Grenoble - Capital of the Alps, Nov 2009

Do not have much to say about this trip as it was a short work trip which was transformed into a short leisure trip. Nov 2009 I was asked by my supervisor in Karolinska to accompany him to Grenoble for data collection. I am always ready for a travel, doesn't matter if for work, meeting, conference or just vacation so I said yes. We had a flight on 3 Dec 2009 from Arlanda airport that flew through Zurich and landed in Lyon in the afternoon. From the Lyon airport we took a bus to Grenoble.

Alps from the flight

Bus station of Grenoble

Grenoble

Grenoble

In almost 1.5 hour we reached Grenoble, it was almost dark then. Since we were there for work, we were given rooms in a guest house and we received coupons for lunch and dinner. After getting fresh we had a walk around in the campus and checked out the time allotted to us for the experiment, it was from 10 pm to 2 am next day. That means we had two full days free for us. While having dinner my supervisor told me that Geneva (Switzerland) is around 150 kms away from Grenoble and a day trip is possible. After the news I decided to wake up early next morning and get a bus or train to Geneva.



Next day started really early for me as planned, had breakfast and walked to the bus station to check for the bus to Geneva. During this walk I saw the beauty of the city, the Christmas decorations made it more charming. The walk was not long enough to appreciate the beauty of Grenoble and I was at the bus station. Fortunately, there was a bus leaving to Geneva in 15mins. I quickly bought the two way tickets and boarded the bus. The bus departed, I couldn't have stopped appreciating Grenoble when the enticing beauty of Swiss green lands with hills and cattle appeared all the way to Geneva.

Swiss scenery

Geneva

Lake of Geneva

Lake of Geneva

Along the lake of Geneva

 At around 10am I was in Switzerland, took a map of Geneva from the stop and started walking. Walked walked and walked until I reached the city centre and the big Geneva lake. A long walk along the lake with a Swiss milk chocolate is an experience I can never forget. After seeing the city on foot for the day I decided to return back as I can not risk being tired during the experiment at night. Caught the bus and I was back in Grenoble by 7 pm.

Along the lake of Geneva

French Alps

French Alps

View from the Alps

View from the Alps

View from the Alps

That night after having dinner we went to the lab to spend the night in experiments. Fortunately we were free earlier than expected and that gave me time to sleep as I was tired and I could not have afford missing the beauty of Grenoble. So the next day I again started walking towards the city at 9.30 am after breakfast. While I was walking I saw a cable car way uphill and I went to the cable car stop but it was supposed to start at 11 am. Instead of waiting for it I started looking for the way to walk up the mountain. After almost 1 hour of walk uphill I was at a point from where I was able to see the whole city and then I realised the serenity, the divinity of the city. I was on one of the mountains Alps and in front of me was the huge snow-capped mountain range that surrounded a valley on the lap of which Grenoble was resting. When I tried to look at the city through the clouds from there, I saw the two rivers Drec and Isere entering from different directions into the city, meeting each other in the city and leaving as one. It was a mesmerizing  heavenly and spell-bounding moment. After enjoying that long moment I decided to leave, took the cable car while coming down and after a few more hours walk in that beautiful city went back to my room had dinner and slept.

Next day early we had to leave as we had our flight from Lyon back to Stockholm. While the whole return journey I just couldn't stop thinking of Grenoble. It is a heaven for nature lovers as it has nature at its best. I wish to go there several more times.