2geonomads

Sunday 18th October 2015

Very hard to get going after the previous day’s long drive but we start to switch on by mid-morning and take the tram into Grenoble city centre just to check it out.

One has to say that first impressions are anything but favourable and we are both taken aback by the incredible amount of graffiti and general pollution.

However, during our short stay in town we do find a cafe, Coffee and Go, which is run by a girl who has spent one year in Australia on working holiday. To Gail’s great delight she offers Cafe Allonge which is a long black as G would get in Aus. It’s pleasant change as when Gail usually orders an Espresso with extra hot water the response is ” Oh, you mean an Americano! “Mrs I’s muttered response under her breath is unprintable.

The young girl and her partner are desperate to move to the USA for a while and they are trying to build up sufficient funds through the business.

Time to make tracks back to the apartment to see the Wallabies v Scotland RWC Qtr Final.The Scots may have been the wooden spooners in the 6 Nations Championship but right from the start they really take it up to us. Although we score 5 tries to Scotland’s 3 to win 35-34  it is with a disputed penalty in the last 2 minutes.

Quite simply Aus are fortunate to get through and Foley at fly-half puts in a truly dreadful performance, missing 3 kicks while the Scottish captain Laidlaw kicks all of his. Two of Scotland’s tries come from charged-down box kicks and still the Wallabies persist with this over-used tactic. No doubt the papers tomorrow will be full of the injustice of the result but Scotland made the fateful error of going long on their lineout rather than short and retaining possession for the remaining 2 minutes.

The only consolation is that surely the Wallabies cannot play so far below their best in the remaining matches.

End the day enjoying a lovely dinner of prosciutto, eggs and fresh bread bought in the city.