Because Peter works in France he is entitled to 35 vacation days a year!!. There does not seem to be any rollover provision, although it would be difficult to determine what you would need to roll over for.
Anyway as his vacation yeat ends at the end of May he still had plenty of days and was able to take Monday as well.
We wanted to go to Annecy, which is about 30km towards Geneva, but as it is holiday season and it is a very popular place we decided to go on a weekday. A good decision upon reflection. Peter took us on a country route that went through more superb scenery in the Haute Savoire region.
There is another range of mountains to the west of the lake and a tunnel to go through the mountain. I would say that the French like their tunnels and we went through plenty and I did the same again on the train when I left on Tuesday going back to Geneva.
We stopped and wandered in a couple of villages, and through a gorge with a swollen river and a small dam with the gates opened. It was reminiscent of the Buller Gorge in New Zealand and with the overhanging rock also reminiscent of the Connor Pass in Ireland.
We arrived in Annecy around 1pm and decided we had better get lunch before everywhere closed up.
It is not so prevalent in the tourist towns, but in general most stores close for an hour or an hour and a half at lunchtime and always on Sunday. Peter told me that he believed it was illegal to cut your grass on a Sunday and he was not sure if that was all day or just Sunday afternoon. Imagine a peaceful Sunday afternoon with no mowers or weed eaters at work!!
Annecy is reported to be the second most expensive city in France, and is located on a beautiful lake and the old part of town is well kept, including the old jail that sits in the middle of the river that flows out of the lake.
There has been a lot of rain and the river was high and fast flowing. This all made for a picture book scene as we sat outside in the sun and ate a delicious lunch.
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