Adele abroad: Les manifestations

So today I am about to embark on the 4 hour long laundry process that involves me running back and forth to the laundry room (6 flight of stairs) to do laundry. I can't start yet though because I'm waiting to get the key which should be arriving any minute now...

As exciting as be doing laundry is, that is not what this post will be about. Last Sunday, while all the shops were closed two friends and I went downtown to explore Grenoble and I ended up taking some pretty interesting photos, some of which actually turned out quite well.

There was also a protest going on, it was probably the most impressive protest I have witnessed to date. Perhaps I am not politically active enough to be in the right circles at home but given the French's reputation for strikes I believe that protesting here occurs on another level. They were protesting the use of nuclear energy which, if I understand correctly is a fairly large industry in France. I have some pictures but they don't really do the protest justice. (Note, if you click on the pictures they will become larger and you can use the arrow keys to scroll through them, then just click the black x in the top right corner to exit)

I am no good at judging how many people are present in a large crowd but I can say with certainty that there were more than 500 people. They were walking around the city in a chain, holding hands chanting anti-nuclear energy chants. This description makes it sounds quite hippie like but it seemed to be full of people from every walk of life. There were many families who had brought their school aged children and even children in strollers were participating. These children were holding the hands of strangers (which I doubt would ever happen at a protest in Victoria) and walking around with the crowd. There were no police that I could see, the protesters did not seem malicious at all and were perfectly content to let us snap their photos. There was actually quite a jovial air to the entire protest, these people were really enjoying their protest on a Sunday afternoon. Perhaps this is what the French do when no shops are open?

Place Notre Dame, this is the stop where I get the tram to go to school

Place Notre Dame from another angle

Jardin de ville-Grenoble

The side of the Hotel de Ville (town hall)

Sign on the side of the Hotel de Ville "This day, at 10 o'clock in the morning the municipal body assembled at the city hall with prominent citizens of Grenoble and took the memorable steps to prepare the assembly of Vizille and began the French Revolution"

Gate in the jardins de l'hotel de ville

Jardins de l'hotel de ville

Place Victor Hugo

The protesters

more protesters

protesters...

Protesters gathered in the jardins de l'hotel de ville waiting to walk out on the street.

Remenants of a wall from the Roman Era (I believe, there was no sign saying this)

Art in a tunnel to deter graffiti, the lion and the snake are a fountain at the base of the staircase I take. Next to the fountain is written a French proverb: "La serpen et lo dragon mettront Grenoblo en savon” which means "the snake and the dragon will destroy Grenoble" The serpent symbolizes the Isère river and the Dragon symbolizes the Drac river. On the statue there is a lion's head instead of a dragon (from Wikipedia).