St. Nizier

I just spent a wonderful weekend with friends that I've known for over thirty years. Odette and I took the train to Grenoble to spend the weekend with her son Jean Marc and his family. Jean Marc and Florence (Flo) have four children between the ages of 12 and 17. They have a house in Grenoble and another house in the mountains above Grenoble in a town called St. Nizier. Here is a picture of their house in St. Nizier:


It is quite a large house and can easily sleep 20 people. It has a bathroom with mosaic tiles that date from the 1930s.


To get to St. Nizier you pass by a rock formation called the 3 Pucelles. Just below this rock formation is the site of the ski jump for the 1968 winter Olympic games which were held in Grenoble:


Here are Jean Marc, Odette, Flo, the twins Yvan and Simon, Sarah, and Merlin at dinner on Sunday night. Simon is practicing his driving so that he can get his driver's license when he turns 18 later this year. I held my breath a few times when Simon took the wheel of the 9 passenger van with stick shift to take us up and down the steep curvy road to St. Nizier. He did a good job though, and the eight of us returned safely to Grenoble on Sunday night.


On Monday afternoon I'll leave Grenoble and head south towards the Côte d'Azur (French Rivera). I'll check in as soon as I arrive somewhere with an internet connection.