Wednesday 27 September 2017

Annecy (Wednesday 27th September 2017)

My most humble apologies to GPS-girl. She couldn’t find the street the hotel is in because of user error. We had entered Annecy as the town when in fact it should have been Cran-Gervier – a district of Annecy. Sort of like entering 4 Ninnes Crt, Bendigo rather than 4 Ninnes Crt, Maiden Gully. Oh well, Plan B worked.

This morning we skipped (missed) breakfast so we drove into Annecy to find some. We parked the car and got our first glimpse of Lac D’Annecy. It was a lovely sunny and warm morning. A light mid-morning haze still hung over the lake and the enormous mountains behind it. I was pretty certain it would burn off as the day worn on. Into the old town we went, strolling past one of the canals for which Annecy is well known. Indeed the town in known as “The Venice of the Alps”. Yes, there is some resemblance between the two cities thanks to Annecy’s one main canal that leads from the lake, the old stone buildings, cobble-stoned lanes, little bridges here and there and numerous cafes with canal-side dining. It’s a very attractive, beautifully set town. The Queen Elizabeth Oval in Bendigo is also attractive and beautifully set but I’s balk at calling it the MCG of Central Victoria.




We found one of those canal-side cafes and ordered a coffee and croissant. What a pleasure it is to be back in a place where, when one sits down at a table, an attentive waiter is immediately on hand, takes your order with a smile, serves your coffee and croissant with a smile and leaves the bill on a saucer on your table. I so wish we would adopt this in Australia – the world capital of the coffee culture. Eating the lovely croissant also meant feeding our new best friends – a couple of dozen sparrows. Kerry had fun feeding them as did the woman we had helped earlier in the car-park who had happened to end up a the same cafe.



We went off for a snoop around some souvenir shops a picked up a thing or two. Then it was down to the lake for a better look at it. On the way there, next to the other canal, we stopped to watch the local gents play a couple of ends of
petanque. It’s more or less lawn bowls on a dirt “green” where one throws the “bowl” at the “jack”. I don’t know how the scoring works but there was lots of men and women standing around measuring distances and discussing whether “bowl” A in closer than “bowl” B. Just like lawn bowls, but without the expense of a green and a green-keeper. The same observation could be made about the Frenchman’s preference to play tennis on clay, I suppose. Smart chaps, them Frenchies.




Down at the lake-side we hired a paddle-boat (again) and spent 30 minutes out on the dead-flat, crystal-clear water enjoying the sunshine and the unique view. We strolled down the path underneath the ancient plane trees just so we could soak in more of the spectacular scenery whether it be the cloud-capped peaks, the broad, green lawn down to the lake or back to the towers and spires of the old town.



By now it was lunch-time so we found a little sandwich bar that made up tasty, fresh baguettes with you choice of fillings. Kerry had found a wool shop but it didn’t open until 2:00pm so we killed some time wandering around. In that time she also found an open haberdashery shop. So in we went. She had great fun looking through the store and conversing with the ladies behind the counter. After a while she settled on some material and ribbon to get her started on a new Christmas project she’d seen displayed in the shop’s window. Watch this space.
The wool shop was open now so in there we went. I immediately found the “husband chair” and let the women get about their secret craft business. After much discussion Kerry walked out with a bag of full of wool and a pattern book in French. Some translation work for you Emily when we all get home!






The haze and cloud had lifted down at the lake so we went there again for some more photos. The sky was a beautiful blue with just a few clouds floating by. Lounging in the grass in the sun I wandered if the rocky mountain tops were use as launchpads for hang-gliders. No sooner had the thought entered my head when I spied a distant spec high over the mountain and then another and another until we had counted at least a dozen up them way up there. The breeze by lake was just a zephyr and the day had warmed to 25C. It seemed perfect conditions for  hang-gliding. Over twenty minutes the thermals carried them closer to the lake and I was able to get some photographs with the telescopic lens.





Since it was such a lovely afternoon we decided to take a drive by the lake. First we drove down the western shoreline for about 10kms, got some more photos and a tee-shirt for me at a sports store in Sévrier. The we drove around to the eastern shore to the village of Menthon-Saint-Bernard where all the rich folks live if the houses and the boats moored on lake are anything to go by. The sun was almost set by now so we headed for home and an early night before tomorrow’s long drive to Sarlat-le-Caneda.

3 comments:

  1. Kerry, so glad you are finding all of these haberdashery, wool, souvenir and Pandora stores! You might need to buy another suitcase to fit everything in to bring home! Excess baggage costs? Haha! Your holiday continues to be a great "breakfast" read for me and "evening" read for Kevin. Great pics! Keep them coming! Xx

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  2. The "husband chair" - I saw a husband crèche in Queensland, where they had a big couch, big screen TV & a bar service. The wives were encouraged to shop as much as they wanted :) And love those panoramic alp scenes - wow!!

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