Spring Has Sprung

The warm weather has come and gone and will be back again next week. And thus, with the unpredictability of the sun's appearance, the longer days ( the sun sets at 9 pm now), and the beautiful flowers popping up everywhere with their overwhelming pollen, I can claim that Spring has sprung.

Lilacs

Black flowers that I found so interesting/bizarre.

Right at the corner of our street :)

The past two weeks have been relaxing and beautiful, thus no huge trips out of Lyon and no big updates on the French life. We spent a lot of time at the Parc de Tête d'Or playing badminton and soccer, living life, loving the spontaneous attitude the spring brings along with it, and just trying to soak up as much Vitamin D as possible.  I'm a bit behind with my cooking goals, but all for a good cause. Last Saturday I cooked up a huge Mexican dinner for everyone. While the recipes weren't really new, I felt a sense of accomplishment using all fresh, market ingredients (probably because this time the salsa was homemade and didn't taste like barbecue sauce).

Mango salsa, typical beef tacos, salsa, guacamole, pineapple topping, and pork burritos in the oven. YUM

But today, the travel bug itched inside me and I finally have something to report to you. I took the early train southeast to Grenoble, home of the 1968 Winter Olympics. Here we took the téléferique up to the Bastille. The view was breathtaking; the mountains still capped with snow, the sun beaming down on us, and life rolling by as cars twisted around the traffic circles. We continued a bit towards the cave up at the top and then returned to ground level since we didn't have the hiking equipment needed to continue to the tippy top. We wandered the streets, ate amazing sandwiches (mine was white ham, mozarella cheese, plum tomatoes, pesto, and olive oil on a seasame and poppy seed baguette), and talked about our return to the states.

"Don't forget them" poster for the two missing French journalists.

La bastille

Looking down to the right; Isère River

Téléferique descending back down to Grenoble

Mont Blanc way in the background.

The most I've seen of the French flag since September

Tour de Perret, built in 1925 to view all three valleys around the mountains, but closed to the public and slowly crumbling.

Can't wait for Easter :)

After the quick day trip, I was off to babysit the two little monsters, Magduelone and Jade. They were adorable today. We climbed walls (France has some sick playgrounds), pretended the crocodiles were going to eat us jumping around a bare fountain, and made friends with a little girl who was taking her rabbit out for a walk (Pinot-yes like the wine).

View from the apartment where I babysit. I hope I can live like this one day.

On Friday, I'm off to Rouen to visit Matt so I will have much more to update next week. A bientôt!