It is finally the weekend in Annecy! Yesterday, since we couldn't go to Marseille this weekend, we decided to got to Marseille the last weekend of the trip and to just hang around Annecy this weekend. So our first plan was to go to the beach...and that is exactly what we did. First we all
met up at the gare (pronounced like car but with a "g"; gare also means bus or train station) and then since some of us don't have bus passes, we walked in the direction where we thought we might find the beach. We walked along the lake as Ali and Whitney rode ahead on their bikes, assuming that at some point, if we kept following the lake, we would find a beach. (Or at least the French equivalent to some type of beach.)
First we stumbled upon the beach that you have to pay to get into. Seeing as none of us had money we kept walking, although this beach did have mini golf and a giant slide into the lake.
And after taking some wrong turns we ended up on the public beach! It was full of people and half of it was covered in grass...aka not as good of a beach as we have back home in the good ol' US of A. We laid our stuff all out on the grass and took a seat. I felt very clever because I had the best blanket ever to lie on! (I kidnapped the United Airlines cheapy blanket to use as a pique-nique blanket and what not, and it has proved very useful!!) Just to let you know, European beaches kind of live up to their reputation. I'm sure it isn't as bad as it would be in the Mediterranean, but there were quite a few old men in speedos and more then enough topless women...enough on that.
It was pretty warm lying there in the sun, so we decided to take a jump into the lake. IT WAS FREEZING! I don't know why we expected it to not be quite that cold...after all, it is glacial water. And after running back to our spot and warming up we decided it was time for lunch. So we headed back in to the old town and found a kebab stand. They are so yummy! We sat for a bit and talked and ate then decided to head back to the lake and think up something to do since it was only about 2:30 (or as the French would say 14:30). We decided to try our hand at peddle boating. So out we went!!
It was so much fun! Probably the best 4 Euros I have spent! We went out kinda far into the lake and just relaxed then started jumping into the lake. (This time we knew what we were getting ourselves into!!) The water took your breathe away as soon as you jumped in, but it felt so good!!
After peddle boating Jake had to head home, so it was just us girls. And what did we decide to do?! Get the best ice cream in Annecy of course! And after we got it we headed over to our
favorite place in Annecy, this little dock that has a beautiful view of the lake! We sat there for a bit dangling our toes in the water and observing these crazy drunk guys that ran around in random costumes honking horns and kissing random people and chanting who knows what in French. After those crazy visitors left, we had another visitor. A swan. Now let me say in advance that swans are mean. This particular swan was named Alfred, Lord Tennyson by Ali and myself. As we sat there Alfred would constantly nip at us and try to got food. We would sit there with our feet in the water and he would try to bite us! How rude!
After Alfred left us alone, we went back into Annecy to see it at night. It was beautiful! The old buildings all lit up looked amazing. And in all this beauty it also kinda reminded me of Pirates of the Caribbean...
No comments