It rains a lot in Grenoble. That's what I think at least. But then again, after six years in the desert, most places will appear wet. Monday night when I came back from sunny Italy, Grenoble greeted me with grey skies and dark clouds. It looked like it was about to pour. The forecast predicted more of the same for the rest of the week. It didn't look like biking for the next few days.
But the bad weather is something of a spectacle here. Grenoble is surrounded by mountains that climb up between 4000 and 7000 feet. The valley is very narrow. When there are clouds, they get trapped by the mountains. They hover over the city, idle about and linger. The bad weather is long gone, but the clouds remain. There are puffy white ones high up, dark grey blobs closer to the ground, and layers of condensation that come sneaking around protruding cliffs. Sometimes color is added just to make the whole show more impressive. Violet patches here, purple spots there, sometimes even some green. Truly mindboggling.
That's what the sky looked like this afternoon. The week had been surprisingly calm and dry. A few showers, mostly at night, but nothing major. Now the sun was shining. I took my bike and double-dared the rain. For two hours I had to keep my eyes on the road because looking up would have meant to lose my optimism. No way it was not going to rain. But it wasn't. I arrived dry and happy right before the sun battered the clouds with one final explosion of light before they disappeared under the blanket of darkness of the approaching night.
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