Nostalgy in Grenoble

So it is, it's eleven years since I was in Grenoble the last time. I spent a spring-term over there as an exchange-student in l`'École d'Art Contemporain. Some bitter-sweet memories there, undoubtedly.

I've been passing near by quite many times over the years, but never got the chance or time to drop by in the city itself. This time it was all different, since Mnemopark-tour took me there for work. We were performing at Theater Hexagone in Meylan, the bordering village of Grenoble. The gig was smooth inspite of the fact that there is usually bit of difficulties with the French scheduling of things. But in the end, our team is so used to do this by now that we're flexible even if Frenchies cannot be.

Mnemopark on stage at Hexagone

Our hotel was in downtown Grenoble though, only couple of blocks away from Rue Dauphiné, where I used to live. I went to see the old neigborhood one night and it all came back so easily; buying bread early in the morning at the marketplace situated under the railroad-bridge, walking to the school on Rue Lesdiquieres and sipping beer with my friends at the corner-bar on the same street.

Rue Gambetta, downtown

The bar used to be called "Le Warm Up" and was owned by a family who moved in to Grenoble from Versailles after selling their vineyard. We spent there so many evenings that I've lost count. So it was really a trip down the memory lane to go there for "boire un verre". Everything had changed quite much. There was a very friendly new owner who'd been running the place for last three years and he remembered well how it used to be in mid-nineties. We both agree that nowadays it's much more cozy, even though it wasn't so bad back then either. The owner told me much of what had happened over the years and served really delicious "croque monsieurs".

"Le cafe", Rue Lesdiguieres

Alltogether it was cool to visit Grenoble again. Some things have evolved quite lot since the last time, but in the other hand, much is just as it used to be. It was really nice to stroll along the streets of old town and re-discover all again. Even "Le Station Sandwich" is still there, nearby the Galeries Lafaytte, where I first got introduced to the wonder of eating french fries and fried chicken stuffed inside a baguette and served with a overporing amount of mayonnaise. Hmm...

Detail

I wish that my next visit to Grenoble doesn't lie a decade away.

The most friendly new owners of "Le Cafe"

Too much walking in Berlin

I've just landed in Basel after a week in Berlin, Germany. There we had four Mnemopark-performances in Hau 2 theater. This was the first time I had to do also the stage managing in addition to light set-up and operating. It was a cool experience and everything went quite smoothly, although I was bit worried in the beginning because of some details. Anyway, in the end I didn't blow up the neon-tubes and chicken and goldfish were also happily bustling around for the whole time =)

Since we were in Berlin for a whole week, I had also some time to get to know the city. I met a old friend of mine, Julia, whom I got to know in Bangkok two years ago. She showed me around and we did some bicycling and went to see a flea-market at Maur Platz on Sunday. The other freetime I spent just walking around the city, which resulted the fact that walking is bit difficult at the moment, because of sore knee. Old age doesn't come alone...

Summary: Berlin is a cool city. Under couple of pics along the "spazieren gangen"

Me and Julia at the Holocaust Denkmal

Famous east Berlin "Ampelmänner"

Near Oranienburgerstrasse

Cool interior for my idea-material library

Maur Platz flea market

Chill in Finland

For this week I'm in Finland. It's the most pretty autumn since long time. All the colors are just blazing; yellow, orange, red. So cool, this is my chill-out time. Time to unwind and meet some of my dear friends. Soon my journey continues to Berlin, where we'll have another gig of Mnemopark.

Mnemopark is quite familiar thing for me already since I've been in the touring-crew since last February. It's nice work, because it doesn't feel like so much work anymore -people and the procedures are familiar. And we also get to see all these different cities around the world: so far I've been to Strasbourg, Lausanne, Dieppe, Barcelona, Lissabon (just lovely!!!), Montreal and Quebec, Ljubljana and Pilsen.

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