Monday, June 16, 2008

The city

I made a couple of new friends on my first two weekends here. The first is the La ville de Grenoble. I can ramble away about this city for hours already. Most of you may remember how much I spoke about NYC the first time I visited! Don't want to frighten you away :D so I'll try to keep it short.

Well, the city is surrounded by mountains on all sides and is located in the French Alps. Two rivers wind through the city. One is the Drac and the other is the Isere.


Tram lines run through the city and most of the roads around the city center are designed for pedestrians only.


Some of the buildings have very beautiful architecture and gargoyles.


The buildings are painted in bright colors and are very close to each other. The narrow lanes remind me of townside in Bombay. I love the flower boxes in the windows.


Almost around every corner there is some sort of square or clearing, which has a fountain or a statue and is lined with shops and restaurants, which put out their tables. People are always to be seen sipping wine and enjoying company. This is when I miss you guys the most!


The city's first bridge- been destroyed by floods many times.



The Fontaine au Lion symbolizes the battle between the town (lion) and the river (snake).


The Notre Dame de la Salette built in 1876 in oriental style with cast cement interlacing and overlapping arches.


The Eglise Saint-Louis (below)- the church I went to for mass, which was in French ofcourse. Was happy to find a St. Louis church (I went to St. Louis school :)). It was built in 1699.



Fort de la Bastille overlooks the city and was built to defend it from attacks from the north.

A spout at one of the fountains-


More of the city to come later!

2 comments:

Unknown said...

already feels like I am there :)

KuanYin said...

Wonderful photos. They make me home-sick. Wish I was back in Europe.

KuanYin