Plenty of Nothing

Téléphérique de Grenoble

Source.

Grenoble Olympique

Source.

The Arena of Nîmes

This amphitheatre in Nîmes, Provence, built around 70 AD, was converted into a bullring in 1863 and now serves as a concert venue, with a couple of bullfights per year to propitiate the ghosts. Source.

Ganterie Grenoble

Source.

Grenoble Dauphinois

Source.

Grenoble Alpin

Source.

Grenoble in the Champions Hockey League

Grenoble in action, 1964. Source.

Grenoble Hockey Club was founded in 1963. Journalist Albert Antoine nicknamed them the Brûleurs de Loups, and in 1992 that was adopted as the club's official title. The people of Isère are called brûleurs de loups because in the 18th century they eradicated the local wolf population by setting the woods on fire. Source. Les Brûleurs have been champions of France eight times, including last season.

Brûleurs de Loups de Grenoble in the Champions Hockey League:

2015-16

GS    2015/8/21      Grenoble 1 - 4 Litvínov

GS    2015/8/27      Litvínov 6 - 4 Grenoble

GS    2015/8/29      Espoo Blues 4 - 2 Grenoble

GS    2015/9/4        Grenoble 2 - 1 Espoo Blues

Is the Champions Hockey League the first pan-European hockey championship? No. This is just the latest in a series of tournaments organized by the IIHF. From 1965 to 1996 there was the European Cup. That was replaced by the European Hockey League, which lasted only four years, and the Continental Cup, which is still going. From 2005 to 2008 there was the European Champions Cup. The Champions Hockey League was tried in 2008-09 but abandoned until it was restarted in 2014.

Recent Group E games:

Grenoble 2 - 6 Kärpät (Sept 5)

Bern 4 - 4 Skellefteå (Sept 5) SAIK won the SO.

Grenoble [1 - 4] Skellefteå (Sept 7)

Bern [1 - 1] Kärpät (Sept 7) Kärpät won the SO.

[Group E after these games:

                     Pts        GD

Kärpät             9        +6

Skellefteå        7        +4

Bern                5         -2

Grenoble         3         -8    ]

Another Summer Cup

Remparts versus Jokers. Source.

It's the preseason, and again Les Jokers de Cergy-Pontoise host the Summer Cup, which for some reason they didn't name Coupe d'Été.

Jokers de Cergy-Pontoise host Dragons de Rouen, Gothiques d'Amiens and Remparts de Tours. (Source.) Amiens and Rouen play in Ligue Magnus, the top French league, and the Jokers and Remparts participate in Division 1, the second tier of French hockey.

The games:

August 23

Amiens [5 - 1] Tours

Cergy-Pontoise [1 - 5] Rouen

August 24

Rouen [5 - 3] Amiens

Cergy-Pontoise [4 - 2] Tours

August 25

Rouen [2 - 1] Tours

Cergy-Pontoise [2 - 4] Amiens

[Rouen win the tournament.]

Vin de Suresnes

Suresnes, a wine-producing village that in modern times has been engulfed by the city of Paris, was in Brillat-Savarin's day synonymous with bad vintages. Yet it carries on in its tradition despite it all. Source.

Jules Verne's Tomb

The tomb of Jules Verne, who died on this day in 1905, implies that he hasn't been dead all this time so much as exploring the centre of the earth. Source.