mer des nuages

The sea of clouds.

It's hard to describe in words - perhaps the photos on my flickr site are better. Nico and I had planned to go climbing, but as always it depends on the weather... he arrived at my apartment in the morning, and we started planning out which route we would tackle at Dent de Crolles. I was still skeptical, but ready to climb - I asked him if he, being an experienced Grenoblois, thought the weather would improve or worsen. His response - "it's supposed to be sunny and nice once we get above the clouds."

Sorry, what?

Oh, right, have to think in terms of mountains. Man these things are weird. So, apparently it's fairly expected that a gray ugly day in Grenoble means a beautiful sunny day in the mountains. For me, a gray ugly day in any city I've ever lived in or near means a gray ugly day unless the fog burns off in the afternoon.

Nico and I started the walk under a dark menacing sky - I was still skeptical, but Nico insisted, sporting short sleeves, sunglasses on top of his head, that it would be sunny and warm soon. As for me, all I knew was that I was cold and my hair was wet, and that didn't invoque thoughts of imminent sunshine in my mind. What is this crazy alpine guy talking about?

A little bit above me on the hill, just barely visible through the fog/cloud, Nico stopped and said, "Regarde! Bleu!" - Look! Blue! I looked up, and sure enough there was a slight tinge of blue through the cloud. "Allez! Allez!" I started running up the hill, Nico's exclamations of wonder and amazement luring me.I finally arrived - and there is seriously no better way to describe the sight but as Heaven. Pure, white, fluffy soft clouds below me, and only the tip-tops of the mountains poking themselves through to bask in the sunshine. Incredible.

I looked behind me to see Nico on the edge of both cliff and cloud. The wind was carrying wisps of white into the cliff which bounced up towards the sky until it dissipated in the warmth of the sun, creating a dramatic updraft of vanishing cloud behind Nico. Wow, that's something new.

We basked in the sunshine all day on our climb - and I regretted not bringing my sunglasses. Tourist. Slowly the sea melted away, but not completely. We returned to a still gray Grenoble, and Nico and I shared a moment of appreciation for the mountains, for climbing, and today, sunshine.