Mardi, 19 novembre.
After having spent Friday afternoon exploring the old Renaissance quarter of Lyon, Mommy and I decided on Saturday to take a day trip to the city of Annecy. Like Lyon, the city is located in the Rhône-Alpes region of France. However, while Lyon has a slightly more central location, Annecy is quite literally nestled in the French Alps and is located closer to Switzerland and Italy than to most other French cities! In fact, the Haute-Savoie department to which the city belongs actually used to be a part of the Comté de Genève. Although it's been a part of France for centuries, the Swiss influence in the region is still very evident. (Can you say cheese fondu?)
I had first heard of the region thanks to my KD big, Emily, who spent last fall studying abroad in Lyon and took a day trip to Annecy. Her pictures made it seem too beautiful for us not to check out! (And I mean, when you see the words "French Alps" and "lake" in the description, can you really go wrong?) I didn't really know what to expect, but we boarded the train from Lyon bright and early on Saturday morning, figuring that we would see what we could see.
AND THIS IS WHAT WE SAW. (Well, some of it. Along with our other day trip to Pérouges and our weekend in Lyon, this adventure had to have its own post ... if only because of the insane number of beautiful photos we took!)
I honestly didn't know it was possible for a single place to be that gorgeous and actually haven't stopped talking about it since we got back. Even the train ride to Annecy was beautiful -- two hours of countryside and fog-covered mountains. Although I'm pretty sure I fell asleep, Mommy had a blast looking out the window!
Arriving in Annecy was a little confusing: like most cities, its train station isn't located in the best or most beautiful part of town. And although the city is definitely much smaller than Lyon, it's still pretty big -- over fifty thousand residents -- and definitely has the feel of a real city in parts. But we wandered a little bit in search of the office of tourism (a surefire first stop in any unfamiliar city) and then suddenly -- "MOMMY! LOOK! THE ALPS!" -- we arrived at the edge of Lac d'Annecy. The view was stunning.
