The First Day

Well we're here........now what. Seriously though, its always an odd feeling when you wait and wait and wait on something and then it finally arrives. We dedicated so much time and energy on getting here that it was almost surreal to finally be here. When we arrived the other day it was the middle of the afternoon and although we were tired we knew that we needed to stay awake. Problem is that we were all close to self destructing and neither Dana or I wanted to make a decision on what exactly to do. Luckily a co-worker of Dana's called and offered to show us around and take us to dinner. It was a welcomed invitation and a fun evening. The kids struggled to behave during dinner, but all in all it was a good evening. After supper we all crashed into bed and didn't get up for another 11 hours. That felt good.

With a good night's sleep to fuel us we hit the streets of Grenoble to explore. Our first destination was the famous "bubbles" which take you up to the Bastille, an old military fort. It was a great outing. The fort is big with room to run and explore and the view, well it speaks for itself.

After that I tried to use my map and my memory to get us to a cafe Dana and I had previously visited. The trouble with this is that the two did not agree. Surprisingly it was my memory that won the battle and eventually got us there. The problem with that was the it required us to go to a certain street that I remembered, which invariably took us 10 -12 blocks out of the way. It worked out for the best because otherwise we would have been to early for mealtime, a perpetual problem of Americans in Europe. I found out that our French CDs were actually some use as our waiter spoke no English. To the surpise of Dana and myself, I was able to order our meals and drinks in perfect French (ok, it wasn't anywhere close to perfect, but I spoke French and got what I ordered, how much more perfect can it get?). As for the stereotypical rude French waiter, well thus far, I can't support it. As Dana was paying the bill I took the kids to play by a statue. I was trying to snap a quick pic of Dana when the waiter ruined it by posing with her. Bottom line is that his kindness is the rule thus far and not the exception.

Our evening meal took place on "Pizza Row". This steet is full of italian joints which all feature wood oven pizzas. Anyone American worried about what they will eat when the come to visit can rest easy. The plain cheese pizza got Lane's stamp of approval and Audrey gave the same for her mushroom pizza. Mine was a little more french as it added Roquefort cheese to mix. This meal took place with our "host" family the Radelines. Their daughter, Kaitlin, was a big hit with our kids. That is until Kaitlin tried to give Lane the standard European greeting. Lane doesn't do kisses. Audrey on the other hand was ready to have a sleepover.

Well thats all for now. If you like reading, be sure to leave a comment. It lets me know someone is paying attention and results in my devoting more time to this. Also check the website for some new slideshow.

Au revoir.