We spent a week in a small house in a small town of Mens about 55 kilometers South of Grenoble (alt. 750m). With the exception of one day, when we took a long run in nearby trails (of which there are a lot!), we spent most of the daytime working on a couple of publications that we have not managed to finish on top of our daily work. On those days we went for an early morning run. We also visited Saturday’s farmers’ market to buy some locally brewed beer. When we were leaving we learned from our host that there is a second microbrewery in town. Next time …

Our first day in Mens started with another hearty French meal experience. We had a set lunch (la formule) at L’Alezan Restaurant Pizzeria: Croque Monsieur as a starter, and then pig cheeks with pumpkin gratin for the main (no photos since the dishes did not look appetizing enough). The meat was tender, but overall the dishes were on a heavy side and lacked flavor, as we have found most of the French cooking in this region. As soon as we got back to our little house, we took a three-hour nap.

We had varying luck with the weather, seeing a lot of blue sky and the sun, but also miserable grey mornings with drizzle, and one whole day of thunderstorms and pouring rain. What was common for all of them was that the house we stayed in was very cold; there was only one radiator in the bedroom, but we mostly stayed in the living room/kitchen area because of the wifi, which was very poor anyway.

Epilogue — this kind of a vacation would not have been possible if it weren’t for AirBnB, or it would have been difficult. AirBnB has opened small, non-touristy towns like Mens that have no lodging services to random travelers like us, who like to get off the beaten path. It is like being home away from home, and with just 38 euros per night it was quite reasonable.