It’s really been quite a while since I last posted. The entire summer went by! In the coming weeks, I aim to publish the remainder of my trip to France from summer 2018, my fall trip to Israel and then my final journey to the UK. In the time since I last published, I finished up work with one job, started another job and got accepted to a graduate school program in Vienna. Here’s my take on Grenoble:
Grenoble is the gateway to the French Alps. It does not have the best train connections, so I had to be strategic about my plan. You can get there from Montpelier directly. The city is surrounded by the Alps though. It’s not something you can really grasp until you are there. Walking around the city, you see the Alps in the distance almost everywhere. As a backpacker, the natural curiosity to go deeper and see what’s there is too much to resist. There is a big mountain right in the center of the city to explore first!
The HI Grenoble is way outside the city center. It’s at the end of an industrial park. I had to ride the tram to the end of the line and transfer to a bus. There was a view of the mountain outside of my small window but I think this time around, it probably was not worth staying at the HI Grenoble. I did meet a friendly British fellow who was beginning a French language program. Other than that, it probably would have been better to find a real hostel closer to the center.
It’s interesting that Grenoble does not have great access to its river while so many cities around the world are tearing up roads and creating bike paths and pedestrian walkways by the riverside. In Grenoble, it’s still a small highway. Regardless, once you get to the river, the mountain is staring at you in the face and you just want to climb, climb, climb! I spent two days climbing the mountain and walking around the city. I was getting eager to go to the real mountains but I did not know exactly how I was going to make that happen.
At the same time, I thought I was a hotshot in Grenoble. The hostel was so far from the city center and I was so frustrated with myself that I somehow created a logic flow in my mind that this meant I did not need to pay for public transportation. Even though the tram tickets are very affordable and easy to obtain, for the bus, you need to plan ahead. My hostel required a bus ride and a transfer to a tram. Inevitably, I got caught by ticket inspectors for not paying the fare and I was fined EUR 75 on the spot. I beat myself up for that dumbass move for a few hours.