How Do You Like Your Alps? Cold and Icy Please!

Well it has been quite the two weeks since I last wrote! I went from being stranded in Barcelona by the French rail workers, to being rained on for days in Turin, to a few days of hiking in Grenoble, to a day of skiing in the French Alps, and finally a day of train rides up to London. I had been planning on touring through the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Austria prior to meeting my brother in Rome at the end of November, but this all changed when I found out that I had a limited number of days to spend in the EU, or rather the Shengen Area. But first, let me tell you about my return to Italy and France.

I visited Turin two years ago, the main reason being that U2 was having a concert there - and you all know, any chance to see U2 live and I'm there! I remember the city being so-so. There were pockets of brilliance, like the Eataly Market, and staying with Flavio and Anna, but I don't remember the city leaving a huge impression on me. It was a big surprise to me when I felt a special affinity for the city this time around. The first two days were very rainy so I wasn't able to go out and see much, and what I did see was a retracing of my steps from the previos visit (Eataly, Stadio Olympico, the Castello, etc.). It made me happy to see these places again and at the same it was hard to believe that more than two years had passed since I'd been there. But on my third day back, I was struck by the feeling that this was a place that I wouldn't mind spending a lot of time in. Although, this could just be me being charmed by returning to Italy! One of the things that also really caught my eye this time was the impressive street art. There was plenty of crappy graffiti throughout the city, but there were also pockets of eye-catching, (and what I imagine are) commissioned pieces - I've included some of my favorites that I saw below.

I made sure to get gelato while I was there and I even found a new favorite gelato shop (sorry Grom) called Gelato Popolare - they have a killer pistacchio flavor. For my last night in the city, I stayed at the Foresteria degli Artisti, which is an apartment that Alex and I had stayed in during our visit for the concert. The owners' names are Flavio and Anna and they are two of the most wonderful people. Last time they sent us away with gifts when we left as well as hugs and cheek kisses. They were equally sweet to me this time, I wish I had been able to stay at their place for more than a night! Anna kept giving me hugs, it made me feel like I had an Italian grandmother.

It was with a little bit of a heavy heart that I left the following day for the train station, but I got over this quickly as I was on my way to meet up with my friend Katya (whom I first met while we were both on the UNM bike team) and her sister Willa for a weekend in Grenoble. Originally, we had planned on trying to get up to Chamonix for some skiing, but had heard that the area didn't even open until the first of December. Because of this we changed plans and decided to spend a few days in Grenoble doing hikes in the area and then go southeast to Les Deux Alpes ski area. The hiking around Grenoble was great - very vertical! On the second to last day of our excursion into the Alps, we drove from Les Deux to Briançon. My inner bike geek went into overdrive as we passed places like the Col de Galibier, the Col d'Izoard, and la Grave. Hiking in this area was also great, the mountains were incredible with early season snow! Unfortunately, this lead to a few ankle-deep missteps into snow covered, half frozen mud pits. On the final day in the Alps, the three of us decided to ski. The glacier area of the mountain was open for the season, and rentals and lift tickets were reasonable so we figured, why not? It took a forty minute tram ride to get to an area that had enough snow, but once we were there it was worth all the ice, wind, tow lines, and European bro-boarders that we had to put up with!

One of the things that we discussed in Grenoble was how long I'm going to be staying in Europe. Katya brought up the fact that you're only allowed 90 days of travel. I was surprised by this - I had thought this was per country, not for the entire area! I looked it up and the actual rule is that visitors from the US can only travel for 90 days within a 180 day period in the so called "Shengen Area". This area includes most of mainland Europe, some non-EU countries, and excludes a few that are part of the EU. To give you and idea, Portugal, Spain, France, Italy, Germany, Switzerland, Luxembourg, Belgium, Austria, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Hungary, Greece are all part of this. The UK and Ireland are not, which is why I escaped here quickly so I save precious travel days for when I have visitors later in the year. This still leaves the issue of traveling during the spring to be addressed, but I'm working on figuring that out. I'm not terribly concerned though, because I figure wherever it is that I wind up going, there'll be fun things to do and great people to meet.

Turin:

City park and fountain. Apparently it's safe to drink directly from these things!

One of many beautiful tree lined avenues throughout the city.

Street Art #1

Street Art #2

Street Art #3

Street Art #4

Street Art #5

Street Art #6

Street Art #7

Street Art #7

I love seeing old Fiats - this was one of two that I spotted while I was in the city.

This was, well, unique as far as street performers go - he'd ride out when the stoplight turned red and do his juggling/unicycling act and then go try and collect money before the light turned green again.

Silhouette of the Stadio Olimpico  

Odd sculptures outside the Stadio

Bridge linking the Olympic Village to the east side of the city

On the bridge...

Also on the bridge. I'm not sure if the misuse of the word "on" was intentional or not though.

Bright autumn colors

Walking into Eataly Market, too bad there's not a way to capture stomach grumbling noises on camera, it would have been very useful here.

More street art - caught in the act this time! I'm guessing this one was commissioned like the others. 

Ahhhh! Pigeons!

Return to Italy, meant a return to my favorite gelato shop! I don't know if it was the cold weather but it wasn't as good as I remember it being.

It cracks me up anytime I see a Smart car parked like this. 

Trip to Eataly means 2 euro per liter wine - oh yeah!

I was trying to get a picture of the trees, but this police officer was not happy. He came over and showed me his badge saying that because I had a camera I needed to leave the area for the next five minutes. I couldn't figure out what was going on, but as I walked away I turned around to see a car pull hurriedly up to the curb, a group of people run out of the building and all get into the car, and drive quickly away - I guess they didn't want their picture taken! 

My favorite street in Turin.

Dia de los Muertos?

One of the old gates leading into the city.

Not a whole lot of mortar between these bricks.

Vidi, Vici,......I was then frozen in a bronze statue. And by the way, who took the guitar from my hands?

The Palazzo Madama

Close up of the Palazzo windows

The backside of the Palazzo, apparently they decided a stark contrast to the front would be appropriate...

The bull is the symbol of Turin - reminded me of Spain.

The Mole Antonelliana, originally a synagogue, but now houses the national Theater and Film Museum

A sculpture outside the University of Turin

Another Fiat! They're like VW Bugs, but way cooler.

The city reflected in the river or maybe the other way around...

The Italian Alps

The Mole and Alps as seen from the Alpine Club of Turin.

One of my favorite places in the world - Flavio and Anna's!

Mmmmmm homemade croissants for breakfast!

Grenoble:

Day 1 hike in Grenoble at the Bastille and Alpine Monument

View of the city and the Alps - I think I see some snow out there....

Yup!

My friends Willa and Katya!

Making our way back to La Tronche at the end of the hike

Day 2 hike at Chamechaude. We were in search of a geocache at the top of the mountain, but we never found it thanks to the snow and wind.

Awesome rock on the way up Chamechaude.

Les Deux Alpes:

Picture of the mountains directly above La Grave.

On the road to Briançon

The streets of Briançon. Looks like this area has seen better days.

The Briançon cathedral

Day 3 hike outside Le Monêtier-les-Bains

Looking towards the summit, what's that I see in the distance you say? Well, let's zoom in for a closer look....

It's chamois!

And this is what you would have seen if I could have gotten closer to them - turns out they run very fast.

That's the Col de Galibier in the distance, if you zoom in on the picture you can see the road cutting up the mountainside. I'm guessing that would be a beast on a bike. And the ride up the valley from Briançon isn't by any means flat!

What do you do when you take a picture with the shutter speed too slow? Turn it black and white and call it art ;)

Les Deux Alps!!! Snowboarding?! Yes please! I'm pumped....

....whoa, there's some snow with that ice, right? And are those mile long tow ropes? 

November in the Alps, cold and windy - but still enough snow to ski!

Still smiling after a day on the glacier! All jokes about the conditions aside it was really a great time, I'm glad that I was able to go and that I had two awesome ski buddies!

Katya rockin' it in the terrain park