Back home

This last post is being written from a doctor's waiting room in Pretoria. We've been back 2 days already and Rose has an appointment with her eye specialist. Holding thumbs for good news. 

Our last day in Annecy started early so we could pack and since we had finished our food we went to the Hotel Restaurant next door for a lovely buffet breakfast. Although the food was lovely we experienced the first episode of French reluctance to at least try to understand English. Our request to speak English was met with a very blunt "No". Anyway, undeterred we set about getting our money's worth for the €10 each that we paid. The view was great too!

Well fed we finished our packing to be ready in time for the taxi to take us to Geneva. We spent the afternoon with Andre - Rose's mentor for her doctorate - and Rea Meheus who live in Prévessin-Moens a small village in France but 10 minutes from Geneva. After a great, mostly home grown meal we went into Geneva to see the WHO and UN buildings, plus other sights. Clockwise - Rose, Andre and Rea; statue to remember land mine damage; statue outside the UNAIDS building; the UN building.

Then they dropped us at the airport and that was that!

Hope my posts have been interesting - till next time. 

The Penultimate Day

Our last full day in Annecy was spent enjoying the "Old Town & its Churches" walk. There is always the concern that one church looks very much the same as the next, but if you take the time there are many features that make each one different and the guide we have has proven invaluable in supplying pertinent information needed. 

After an early, somewhat cool start we caught the 8:15 bus into Annecy. We have both taken a bit of strain in the foot department because we both bought new shoes shortly before taking this trip - not a good idea, but it was unavoidable. 

Most of the churches were built in the 16th and 17th century while the last one visited, the Basilica of the Visitation was only built in the first half of the 20th century. Some visuals.........

Supper this evening was a treat; we had planned to go to a local place, the Hotel Restaurant but they were closed on Mondays so we went to the La Station Des Sens the local pizza joint which was a huge surprise. We shared one pizza and one salad that were both amazing. The pizza - Mustang which sounds very un-French but the toppings were super fresh and totally French (Tomate, Mozza ; en fin de cuisson Roquette, Tomates cerises, Speck, Mozza fraîche, Copeaux de parmesan, Pistou, Vinaigre balsamique.) A real treat! 

The 7th Day

I had noticed earlier on in the week that the Museé-Chateau were offering free entry on Sunday, so we decided to take advantage of that. We made an early start in order to catch the 8:15 bus into town (the old feet are tiring) and even packed a breakfast to eat in the park. Well, we now know the busses don't run on Sunday's.

The Museé was a treat. Dating from the 13th century and renovated a few times before eventually being a military garrison until the 1950's when it was reclaimed and made a museum. We spent the whole day there except the 2 hours when they close for lunch.

When we got back to Veyrier du Lac we went down to the lake to enjoy the sunset as usual. Tomorrow is our last full day and we are already dreading that we have to leave this lovely place and go home. They say home is where the heart is - well my heart is with me in Annecy and her name is Rose.

The 6th Day

We didn't take the decision lightly. We reasoned that the opportunity to experience a Michelin rated restaurant doesn't present itself that often; we accepted that we would have to budget an amount that could feed a family in SA for a week and we knew we had no idea what to expect. So, we threw caution to the wind and booked a table at Auberge du Lac for lunch expecting something outstanding.

We started off on the deck for a drink where we could enjoy the view of the lake and the surrounding mountains but were quickly chased inside when it started to rain. Undeterred we chose a table on the veranda behind the "lapa curtains" with a view over the lake and protected from the rain and wind. 

What we hadn't thought of was that the menu would be in French - OK, we accept that was silly. But, we had hoped at least one of the waiters was an English speaker but found the best English speaker they had was not very good - he tried very hard but there were just too many explanation asked for that soon fried his brain. He did, though find an old English menu that had most of the same items as on the French version which did help us decide.

The first item delivered to us was the Amuse Bouche which consisted of some Gazpacho (Rose assures me my version is better) and some Turnip cream that was new to both of us - I quite liked it but Rose wasn't impressed.

Rose ordered a fish dish (Petite Friture de l'Auberge, Pommes-frites, Maison) because it had a salad and chips, but what she didn't realize was that the fish were tiny ones, fried to a crisp.

I ordered a starter and main - Tomate mozzarella façon Niçoise d'ici followed by Agneau, Le carré Chlorophylle. As you can see in the pictures, the salad was beautiful and really nice, but my lamb had a piece of plastic in it that the chef claimed was a piece of cartilage. Mmmmmm.....

All in all we were underwhelmed. It wasn't bad, but we really expected more.