Grenoble, France

[Minato Ku]

Grenoble is the capital of Isere departement, the biggest city in French Alps.
The city proper has 150,000 inhabitants and the metropolitan area host 560,000 inhabitants.


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[OhioGuy]

It's such a beautiful city. I would love to visit some day. I can just picture Peggy Flemming winning her 1968 Olympic gold medal here! (the only gold medal of those winter Olympics for the US)

[staff]

Great photos, Minato. I love Grenoble, I was there in February once and the weather was extremely mild - truly a lovely experience.

Looking forward to the next part.

[10101000]

Wonderful!

[TinChelseaNYC]

There's no shortage of lovely cities in France, is there? Nice pics.

[BrianSac]

Bravo. Keep them coming.

Quelle temps fait-il?.......dans l'été.

[Jon Dalton]

Awesome place. I was there pretty recently and loved the LRT there. It was one of the first French cities to bring in modern light rail.

[Minato Ku]

Yes Grenoble LRT opened in 1988, three years after Nantes.

[Minato Ku]

In the second part you will see the pedestrian streets of the center.

[M II A II R II K]

Nice blend of density and transit, particularly for city that small.

[Grumpy]

Although the city is squeezed in a valley I am surprised to see many open spaces

[R@ptor]

Great photos

[Minato Ku]

Second part link

That small... for american standart but not for french.
Grenoble was the 14th largest metropolitan area in 1999.

1. Paris : 11,174,743
2. Lyon : 1,648,216
3. Marseille-Aix-en-Provence : 1,516,340
4. Lille : 1,143,125
5. Toulouse : 964,797
6. Nice : 933,080
7. Bordeaux : 925,253
8. Nantes : 711,120
9. Strasbourg : 612,104
10. Toulon : 564,823
11. Douai-Lens : 552,694
12. Rennes : 520,772 - 588,600
13. Rouen : 518,316 - 541,400
14. Grenoble : 514,559 - 560,200
15. Montpellier : 459,916 - 531,000
16. Metz : 429,588
17. Nancy : 410,508
18. Clermont-Ferrand : 409,558
19. Valenciennes : 399,677
20. Tours : 376,374

2007-2008 estimation

We don't have more recent census for metro area but if I look the current trend and the estimation.
Grenoble most likely overtook Douai-Lens and Rouen.
I don't have estimation for Douai-Lens but nortern France outside Lille have almost no or negative growth.

[tremblay]

Grenoble does look nice

Originally Posted by Minato Ku

[*]Paris : 11,174,743 [*]Lyon : 1,648,216 [*]Marseille-Aix-en-Provence : 1,516,340

Woooo. Paris really is an alpha city compared to other french cities. I tought Lyon and Marseilles were much bigger...

[le calmar]

Originally Posted by tremblay

Woooo. Paris really is an alpha city compared to other french cities. I tought Lyon and Marseilles were much bigger...

We don't call it "Paris and the french desert" for nothing! I don't know about Marseille, but I do know that Lyon doesn't feel like a big city, it's more like a very big village. Anyways, nice pics!

[Minato Ku]

Lyon don't have the big city feel of Paris but it is not a village.
Paris and le desert francais was true several decade ago, not anymore now.
I will post bonus pictures in the second part.