Day 24: Uzes to Annecy

Today I awoke with a bit of a sore eye, so I jumped onto Google translate and looked up the French for sore eye and headed off to the pharmacy. Sure enough the girl there spoke no English, but when I pointed to my eye and said le conjonctivite maybe, she knew what I needed and handed over a bottle of antibacterial eye drops; the passing on of instructions for application was a little more difficult, but we managed.
Michelle and I finished off our ham and most of the roast chicken and were on the road by 10:30; there were a  few hours of driving ahead of us today.

The morning was motorway after motorway as we moved through and from the lovely French provincial scenery of cerises, vines and stone villages into what almost in a blink became mountains with villages in the style of Swiss chalets.  Huge castles sat atop hills, separated by gorgeous clear aquamarine rivers and forests.  And tunnels!

I filled the car again with an attendant that spoke no English, but we worked it out.  Brunch was a stop at one of the many AREA road side stops, Aire de Romagnieu, were I enjoyed a lovely blueberry muffin and yet another variation on a cappuccino.
As we drove into Annecy, the scenery of the lake, the surrounding mountains on the far shore topped with snow and shrouded in clouds, and the beautiful old town buildings by the rivers and canals was just postcard perfect.  This is such a lovely, beautiful place to stay.

We walked along the lake and then met our host Pascal at our apartment in the old town, in a building dating back to the 13^th century. Pascal was really lovely and friendly and went through everything with the apartment, and also gave us some tips on where to eat to avoid the touristy places.

We then continued walking around the old town, which is just so lovely and basically all we intend doing for most of our stay here in Annecy; it is so relaxing and peaceful and beautiful. There was no working Wi-Fi in the apartment, and the nearest reliable free internet is at the Tourist Information Centre in the main part of town, so we dropped in there to let family know we’d arrived, and get a little information on the town.
Now some people shouldn't work in the jobs they find themselves in.  I went to the guy behind the desk, said bonjour and asked if he spoke English.  I was then directed to the badges he wore across his chest indicating he spoke English, French and Arrogance.  The girl I spoke with the next day was much more approachable and helpful, in fact everybody, apart from this one person has been really nice.  Anyway, we continue walking around and exploring this lovely town.

We had dinner at Le Bestringue, a lovely restaurant with a view over the river from a glass conservatory and where the menus were printed in children’s books!

Pastis, becoming one of my favourite apèritifs, was followed by a traditional dish of the local fish from the Lac Annecy: Fera fillet Leman with Mondeuse sauce.  It was a beautiful tasty sweet white fleshed fish and the sauce was pretty special too.

Then, while sitting there looking out the window, a cat came running across the rooftop chasing a pigeon, three or so stories up.  Unable to catch the pigeon, he was quite happy to run around the roof and watch what was going on down below.

And dessert was another Crème brûlèe, with a thin crispy toffee skin I actually could crack through, but it was very thin.  I don’t think Manu would have been impressed, but the custard was really light and fluffy and damn delish.
After dinner we walked around the city some more: along the lake and gardens and across pont des amours.  So beautiful and picturesque, the scenery reminds me a little of Queenstown New Zealand, with the lake flanked with mountains.

Click to see more of lovely Annecy.