More of the Haute Savoire and Annecy

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.

We wandered around town for a while and enjoyed the sunshine and breeze, and then headed home via the supermarket. I took a shot of the cheese and yogurt aislejust to see the amazing selection

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French Alps

Peter and I worked at Cat together and he left a couple of years ago to work for Volvo on their Backhoe Loader program. He is based near Annecy, which is about 60km from Geneva in the French Alps and close to some world class skiing.

He is in his early thirties. His level of maturity, a result at least partially of his extensive traveling after University has always impressed me.

He has a very nice house just outside a small village. 

When I arrived I met his partner Rebekah, who is a veterinarian originally from near Brisbane Australia.

The house backs up to an impressive range of cliffs that reach up to about 4500 ft (15150 m) from the house height of about 1000 ft (300m)

Below and about 5km away is the largest natural lake in France Lac de Beregrat.

Friday morning Peter and I hiked a little around the villages in the immediate area and in some respects it is like stepping back about 50 years. There are lots of small farms and old (sometimes dilapidated) barns, small pastures that do not seem to have any particular care or animal rotation, but plenty of contented animals. We saw several herds of Abondonce. 

This is a breed of cattle that are kept and the farmers make a local cheese called Reblochon specifically for a local dish called “La Tartiflette” which is a specialized potato bake. (Rebekah made this for us on Sunday evening) The cheese looks like a Brie and has a similar consistency but is a little milder. 

 On Saturday went all drove up the mountain and then hiked out to a point that overlooks the valley. It was about 4 km I am guessing but a rocky trail with plenty of ups and downs. Truly spectacular scenery and there was lots of glider and parasailing activity. We were able to look down on the whole of Lac de Bergerat, and see the activity at the local Chambery airport and get a good appreciation of the local geography. The hike was only about an hour each way but a great way to spend an afternoon. 

Saturday night we ventured out to Chambery about 15 km away for dinner.The restaurant L’Atelier was quite small but had a great ambience and a very simple menu. There were two appetizers, two main courses and two desserts all for a set price (there was a supplement for the steak choice). The other option was “Menu Surprise” which is what it suggested. We are all sharers so the math worked out and we all had something different. It was fantastic and the amazing thing was how well each of the ingredients complemented the other. Rebekah had a vichyssoise  (chilled soup) that tasted bland if you just gently dipped your spoon in it, but if you went deep and got a little of the crab meat and other ingredients it was a whole different story. The “Menu Surprise” came with Fois-gras and a small spoon of a sort of mango chutney. Very rich but fantastic.

 A great find and we have all promised to do a Trip Advisor post on the place.

The weather for the first couple of days has been good but Sunday morning bought some rain, and a lazier day. In the afternoon we ventured down for a walk by the lake as the weather had improved and there was lots of sail boats on the lake and groups of guys playing “boule” the very French game played with steel balls and a small jack ball. Interesting people watching.

At the house all the rooms have external shutters that serve to block out the light (very effectively) and also for security if desired. I have been sleeping with the shutters up and the door open. The shutters are (in this case) electrically operated and are a regular feature of houses in France I believe. I asked about how you would get out of the house in the event of an emergency (fire) as the bathroom windows had bars on them and if you had the electrically operated shutters down and the power failed I do not know how you would get out. Logic says there would have to be a way (particularly in the regulated and safety conscious EU) to get out but we did not come up with the answer. It is interesting in that crime was not a particular problem in this part of the country but shutters and barred windows seemed to be the norm.

Peter commented that most modern construction here is poured concrete, and this house is certainly constructed that way. There is a big basement that includes a double garage and the laundry room. Upstairs has a fairly small kitchen, dining room and living room separated by double doors and then three bedrooms on one side and a single bathroom. 

There was an enormous corridor that went all the way down the side of the house and seemed to be disproportionately wide but is apparently quite normal. The only logic I could come up with is that it was somewhere to store some firewood inside for the immediate needs. 

There is plenty of evidence that wood is the primary heat source. Lots of log piles and cutting/splitting activity in the villages and countryside. 

More of France and Annecy in the next post, hopefully later today