Voyage to France, Part 2 - Annecy

We got off the train just after sundown on Saturday in the city of Annecy in the Savoie region of the Alps. Our hotel was on the edge of the "old town", which is a pedestrian-only area with old pastel-walled and red-shingled (and sometimes arcaded) buildings, narrow stone-paved streets, and Kodak-moment canals. At night the streets were lit up and decorated for Christmas. Le Château d'Annecy, a medieval castle, loomed over the old town. Maybe the best feature of the town, though, is that is sits beside Lake Annecy - a large, swan-filled lake under majestic mountains with some of the clearest water I've ever seen (even compared to Minnesota and Colorado!). I really loved this town.



On Sunday morning we walked to the old town where a market was taking place. This market was much larger than the one we saw in Grenoble, but it was way more touristy and flea-market-like. We walked through town along the still and reflective canals down to a big park beside Lake Annecy. This park was about as serene as possible: swans swimming near the shore, children playing, couples strolling, and Alpine mountains appearing in the distance out of the morning haze. The water was clear enough to see the bottom of the lake and the paddling feet of the swans. I could have sit [Mason - grammar?] and watched the lake and mountains for hours...even though I squandered half the time taking pictures.



In the afternoon we walked up to le Château d'Annecy [go to Annecy Castle under "castles". It isn’t quite as grand as a fairytale castle, but was still the first European castle I’d seen – so I enjoyed it. There were good views of the city and the lake. Inside the castle were an art museum and a science museum of the Alpine lakes.



We spent some more time at the lake before taking an evening train back to Paris. That was the end of our weekend French Alps adventure. We spent the rest of the week in and around The City of Lights.

See more of my Annecy photos on my PhotoSite page.

Voyage to France, Part 1 - Grenoble

I just got back last weekend from a Fall trip to France with my parents to visit my sister in Paris. Brittany has been in Paris since Labor Day studying abroad (and taking several trips to other parts of Europe). We left on Thanksgiving evening and after a long flight and a quick layover in Iceland, we were in Paris by noon Friday.



After hanging out at and around Brittany's dorm for a while, we took a Friday evening three-hour tour via high speed train to the French Alps. Our first stop was in the city of Grenoble, which sits along the River Isère in a valley surrounded by mountains. We got there around midnight and went right to bed in a crazy space-themed hotel room. I hardly slept due to a blossoming crappy cold, but that's the last I'll write on the negative - anticipation and adrenaline kept me going strong the whole trip nonetheless.

We found breakfast pastries in a little boulangerie (bakery), and a great pain au chocolat (basically a croissant filled with chocolate) gave me some good energy. There was a strong breeze that was strangely warm. We walked down the old streets of the city towards the River Isère. We noticed right away that there were snow-capped mountains at the end of the streets to the east. The views from the river were great, with hills to the west, mountains to the east, a rocky cliff across the river overlooking picturesque quaint old buildings on the riverbanks.



At the top of that hill with the rocky cliff is an old fort called La Bastille. We took a bubble-shaped cable car from the riverbanks up to the fort. It was insanely windy at La Bastille (yet fairly warm) and the views were amazing. We could see the whole metro area in the valley and all the surrounding ranges. We sort of saw the highest mountain in Europe, Mont Blanc, rising up into the misty clouds far in the distance. Also, the fort itself was really cool. It was more of a fortified series of walls than a castle-type fort. Stone arches and arrow slits were everywhere. We walked down to these caves with a creepy hidden stair cut into the rock that ended at a semi-secret back door entrance. La Bastille was one of my highlights of the trip.



After returning to town down the cable car, we found Place Sainte André, a modest little town square enclosed by old buildings, including the Sainte André church from the 13th century. My parents liked the small local market going on in the square. We ate lunch here at one of the oldest restaurants in France, Café de la Table Ronde, which has served some famous French folks since 1739 (or since well before the USA was born!). I ate a delicious meal of Alps-style sausages and scalloped potatoes.



We walked around town some more before hopping on an afternoon 2-hour train ride north to the town of Annecy.

See more of my Grenoble photos on my PhotoSite page.