Conquering the French Alps

So in between the two summer sessions, I decided to be bold and go off on my own to the French Alps.  Everyone else was going to either Barcelona or Paris, but I was dying to be out of the city for a little while, so I struck off on my own for what proved to be a one-in-a-lifetime experience.  I arrived in Grenoble on Saturday, and hung out in town getting ready for the next day.  On Sunday, I took the bus to a tiny town in the Vercors National Park, South of Grenoble, and took to the mountain on the first trail I found.  Monday, I ventured out to the Chartreuse National Park, where I did the same.  The physical beauty of these mountains and valleys was absolutely magnificent--the sheer magnitude was truly awe inspiring.  It was a little scary to travel by myself, but it turned out to be one of the greatest experiences I've ever had.  

(P.s, in a bit of a good news/bad news turn, one of my friends dropped his laptop off his desk over the weekend.  The good news there is that he gave me his internet cable, since he obviously won't be using it anymore.  So, I'm connected once again!)

*p.p.s. obviously, I've totally screwed up the formatting on this post.  I still can't figure out how to do pictures with captions.  Anybody with a blog, advice would be greatly appreciated.  (Nathan, if you're reading this, that means you.  Your pictures and captions are perfect.)

 

I could see this other side of this mountain from my Hostel room, and it was just calling me.  On Sunday I took the bus up to a little mountain town and searched until I found a trail up to the summit.  

Some sights from along the alpine trail.  The thing about the French Alps is that there's no where to go but up, so suffice it to say it was strenuous.  But the reward was worth it--I was literally on top of the world, nearly 6000 feet above sea level.  

The next day, I caught the bus (I was the only person on it) up into the Chartreuse region in the North.  In the winter, it's a little ski town, but for now, it was an incredibly lush forest with a great hiking trail along a river.

Some sights along the trail in the Chartreuse

Too bad all the wild strawberries weren't in season.  Fortunately, the wild raspberries were...

Later, when I was waiting in the little town, I made a new curious friend.... Actually, I made two--the second was my bus driver.  The little town of St. Pierre de Chartreuse is 10 km from the middle of nowhere, so I was the only person on the bus going up, and the only person waiting for the bus back in the afternoon.  However, when the bus driver got back on to take us home, we discovered the bus wouldn't start.  I ended up catching a ride back to town with the driver in his own car that he had parked up there.  But anyway, here's my canine friend, who was just so cute, I had to take a picture.