Annecy trip

Last Thursday, Lorraine took the train from Lyon to the beautiful town of Annecy, which is at the edge of the Alps.  The town sits on beautiful lake Annecy, at the mouth of the Thiou river.  Sometimes called the "Venice of France", it is criss-crossed by canals, which are frequently lined with flower boxes.

There is evidence of human habitation in the Annecy area from at least the first century BC.  These old streets aren't quite that old, but they show the medieval character of the old town.

In one of the main canals, there is a building, the Palais de L'Ile, which dates from the 12th century.  It served as a prison for some time, although the water surrounding it now would not serve as much a deterrent to an escape.

A food specialty of the area is cheese fondue using, among others, the excellent melting cheese, raclete.  We (mostly I) decided that we must have some for lunch.

It was, as expected, delicious although the sterno-type burner under the cheese had a hard time staying lit.

After lunch we took a boat trip up the lake and back.  Here is the boat.

The lake is surrounded by mountains that come right down to the water level, but they leave room for some wonderful homes and some gorgeous old castles.

Some of these old castles/chateaux have become luxury hotels, but a number of them, including the next one, are still in private hands.

 The layers of mountains around the lake were quite impressive.  Mount Blanc, which is the highest mountain in Europe at 4820 meters, is not far from Annecy, but is hidden by intervening mountains.

Interestingly enough, while we couldn't see Mt. Blanc when we were relatively close to it in Annecy, we can see it on a very clear day from the Croix-Rousse area of Lyon, only a short walk from our apartment.  This picture is taken (with my cell phone) from the Gros Caillou area, one of our favorite watering holes, right on the edge of the Croix-Rousse plateau.  The contrast is not great, but Mt. Blanc is easy to make out in the center.  This is pretty incredible to me since the mountain is 232.5 kilometers (139.5 miles) from Lyon.

As we came back into the port at Annecy, we got a great view of the Musee-Chateau.

We were totally charmed by Annecy, and hope to go back there again before our year in Lyon is over.  Unfortunately, it seems that there are too many fabulous places for us to go, and a year is not long enough to do it all.  We shall see!