Less than a km** from the Royal, we coasted home in very low spirits.

While fully bummed, the group had to eat. Toni saved the night through deft use of Yelp. She suggested a Thai place called Mei Shan. we dragged ass over there, tired, bummed and HONGRY. This place was the shining jewel of the G-Noble experience!! The owner doted on us, much to the chagrin of some of his French customers. The food was fabulous, and the Côtes du Rhône was both delicious and unbelievably affordable. We totally blended in to the scene. No one even suspected we were American. Despite the crash and the accommodations, excitement remained over the Alpe Assault.

Sleeping that night would have been tough even in the most ideal conditions. Nothing ideal about these conditions, ladies and gents. windows open created a slight breeze, but also let every drunk hobo's voice into the room. The doc slept with his door open, at the Gay Friendly Hotel Royal. It was that bad. With maybe 3 hours of sleep, we arose to an "American Breakfast" and a chance to showcase our packing skills. Once packed, we headed to Borg d'Oissans to get Tick's bike all fixed, and to take care of some BUSINESS!!



The city sleeps, but not ME

Link to the Broken Link-

http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/grenoble-to-brian%C3%A7on-d1091-closed.182525/


Mei Shan - it's that good!!
http://www.yelp.com/biz_photos/mei-shan-grenoble?select=IxgmW2nDlq_D0DMJS3rIjA#iBGjqHUYvdEhZsW0Kz7J7A

FOOTNOTES ARE MY FAVORITE!!

* we aren't going back to Grenoble!! This is the first I am hearing of this!!!! - Yeti (while in Mr Hyde mode)

**I am a fan of the metric system. No, I am not a communist.

*** Perhaps he was a descendant of Jean-Jacques Rousseau(1712–1778) – philosopher and writer, and resident of Grenoble. J-J was the proponent of man as the Noble Savage, and a general fan of nature. He probably liked Heineken.



NEXT UP = = = = ACTUAL BIKE STUFF!!! ASSAULT ON L'ALPE, OR L'ALPE ASSAULTS US.

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