Another day in paradise

Saturday got off to a later start than usual. The nice thing about France is that everything seems to start a little later. So we usually don't eat until around 10 pm here, so not starting your day until 9 or so isn't too big of a day since you still have 12 hours to get things done. We headed out to have lunch and then walked around to look for a place to rent bikes. The main attraction of Annecy is, of course, Lac d'Annecy. It is huge and is nestled into the French Alps. Makes for a pretty picturesque backdrop. The water is sort of an ocean blue and is unbelievably blue.

Aside from the Lake, Annecy is also famous for it's old town area, Vieux Ville. This area of Annecy gives it it's reputation as "The Venice of France." And is it ever, complete with the canal ways and adorable bridges. I have never been to Venice, but this is how I imagine it looking. It's quite a romantic backdrop, so is full of quite a few couples; one of the bridges is even called "Pont d'Amour" which translates to bridge of love. But there were also alot of families so we didn't feel too out of place.

It took us quite awhile to find a bike rental place. I had to ask 3 different people; I know how to say "I am looking for a bike to rent" but I definitely could NOT understand what they said back to me. We tried to utilize hand gestures, but it still took us a good hour to find it. Which was fine, because often times, you come across the most interesting sites when you are lost. Like this wedding couple that we came across. I felt like quite a voyeur taking a picture, but it was just such a Parisien moment! You can't probably tell in the pic, but the bride's dress has some purple gossimer or some sort of material (Aunt Betty, the fabric pro, would know!). She also was wearing purple glasses. And purple shoes. And the groom's shirt is purple. Not something you'd ever see in the States, but it was so, well, Parisien! :)

After that, we finally got our 3rd set of hand gesture directions & figured out where the bike place was! Success! The guy had lived in the Mt Hood area for a few years so spoke wonderful English. We rented our bikes and were off. There is a wonderful 2 lane bike path that winds around the lake. Annecy is actually just one of many towns on the lake. They are each a few kilometers apart, and are the most adorable little villages. We had been biking for quite awhile and were out of water so decided to stop at a little cafe off the bike path. We were trying to figure out where on the map we were, so I approached the guy who sold us our waters & asked. He got quite the interesting grin on our face, and then pointed to way off the map & said, um "ici!" which means here. Yah, we had underestimated how far we'd biked and were off the map! He had a good laugh about these 2 sort of lost Americans. The map above is sort of small, but if you click on it, it will be a larger image - we biked from Annecy at the top of the map, down to Duigt, which is towards the bottom laugh. Granted, these towns are pretty close together, but still - we'd gone quite a ways!

We kept going a ways as we could see a castle. We came upon this cool little tunnel that you had to bike thru. Was a weird sensation to bike thru a tunnel, but also cool at the same time!

We came out on the other side and kept going until we got to this castle that we could see from the cafe where we'd stopped for water. We got out but unfortunatley it was a private residence so we couldn't get very close. We were still able to snap a decent photo of it.

After that, we figured we better head back since we had to have the bikes back within 2 hours. We got back into Annecy with plenty of time to spare, so we hung out around the canal area and stubled upon yet another wedding! Had to be a voyeur again and take yet another picture since this struck me as very Venetian since they are getting into a gondola-esq boat.

We returned the bikes, and headed back to the hotel to get ready for the evening. We had biked quite a ways so had worked up an appetite. We walked along the path along the lake, enjoying the evening sun. This is definitely a place that I will return to. I thought to myself - someday, I will return here when I am married so I can show this place off to my husband. It's like a combination of Battle Lake, New Zealand, and Steamboat Springs (all places very near & dear to my heart) all rolled into one.


We walked into the Old Town area to find a place for dinner. Each side of the canal is lined with cute little sidewalk cafes and restaurants, so choosing a place to eat is pretty tough. We stopped along the way to take some more pictures. Strange thing - as I was waiting for Adrianne to snap a photo, a breeze blew thru and the smell that came off the water was virtually identical to the smell of Battle Lake. Your scent of smell is the sense most closely linked with memory, so I was definitely thinking about mom & dad & what they were up to back at the cabin...

After looking at multiple places, we settled on a place that had a mixed menu that looked really good. It was call Petit Chatelet. We sat outside, but could see inside & it reminded me of something you'd see in northern Minnesota - sort of a log cabin feel. Both Adrianne and I settled on the fixed menu, and chose the duck breast. Well, it didn't really turn out to be a breast of duck. It was liver. Which is fine, but not what I was expecting, and I am just NOT a liver person. I guess I couldn't confirm this until I tried this as this was technically the first time I had eaten it. My mom never prepared it growing up (thank Mom!!!), but I had seem plenty of it when I worked at Whitey's in college since one of their specialties was chicken or calves liver. I know this is a delicacy, but it's just not my cup of tea. But at least now I can say I tried it. Mom & Barb - can I sub this in for trying tripes? Or do I still need to do that? ;) The liver did come with Ratatouille which was really good... and made me think of Andrew and James since I had recently watched that movie with them.

After dinner, we headed over to an ice cream place we'd spotted so I could get some gelato. We walked past a guy in a clown suit, making balloon animals. Don't know what his deal was, but he was convinced it was my birthday (no idea why...) so grabbed me & sort of spun me around and tried to sing Happy Birthday. He probably just wanted to dance with a young girl? It was pretty awkward and funny at the same time. Wish I had a pic of that - he was decked out, complete with face paint, a wig, and all. Creepy in a way, but also pretty funny.

Overall, it was a pretty perfect day. Gorgeous weather, a beautiful city, an interesting dining experience, and a little twirl-around with a clown. What more could a girl ask for?