Wednesday 19 May 2010

Comment la sérénité ?













After arriving here in Annecy in the middle of the night, this morning we woke and opened the curtains to reveal snow capped mountains, lush hill sides and ancient rooftops right outside our window!

We found on this mornings news that yesterday's rail nightmare was due to:

"A sit-in by nurses on Parisian train tracks ended in clashes between protesters and police. Rail traffic between Paris and western France was brought to a grinding halt by several hundred specialised nurses staging protest on the tracks, pressing claims for a greater recognition of their work. Police forcibly removed the demonstrators but trains were delayed".

We are now in the French Alps, neighbouring Geneva. First thoughts, that this must be Europes version of white sandy beaches, crystal clear ocean and palm trees. We couldn't wait to get out and walk around, we got a map and headed straight to lake Annecy. A crystal clear blue/green lake that is 14km in length, surrounded by the mountains, gardens, châteaus and monasteries scattering the hill sides, you can really tell we are close to Switzerland (some of the mountains do look like Toblerone).

We quickly nipped into the local supermarket to get some supplies and were blown away at the gourmet experience you can have just in the deli section! At home where you would buy your processed meats and cheese, here there is a whole area dedicated to cheese, pork terrine, pate and slow roasted meats. The fruit and veg section had apples the size of melons, asparagus like carrots, carrots like leeks and leeks like trees! The cheese section was bigger than any other, apart from the horrible odour, the 'great wall of cheese' was where we spent a lot of time trying to choose between the thousands of choices! And just as important, trying to find the right wine (under 50 Euros) to go with the cheese!

Looking forward to discovering more of this paradise tomorrow!

Jusqu'au demain, au revoir!

Ros, Kate & Kim xxx

1 comment:

  1. Fantastic photos girls, you all are looking so beautiful and French, we all look forward to reading your story every night!!

    Love Chris and Leeann, Josh,Tom and Emily. xxxxx

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