Annecy

After Venice I only had to make it through 3 days of classes before it was the Armistice Day long weekend. It was so strange to experience this holidays without seeing every second person walking around wearing a poppy on their jacket. However, I remembered the soldiers just the same and enjoyed the time away from school. Jess and I didn't have another major trip planned since travel was expensive at this time due to the long weekend, but we had decided to do some local exploration and check out the town of Annecy, France only an hour train ride north-east of Grenoble. It has been under either Swiss or French control for the last 100 years so has much influence from both cultures.

Annecy already had the reputation of being a beautiful town and oh did it ever live up to those expectations. First, the weather a balmy 16 degrees on Saturday November 13 and the sun was shining on us all day, reflecting off the turquoise-blue Lac d'Annecy and the snow capped mountains. We were able to walk around without our jackets off and bask in the sun's rays as we walked along the side of the lake watching the rowers, kayakers, playful children and just enjoying the amazing day we were given.

Our day mostly consisted of wandering around and exploring but we did discover a gelato shop with at least 30 different flavours to choose from, some tasty cookies, the old part of town and Le Chateau at the top of the hill (which ended up just being a museum inside that was not as interesting as we had expected).

I was glad we were able to get away for even just the day but it was kind of depressing when we returned to Grenoble since I realized I had no other trips planned until after finals, which was over a month away. In retrospect I lucked out because it didn't stay that way for long. But thats for another post, another day!