Grenoble: Le retour

"Going back" to a place is always a weird thing. There were some things that were just the same, I still knew the voice over in the tram off by heart - "Victor Hugo, correspondance avec la ligne B, 2, 22, 23, 31 et le reseau transisere", the mountains were still there (though I couldn't see them for most of my séjour as they were covered in cloud), the food is as good as I remember it, the French still bisous each other, still eat cheese and drink wine with almost every meal, still say "bah" and "fin" every third word...

Some things had changed, the addition of a new rather useless 5 stop long tram line not far from where I used to live, my favourite icecream place had changed name but the icecreams still tasted just as good! I met some new people, made some new friends,

But the other thing about going back is the memories, they came back with such life... I missed people who made certain good experiences wonderful. Eating an icecream wasn't the same without the crew from feu, frequenting my favourite cafe wasn't the same without the good friend I always frequented it with. A friend and I popped our head in at orchestra (she's no longer playing with them either) and it was bizarre to only recognise a handful of faces. A lot happens in 2 years... but I made some fab new memories - touring Chambery by bike, ski du fond, playing in the snow, salsa dancing, so many new people, international dinners, discovering libanese food hearing stories of the general strike of 1968, Hungary in the 50s and 60s...

and oh how I love speaking french!

It's good to remember that the past is past and the present is now... I'm glad to be home...