Mer de Glace/Grenoble/Rotary Meeting/Riots.

Two weekends ago, Claudie and I went with her hiking club to hike near Mont Blanc. We took a cable up to the observation deck at the top of the Aiguille de Midi, a really tall mountain just next to Mont Blanc. You're almost level with the summit! Then we hiked along a lower ridge to the Mer de Glace (Sea of Ice).

Snowball with highest mountains in Europe in the background!

Solid ice, inside the mountain with Morgan, the daughter of Claudie's friend (and my friend, too).

Alpinists, on a 6-inch wide ledge.

Where we hiked, these stone piles are called cairns (sp?) and they mark the path.

Hiking. The autumn colors reminded me of Minnesota!

The Mer de Glace. A woman said that 50 years ago there was a whole sheet of thick ice with crevasses and folds and everything but it's diminished this much due to global warming.

 Last Wednesday I went to Grenoble to take the PSAT at the American school there. I went with Cassie and after the test we went into downtown and met her Czech friend, Karina. We went to a real, old-fashioned chocolate/tea/pastry salon and afterwards walked around and looked in different shops. Grenoble is south of Chambéry in the region called Isère. It's so pretty in the countryside! There are all of these autumnal forests and rolling hills. No snowy mountains though. That's why Chambéry is so perfect- you're in the middle of everything!

Delicious chocolate éclair with hot chocolate in the pastry salon.

Baking shop with tons of stuff inside, and lots of halloween baking supplies.

Outside of the baking store.

Le Jam Studio. You pay 5 euros per hour and can go in there with your band and... jam!

Look what I found in a guide book in a store in Grenoble!

 Thursday night was my first Rotary meeting/dinner with my club. The meetings start late, around 8:30, and they take place at this country club/chateau place three Thursdays per month. (But I won't go to every one, although I want to go often!) I'm the only girl, because women aren't allowed and all the wives have a separate, unofficial club. The dinner was so good, especially the dessert. It was this soft, piping hot, moist cake with gooey raspberries on the inside! Below I have documented our four courses:

Mushrooms with some herb foam thing...

Mussels, white beans, foam, and a crunchy zucchini flower (my favorite part).

Best course after dessert! Potato cakes and then the pulled/roasted pork circle thing with a tomato and a whole clove of garlic!

Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm......

Site of the meetings.

 Back in Chambéry, there are some riots going down! There has been a continual strike ("grève") for almost a week now, because the French government wants to change the official retirement age from 60 to 62. There are lots of young people who just want to rebel and break stuff ("casseurs"), but the places like the library and my art school are also on strike. The police have been using tear gas and today I had to run away from it down this alley! They were right by my house (for the first time), and so I had to wait before going home. It's actually really exciting, not that I'm going to join up or anything. But, I still feel completely safe because it's never by my school and hardly ever by my house. Also, tear gas is as violent as it gets. But still, the best course of action is just to stay away.

Walking around Chambéry, I saw this sign for the Bar Saint Paul! Definitely going there at some point.

Riots outside of my friends' school.

In a nice, quiet park away from the grève, tightrope walkers who said it was okay if I took there picture!

SQUAT team, view from my house.

One of the rioters trying to stir things up. I know this guy personally, I talked to him in the line in Monoprix one time. He's one of the homeless people who I see around a lot.

Three hours of class, then tennis, then rock climbing tomorrow!!! (And Rogerio comes for the first time to rock climbing with me!)