Europe

After having slept well last night, we got down to breakfast around 9:15 am, where we may have ended up slightly over-indulging!

After breakfast, we had our car brought around, and we set off for Annecy in France, a drive of about 50 km. Once we got to the town, we had to work out where to park. We headed for the Imperial Palace Hotel and drove through a boom gate into what looked to be a private car park for hotel guests. We figured we’d come back later and have a drink at the hotel before we left and so, on that basis, we decided that we qualified as guests!

We headed off on foot to the beautiful Lac d’Annecy, where plenty of people were engaging in summer water sports, even though it was a relatively cool day today.

We enjoyed a lovely walk around the lake, on our way to the centre of town. We crossed over the Pont des Amours (Bridge of Loves), where we (and lots of others!) stopped to take a photo.

We continued walking along the canal to the beautiful Quai Perrière area.

After exploring Quai Perrière for a while, we walked up the Crêt du Maure hill to view the Basilique de la Visitation (Basilica of the Visitation), before making our way to the Musée-Château d’Annecy, a museum housed in the restored Annecy Castle.

After exploring the museum and castle, we walked back down the hill to do a little shopping.

After buying more than a few baby clothes (with no regard for how we are going to fit them into our luggage!), we walked back along the lake to the Imperial Palace Hotel, where we stopped for a drink and a snack.

We then walked back to the car, not quite knowing what to expect as we tried to exit the boom gate in the cark park. But, we managed to get out without incident, and we set off for Geneva.

We had been advised by the hotel staff when we left, that the streets near the hotel would be closed in the evening for a street festival. Once we hit the Geneva city area, the trip was extremely slow due to the police blocking off a number of the main streets. So, we took the backstreets into the hotel, where the ever-helpful Alex (one of the Beau-Rivage’s incredibly efficient and friendly staff) attended to the task of parking the car for us.

By this time, the street party was in full swing. It was pretty raucous and not really our thing. But we walked along the lake shore for a while, to take it all in. Along the way, we walked past the historic paddle steamer, Genève. Genève is the oldest paddle ship on the lake; it was originally steam-powered and was converted to diesel in the 1930s.

We walked back to the hotel, which was right in the thick of the parade.

We briefly toyed with the idea of getting dinner from one of the many street stalls, but we thought better of it and decide to dine in the hotel’s restaurant, from where we could observe the street parade antics (of which there were plenty!) from the comfort of our table by the restaurant window.

After a very nice day, we headed upstairs to retire for the evening.

Tomorrow, we plan to walk around Geneva and explore a bit of the city.