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| My rented Fiat 500 took me to awesome mountains and lakes. Did I say I dig mountain driving? It's quite the sport doing hairpin turns & 2nd gear inclines. | ||||
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This pretty well sums up why people are attracted to Lake Annecy. |
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One outing was to gorges the Fier River has carved into the native stone. |
Thanks to this boardwalk 75 feet above the flowing river, you get close-up exposure. Not for anyone with a fear of heights! Occasionally the pathway gets demolished when flash floods engulf it every two or three decades or so, according to video clips that show periodic damage. |
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| You are urged to interpret shapes as you see them, which I can't help but do normally. |
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Nearby is the Montroittier chateau with gorgeous views. |
A brief history of how chateaux evolve |
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The cable car up Mont Blanc in Chamonix required several hours of wait, so I opted for the Montenvers glacier. A tunnel is carved into the ice. The decreasing volume of the glacier is all too well documented (see picture of access steps to come) – not to mention experienced by being dripped upon profusely. Climate change? What climate change? Patagonia raised similar concerns. |
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| This is what it looks like going inside. |
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Closer up |
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Ice sculptures are part of the "reward" for climbing down. |
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In the late '80s this cable car arrived at the entrance to the glacier tunnel. Now it's 480 steps further down. Of course, that means 480 steps back up which tends to deter the less hardy. |
Because of a rainy day necessitating doing something indoors, I went to CERN in Geneva – you know, that place where they are trying to find Higgs Boson (whoever he is). I did get an idea of the scale of the research from the huge collider down to the infinitessable particles being bombarded. Children gustily manipulating the interactive exhibits probably understood more than I did, but I tried. |
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I got a brief look at the Geneva fountain, but it was too rainy to walk around much.
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A drive around Lake Annecy explored picturesque villages like this. |
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Otherwise, it was seeking out iconic sites like this former prison – not easy since sidewalk space was hard to come by because so many other tourists thought Annecy would be a good August get-away. Note: English- speaking people pronounce it an-es-cie. Natives often suppress the middle syllable, and it becomes an-cie. Both ways are accepted. |
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Sorry for all the selfies, but this is Annecy's prime lakefront property. |
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| View from the Chateau d'Annecy |
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Did I mention people like to jump off the sides of mountains? |
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Or the food? Clockwise: Lake trout, whitefish, seafood salad and raclette |
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Trip finale – Yvoire, a medieval village on the south (French) bank of Lake Leman. The north side is Swiss, but you knew that. Right?
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