France

Wednesday 8 June 2011

Fly to France.  Weather is ordinary in Calgary so I forget about spending the morning wandering around the city and just stay in the airport until my flight leaves.  Connect through Frankfurt with only a 2 hour layover, so most of the time is on the plane. 

Thursday 9 June 2011

Arrive Lyon 10am.  Catch shuttle to Grenoble and meet Clay at the bus station (gare).  Have lunch at a nice restaurant with him and a work colleague, who doesn't speak a word of English, then we go back to his work site and I help him install a lift.  It's a very fine-tuned process with exacting standards, and interesting work.  Move some furniture around in preparation for the arrival of the family members for the wedding.  We need three air mattresses at the new apartment, which will house all the Australians (Clay, Kelly, Mum and cousin Shane), and the Mexicans will stay at the old apartment (Katya, her mother Esther, her sister Soe, and Soe's Italian boyfriend Jean-Franco.  Clay's new apartment has some wonderful views of the mountains, and much more space than the old apartment.  Nearby is a huge Carrefour shopping centre and a couple of good patisseries / boulangeries, as well as a small park.  I think it will be a good location for raising the baby.

Friday 10 June 2011

Drive to Paris with Clay and Katya to pick up Mum, Kelly and Esther (Katya's mum) from Charles De Gaulle airport tomorrow.  Arrive in Paris late evening, and check in to the Ibis hotel at the airport.  Have dinner there also.  The train station is right down stairs from the hotel, and we can take the inter-terminal train to terminal 2 to collect Mum and to terminal 3 to collect Esther.  Much easier than driving to each terminal and trying to park.

Saturday 11 June 2011

Go to one terminal to pick up Mum.  Clay wasn't expecting Kel to come, so he was pleasantly surprised when she arrived with Mum.  Have to go to another terminal to get Katya's mum.  Take a bus to the Arch de Triumphe and have lunch in a cosy restaraunt.  Drive back to Grenoble and settle in; the Mexicans in Katya's old apartment and the Australians in the new apartment.

Sunday 12 June 2011

Big brunch at the old apartment.  Clay's Spanish is quite good so he's able to talk to Esther reasonably well, with a little help from Katya now and then, and Kelly knows a bit of the language also.  Climb with the 2 Julians and another friend Olivier.  The climbing here is just as I rememeber it; polished and hard!  Hopefully we cqan check out some different areas for climbing while we're here.

Monday 13 June 2011

Shopping for a suit for Clay, and a France SIM for me.  Katya, Mum and kelly also bought new clothes and shoes.  Played a great new card game called "Bohnanza" (originally a German game) that everyone back home will love.  I'll have to try and get a set.

Tuesday 14 June 2011

Shane arrived from London for the wedding.  We took Mum up to Chartruse to see the mountains and monastary museum.  Katya's sister Soe and her boyfriend Jean-Franco arrived late in the night from Barcelona.

Wednesday 15 June 2011

Climb at Le Coup de Sabre area in the Vercors.  Onsight 'Surprise Sur Prises' 7a.  Really interesting limestone formation, with lots of flat ledges and sloping features.  The rock here tends to be layered in sloping beds, so the ledges aren't horizontal.  This makes for interesting upward progression because you are fighting the slope and the subsequent barn-door that threatens seemingly at every step.

Thursday 16 June 2011

Drive around Grenoble and visit some more tourist sights.  Old church etc.  Lunch out with everyone.  Practice speaking French by ordering coffees and asking for a knife, etc.  I'm not really remembering much French that Clay is teaching me, but there are a few phrases and words I can manage to get out on accasion.