Grenoble; it is the name of the blog after all

Grenoble is a small city of approximately 150,000 in the south-east of France nestled among the Alps. It is surrounded by three mountain ranges: the Vercors, the Chartreuse, and the Belledonne, the tallest. It is therefore both a skiing and cycling paradise. Every time of year has its own special feeling. Spring's arrival is perhaps the most alluring; it is easily tracked visually as the mountains slowly turn from a wintry grey-brown to a lush full green. The river Isère speeds up and changes colour as it carries the melting snow down from the mountains and south towards the sea. The right bank's pizzerias begin to set the tables outside and the Sunday markets pop up along the Quai Perrière bringing crowds of old and young people. The cafés around les Halles Sainte-Claire fill with shoppers and coffee and wine drinkers, leisurely reading the newspaper -- the Dauphiné Libre or Le Figaro or Le Monde -- while eating croissants and pains au chocolat and discussing life. Cycling up the mountain towards Lans-en-Vercors along the Route de Grenoble, passing first through Sassenage as the climb begins, you meet amateur and professional cyclists, all marvelling at the views of the city and the Rhône valley just beyond the edge. Past Lans-en-Vercors one passes gorges, waterfalls, majestic mountain valleys, meadows of cows, sheep, and goats, and old French towns with names like Saint-Martin-en-Vercors and La-Chapelle-en-Vercors. Back in town, you can relax after your ride in the Place Victor Hugo sipping an apéritif or reading a book by the fountain as you gaze up towards La Bastille that keeps watch over the town.

Grenoble -- and all of France for the most part -- is more than what you can do and see. It is a feeling. You can be sitting in bed reading a magazine with the walls around you looking the exact same as in any other place, but knowing that you're in Grenoble gives you a feeling that you're somewhere special. I think that partly it's the mountains. They protect you in a way from everything that is outside of them. Naturally it's true: there's no wind in Grenoble because the mountains protect the city from it. But even more than that, they provide a feeling that you're in a place, and that it does not stretch off forever and ever.