Day5 - Shopping day !!!

Bon Jour Monsieur as I hear it from anyone I see within Hotel Mercure. Another great morning in France..!!! Pretty darn cold and almost anyone human I spot resembles an old steam engine. A breath of fresh air in and a bout of steam out. Woke up 2 hours early this morning. Time to get have breakfast. Today the restaurant at Mercure was crowded. Time for pancake, dutch cheese and a small dose of berry jam and nutella. I meet my team mates back in office with their version of time well spent over last evening and almost all have a unified answer (Got drunk like a skunk). To be honest, I think I too was in a similar state but attributed to too much lemonade or double espressos !! However after shift David was kind enough to drop Dennis and I at our hotel. We quickly dumped our luggage to visit Decathlon after which we were to explore our options for diner. Dave was driving a rental car, a Citroen Picasso which was quite a peppy hatchback. About 10 mins later we were at Decathlon store in Bourgoin Jallieu. I headed straight to the cycling section while Dave and Dennis explored other sport areas. This was quite a big store almost twice as big as the one in Bangalore and Dave mentioned that the branch at Bron was massive. I ended up picking up an overshoe which I've been wanting for quite a while for ride during rains and keeping my feet dry. Dave didn't purchase anything and as I proceeded to the billing counter I was skeptical whether the membership card would work in another country and it did. It was a pleasant surprise. The search for the diner began. The car was parked at a parking lot near a church at #7, Place Carnot in Bourgoin. This was Dave's idea as he had been to this Italian restaurant (Couverts) during a visit last year. But we found out that almost all the restaurants that we managed set our eyes would open only at 19:00hrs and close by about 22:00hrs. With a half hour to spare we spent time roaming the shopping alley which is lined with stores. So good to see civilization after being in a place where there is hardly anything else apart from hotel on one side of highway and office on the other. I kept clicking away to glory with the X6 and time and again requesting Dave to click a few which he gladly obliged. A few snaps of cars followed and finally it was time to enter the restaurant and with the help of Dave who spoke French ( A great boon as I only know one word "Merci" meaning thank you) we were able to clarify the options available for me (A Vegan). It looked like Dave eats anything served to him on a plate. Only after a meal, does his inquisitve part of mind kick in to figure out if the dish was the result of a Bovine sacrifice or a smoked Gallus domesticus. A true example of a point n shoot as he just stares at the menu for a quick minute and points to an option and nods his head which the waitress reciprocates with the a lovely French accent (made cool by the tongue twisters and hisses). I order a Spaghetti and a pizza. Spaghetti resembled the curry noodles and the Pizza was more like a paratha with mexican sauce chilli and some local vegetable that resembles cucumber with mushroom and capsicum as toppings. I enjoyed the change in taste and after spending about an hour, Dave dropped us back to the hotel and he continued his half hour journey to his hotel.

A sight on the way to office... There's no one in it and the car is almost kissing the tarmac.. !! :-|

The "Mini Countryman"

A Nice chopper like Bike 

A Standard Mini Cooper used in "The Italian Job"

 The original Mini which truly is a MINI !!!

The Rental Citroen Picasso driven by Dave.

Dave Dennis and I heading to Decathlon on the French motorway B1008.

At Decathlon - Shopping at the home turf of this superstore

A Superb Bicycle Stand in the town of Bourgoin. 

France Ahh..!!!

Dave, Dennis an I await by a Church for restaurant to open  

The Italian "Spaghetti restaurant"

I already am missing my roadbike and I wish I had it here so I could explore more of this beautiful countryside. No more updates for tonight. Gotta catch some sleep before shift start in 7 hours :-)

Day4 - Trip report !!

The Second day to work -- Had set the clock to wake me up at 6 and it did its duty unlike I. Ended up extending the sleep  for 2 more hours till I realized that I hardly had time to even look at the restaurant for breakfast. Finished morning chores in 15 mins which reminded me of the song "Jame Raho" from the movie Taare Zameen Par. Reached office on time. New campus, new country, change in cuisine and bone chilling temperature. Work at new office, the welcome change in climate and food kept the mind bysy. By noon I already was fancying my chances of a visit to decathlon which is about 10 kms from Isle'd Abeau in a small town of Bourgoin Jallieu. A new friend added to the arsenal from Liverpool UK (David Malone). A very nice and well spoken gentleman. We thought of visiting decathlon together as David was driving a rental car and he would look for fishing related stuff and I'd opt for cycling accessories.

The visit had to be postponed for the next day as we saw a long line of cars towards the horizon on the highway D1008. So we bid farewell. David stayed at the Hotel Mercure in Bron as the rooms in Mercure at Isle'd Abeau were full.  So it was back to Dennis Hilverts from Netherlands to decide which way to head for dinner. We decided to take a taxi to a supermarket nearby which google indicated as a hotspot for restaurants. A visit only revealed a couple of kabab joints and a pizza corner. As there was a supermarket I ended up buying a good load of chocolates and some snacks to go with the MTR ready to eat packs that I'd brought along to keep me tummy happy whenever there was an emergency :-). 

No Euro-food tonight but time to relish the Masala Rice from MTR. Here's the combo :-)

 

   Dennis just outside the Supermarket as we await the taxi back to the hotel Mercure.

Dennis managed to call the reception to request a cab and here's what arrived, a Peugeot 607 and it was a comfortable cab but the fare almost doubles after 7 in the evening.

20 Euro's for about 4kms..!! No more taxi's for the rest of the stay here. Better to take the bicycle out  :-)

I eagerly await the dawn of 25th to enjoy the incidents, adventures and meeting new people that make life beautiful and meaningful !!!