Mountain town: Gap, France
Confession: the first day I met David, I had never heard of his hometown. Who would have guessed that I'd end up spending so much time there?
This is hilarious because my lovely husband from Gap is not the sportiest of people (you know I wouldn't marry someone who likes to spend inordinate amounts of time outside). As a poor oppressed child, he was forced to ski in the Alps for school and hated it.
Gap has a population of about 40,000 people. To put it in perspective of French cities you're more likely to have heard of, it is 2 hours south of Grenoble, 3 hours southeast of Lyon, and 3 hours north of Nice.
One of my least favorite things about Gap is that it's a little isolated. There is no airport close by and there are hardly any trains going in and out of the city.
One of my favorite things about Gap is the cute downtown area. The centre-ville is a 10 minute walk from the Rubino house.
Of course, the thing that makes Gap special are the mountains that surround it. We went on Saturday drives pretty often with Nicole to see the countryside. Thankfully she is a pro at navigating cliff roads.
Charance is a mountain peak that you can see from the Rubino's front yard. You can drive up to the "Domaine de Charance" to visit a beautiful little park with a great view of the city. We were frequent visitors.
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If you have heard of Gap (and you haven't lived in the region), it's probably because you're into skiing, hiking, and/or biking- all of which attract tourists to Gap. It was once voted the "sportiest city in France."
This is hilarious because my lovely husband from Gap is not the sportiest of people (you know I wouldn't marry someone who likes to spend inordinate amounts of time outside). As a poor oppressed child, he was forced to ski in the Alps for school and hated it.
Gap has a population of about 40,000 people. To put it in perspective of French cities you're more likely to have heard of, it is 2 hours south of Grenoble, 3 hours southeast of Lyon, and 3 hours north of Nice.
One of my least favorite things about Gap is that it's a little isolated. There is no airport close by and there are hardly any trains going in and out of the city.
One of my favorite things about Gap is the cute downtown area. The centre-ville is a 10 minute walk from the Rubino house.
The architecture is not centuries-old, but I still think it's fairly charming. Growing up here explains why anytime I wanted to take a picture of a quaint, narrow street David scoffed because "it's just a normal street." Not for me David, o.k.! Just, o.k.?
I love the colors- especially in summer!
In warm weather, the city squares are full of people eating outside. Despite having a snowy winter, Gap has plenty of sun the rest of the year.
Every Saturday, a big open-air food market takes over the downtown. It is always crowded, and it's fun to people-watch.
If you know where to look, you can find 3 frescoes painted by David's parents decorating downtown Gap. This one is even featured on Gap's Wikipedia page, so I feel like they're famous.
The Gap cathedral is very new by French standards. It was finished in the early 1900s to replace its medieval predecessor that was in ruins.
There is most likely no French person that finds it particularly special (you can sometimes see groups touring it while the locals roll their eyes at them), but I come from a cathedral-less town so I enjoyed it.
I'm glad I got to know this part of France! I'd love for my family to see it someday and get a glimpse of where their son/brother-in-law grew up. We only need to convince David to go back. ;)
I have one last picture- David's high school. Someone did not go to school in a cinder block box like moi.
This is my final summary post from last year- I also wrote about:
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