Day 9 - Annecy

This blog entry is our first one from the very east of France at the foothills of the French Alps in Annecy. We are actually very close to Switzerland tonight, as Annecy is not far from Geneva. And we can see Mont Blanc from this town!

But back to Dijon briefly to wrap up. The illuminated night tour of Dijon was excellent. Carmen from the Tourist Office there was extremely knowledgable and provided a very detailed history of the town and its many architecture styles. She was still going at midnight and, as we were very tired, we peeled off the tour near the end as she took the group very near our apartment. Rod was pleased we did the tour because he got some really nice night photos of the town.

We then headed back to the apartment to prepare for our last sleep in Dijon - boo hoo. We were up at about 8am and started tidying up a little and packing our bags again. Coco, the lovely owner of the apartment, had very kindly offered to drop us back at the station. She also gave us a fantastic Owl magnet, which we will keep for our fridge at home. For all our friends interested, Coco has a website - www.myhomeindijon.com which details her apartment - it was lovely.

Caught the train from Dijon to Annecy via Lyon. We changed trains at Lyon Part Dieux and managed to get some nice-looking lunch after we left the station area. The food on offer at the station was average looking, in fact the station was extremely busy, as Lyon is a major city and school holidays have started this weekend.
Once we arrived at Annecy, we were pleased to discover that our hotel was located quite close to the station area, so we checked in and dropped off our bags in our room. This room is quite small actually and is located in the roofline on the top floor, which wouldn't normally be so bad but for the extreme heat outside - the air cooler is struggling to cope, as are we. This is primarily a ski-resort town, so the warm weather is a complete aberration from the norm.

Went to the tourist office and collected some walking maps to use tomorrow and then we walked down to the lake to admire the view. The lake area is really picturesque and we have taken lots of photos including some of the 'Pont des Amours' - allegedly the most-photographed bridge in France (today's featured pic avec the lovely Kym). It was really beautiful. We then found a supermarket and stocked up on some supplies as the hotel here wants 14 euro each for a buffet breakfast - so they can stick that. We bought some bread and jam and ham and water and fruit and will make our own breakfast merci beaucoup! Voila, that is our first day in Annecy. There is a thunderstorm approaching, we are told. That will determine what we do tomorrow.