Dee's Blog

We have thoroughly enjoyed our stay in Annecy. It is a beautiful place, the weather has been gorgeous and the sight-seeing wonderful.

Today we walked to the old part of town and visited a castle. Some parts of the castle date back to the 9th century but the newer parts are from the 15th and 18th centuries. We were looking forward to seeing how people lived during those times, but the castle was more of a museum featuring such things as Iriquois moccasins, modern art and displays of the flora and fauna found near the lake. We would have liked to see rooms furnished in period furniture. This was our only disappointment. Oh, except that our 4 star hotel is beautiful but it doesn't have bellmen to help with your luggage, a swimming pool or beach, a full bar (no gimlets or Manhttans for Rich), or a breakfast menu (just a breakfast buffet). We're not fussy but do like some of these amenities, especially at close to $400 per night!

Today was market day and the vendors set up their stands along several of the streets and on the bridges that cross the river. It was fun to see their displays of cheeses, meats, breads, olives, and assorted fruits and vegetables. The smells are amazing!

After we had lunch of a salad and pizza Margherita we headed back to our room to read and relax. We had hoped to go to the beach but learned there wasn't one near our hotel. As it turned out, it started to get very overcast and gray and then it rained - just a little, but enough to get everything wet. We both took naps!

Before dinner we went to the hotel bar for a cocktail then drove into the old part of town and took a dinner cruise on Lake Annecy. It was a 2 hour tour and the dinner was excellent, the boat was very well appointed and they had a woman who sang throughout the cruise. It was a delightful way to end our stay in Annecy.

Tomorrow we are off to Caraglio, about a 5 hour drive south and east from here. I have to switch from trying to speak French to trying to speak Italian. I was just getting used to thinking in French and now I have to switch to Italian. I'm not proficient in either language so this will be a real challenge. I have dictionaries for both languages and they will be well used before the week is over!

Ciao for now!

We had a wonderful day today. The weather is fantastic - at 10:15 pm it is 77 degrees and no breeze. This afternoon it must have been in the 80s - hot, but not too hot!

Today we walked into the old town and toured some of the local historical sites. There's an old prison that dates back to the 15th century and is still pretty much in tact. The cells were small and dank and not anything you would want to spend any time in - certainly not many years! We had a nice lunch along one of the canals, walked around more then stopped to share a chocolate sundae with chocolate glace (ice cream) and chocolate sauce and whipped cream. We had to walk some more to burn up the calories we just ate.

Then we took a 2 hour boat tour around the lake. Lake Annecy is about 5 miles long and has beautiful houses and hotels around it. Plus there are parks and lovely beaches just loaded with vacationers. The boat rental business is going strong and you can rent motor boats, sail boats, paddle boats, kayaks, and even have a guided tour in one of the old wooden Chris Craft inboard boats. The water is cold but we did see several waterskiiers and wakeboarders.

After walking for several hours we headed back to the hotel to shower and take a nap. We went to dinner around 8:30 and then walked around the town again. I'm taking photos of windows and doors like I did in Italy and will do a book on the windows and doors of France.

As some of you know, Positano has been my favorite place on earth; however, with my apologies to Positano, Annecy has just moved into first place. It is by far prettier than anything we have seen. Last night I wrote that it was a combination of Positano, St. Tropez (and I haven't seen St. Tropez), and Lake Tahoe. Well, add to that Yosemite and you just about have it. The exposed granite cliffs are amazing. They jut out of the lush green mountains shooting sky high into the clouds. There are at least 15 to 20 parasailers at each granite face just hovering over the trees like hawks hovering over a field of mice. The colorful parachutes seem to be floating above you and then every once in a while you see one of them land in a grassy field near the lake. It must be a thrill to jump off of a mountain and float down to earth, but my days of wanting to do that are over.

Tomorrow we tour the castle and more of the town and maybe go to the beach. There is still a lot to see and it's our last day here before we head off to Italy. I'm sure this is a place we'll come back to.

We ended our cruise today and really enjoyed the entire trip. We met some nice people and had dinner with them every evening. Stan and Pam are from San Jose and Michael and Betsy live part time in New York and part time in Florida. Stan and Pam are both teachers (although Stan is retired); Betsy is a retired teacher, too, and Michael is a retired attorney. We had a good time with them.

We had left our car at the Ibis Europe Hotel in Chalon for the week and were pleased to find it still there when we returned. The drive from Chalon sur Soane was very nice and took about 3 hours. We drove by a park where people were flying remote-controlled planes so we stopped. It was a club for remote controlled everything - boats, planes, helicopters, sail boats, army tanks, surfboards, you name it, they had one remote controlled. There was a lovely park with a large pond (or small lake) where they drove the boats. It was a beautiful setting and Matt would have gone crazy there.

OK, so I've written about some of the beautiful places we've seen on this trip; and we did see some beautiful places; but, Annecy is everything we remembered and even more. Picture Lake Tahoe combined with St. Tropez and mix in a little Positano and that just about matches what we have here. It is absolutely gorgeous! The weather is wonderful - probably mid to low 80s, no wind, and a bit hazy. The lake is crystal clear, but it must be cold because the lake sits at the base of the French Alps (think ice water!). We don't see many swimmers and there is a reason - the water is cold!

When we arrived in Annecy, our room was not ready so we walked into the old town to have lunch. Rich had spaghetti bolognese and I had pizza Margherita (surprise!)! The old town is lovely and tomorrow we will take a walking tour of the town and the canals.

From our balcony, we overlook part of the park and a good portion of the lake and the Alps. The park consists of a lot of grass and trees and a beautiful rose garden. The room is small but nice and has a pretty large bathroom. It has everything we need but lacks drawer space and closet space. Since I never travel light, this can be a problem, but we just use any flat surface and it works for us.

We had dinner at the hotel this evening and sat on the patio that overlooks the lake and rose garden. It is a beautiful place to dine. We watched boats on the lake as well as a swan that swam back and forth in front of us. Rich had the prix fixe dinner which consisted of duck terrine (duck pate) with a green salad and a fish platter with several types of shell fish and a white fish that looked like sole. It came with a cream sauce that he said was delicious. I had the roast duckling breast with a current/red wine reduction sauce, mashed potatoes and asparagus. It was very nice! We each had a dessert - Rich a chocolate cake with coffee filling and I had caramel ice cream. I also had a glass (actually two glassses) of pinot noir that was very good.

We are in France and I am typing on a computer in the hotel. Their keyboard is very different from ours in that the a, w, m, x, and q are in different places as are the comma, period, and other punctuation. You have to use the shift key to type numbers and no shift to type symbols. I'm going to type this sentence again using the keys as they are on our keyboard so you can see what I mean.

Iù, going to type this sentence qgain using the keys qs they qre on our keyboqrd so you cqn see zhqt <i ,eqn:

Does that look like Russian to you? Strange!

Suffice it to say that Annecy is one of the most beautiful places we have ever seen. I hope you will have a chance to visit Annecy at least once. This is our second time here. We were here in 2001 on our way from the Belgian Grand Prix to the Italian Grand Prix. We stumbled upon it then and said we had to come back to stay longer. We are glad we did!

Don't ask me how, but I lost everything I had written for the 24th and 25th. Frustating! I think my internet connection logged out (it's the ship's internet and if it's windy, you'll loose the connection). Anyway, here goes!

On the 24th we took a shore excursion to Lyon. It's a beatufiul city with lots of ancient history and beautiful old buildings. The one thing I notices when I woke up in Lyon was that my allergies were in high gear. I later learned that Lyon is famous for its chemical factories for medicines and perfumes! No wonder my nose was running like a faucet! We toured a guide who showed us the high points of the City - beautiful architecture in a spectacular river setting. The weather was beautiful and Rich and I stayed after the guided tour to have a snack and later, lunch. Our first stop was just to get a beer - we worked up a thirst after 3 hours of walking. As we sat there, we noticed that the restaurant we were at served fast-food pasta - they had all types of pre-cooked pasta and 6 or 8 different sauces. You placed your order and, voila!, within minutes they served you a container of delicious pasta. We opted for gnocchi with a tomato-cream-vodka sauce - just like Nonno used to make! Yummmmm! We would love to see one of these places in Redwood City. I took a napkin with their website - anyone interested in opening a fast-pasta place???? For lunch we found a small palce that had lots of people eating outdoors so we sat down and Rich ordered a steak with french fries and a salad - very French, non? I ordered pommes frites (french fries) and the
waiter gave me a hard time for not ordering more - he said "you're in Lyon where they serve the best food in the world. You need to have something more!". I stood my ground and enjoyed a large plate of pommes frites. Just what I wanted. Rich's steak was quite good, though. We followed it up with a bowl of strawberries topped with a very large dollop of whipped cream. More yummmm!

After lunch we headed back to the ship where they had a demonstration on how they weave and color silk. Oh, yes, I forgot to say that we toured a silk shop where they had old looms for weaving silk scarves. Apparently, Monsieur Jacquard invented the loom in Lyon and so they are famous for their silks. I found a scarf that matched the outfit I am wearing to the wedding (and I do need to cover my shoulders when I go into church) so I have a new addition to my wardrobe. It's beautiful!

The silk demonstration showed how they wove the silk - two textures - silk and satin finishes (woven in different directions, they produce a stripe in the fabric). The silk is an animal fiber (coming from silk worms) and the fibers they use to produce the velvet embossed pattern is from wood fiber (pine pulp). They have dyes that adhere only to the silk fibers and other dyes that adhere only to the wood fiber - therefore, they can dye the silk one color, put the fabric into another color and the wood fiber will be dyed. Or, with some complicated patterns, they dye the silk for a background and then hand paint the colors on the wood fibers. I got to paint some of the wood fibers - kind of like coloring in a coloring book, but if you go outside the lines, it doesn't matter.

At 9:30 p.m. we took another tour - Lyon by Night. Lyon is supposed to be the City of Lights (next to Paris, of course), and it was pretty, but Rich and I both would have rather gone to bed. We were pooped!

Friday, June 25, 2010

OK, it's the next day and we have a shore excursion to the town of Vienne. The guide walked us through a small, older part of the city. Again, beautiful architecture, a small marketplace where they sold just vegetables, fruits, meats and cheeses. The smells were amazing! The truly amazing thing about Vienne is it's church. It was built in the 15th century to honor the Virgin Mary who protected them from the pillaging of some maurading gang. They prayed to the Virgin Mary and told her that if she protected them they would build a church in her honor. The gang of mauraders passed them by so they kept their word. They had no money to build the church, so the townspeople contributed their jewelry and valuable items which they sold or traded and were able to build the church. The interior is probably the most spectacular church we've ever seen. It is all done in Mary's colors - blue and gold - and the walls are all mosaics - with beautiful scenes depicted on them. You really have to see it to understand how beautiful it is. We were all in awe! And in such a little town!

After Vienne, we returned to the ship so we could sail to Macon. On the way we had a cooking demonstration - "Fondant au Chocolat". I have the recipe and will make it soon - I may even sell the recipe - it's that good!

In the evening there was a guided tour, but Rich and I opted to pass. However, there was a local student orchestra playing with an adult orchestra and singers who imitated the Beatles - just a short walk from our ship. So we talked down and watched - they were really good. The weather was 78 degrees and the stage was on the river - a beautiful setting. It was a perfect way to end the evening.

Saturday, June 26, 2010

We sailed at 5 a.m. for Tourus and there was an optional tour. Rich and I had spent some time yesterday afternoon on the sun deck just reading and napping. It was the first time we had an opportunity to do so because the weather had been so bad so we really enjoyed the leisure time in the sun. We opted to pass on the tour and spend the day sailing and sitting on the sun deck. We will arrive in Chalon-sur-Soane (where we parked our car) around noon. After lunch, there's a shore excursion to Beaune that includs a wine tasting (we're in the Burgundy region) and a visit to the Hotel Dieu (Hotel Ville is City Hall, Hotel Dieu is Hospital) so I guess we're going to visit an old hospital. I'll let you know more about it later.

Off to the sun deck!

We are finally having warm, sunny weather without any wind. Thank goodness. We cruised today to Tournon-sue-Rhone a picturesque town that is divided by the Rhone River. On one side are steep hills covered with grape vines and dotted with church spires, a chateau here and there and small villages along the river. On the other side of the river the hills are lower but are still covered with grape vines, churches and villages. Everything is lush and green and the villages all have hanging pots of beautiful, colorful flowers.

Our walking tour tookbus first to the village of Tain L'Hermitage and the Valrhona chocolate shop. They had white bowls ofceveru kind of candy they make and IOU could just walk ayoimd and help yourself. I sampled a couple of the carmel and chocolate candies and they were delicious. Rich, on the other hand, was literally like a kid in a candy shop. Usually, whencee go into a store, Rich followes me around (probably to be sure I don't spend too much money). Today, however, he took off and tried everything. He even went back through a second time. And, when I suggested we buy several bags of candy, he didn't resist (too bad he wasn't like that when I was shoe shopping!). At any rate, we spent more on chocolate than I spent on one of the pairs of shoes I bought (double, in fact!).

We'll try to bring some home for our kids nut won't make any promises the Rich will be able to keep his hands off!

After visiting the chocolate store, we visited a private residence that dates back to the 15th century. The wan who owns it is the daughter of an artist who recently died and who painter with or knew Matisse and traded artwork with other famous artists from around the world. He even had one of Picasso's works. It was interesting but we came away thinking that some very famous artists did some pretty awful work. Maybe it's just not our cup of tea.

After we left the museum, we went to a winery where we tasted a white and 2 red wines. The wine tasting at Chateauneuf de Pape taught us how to taste the wine. First you tilt the glass to check the color and clarity. Next you put your whole nose into the glass and smell the wine. Then you gently swirl the wine to open it up and bring out the flavor. Then, and only then, you taste it. But, you don't just take a mouthful and swallow. Oh, no, you take a mouthful, lean forward and tilt your head down and breathe in through your mouth letting the air aerate the wine. You do this twice. It was interesting that the first taste was really to prepare your pallate for the second taste. And, there was definitely a difference in flavor between the first and second taste.

A couple we met on the cruise (from San Jose) said they would split a bottlebof wine with us for dinner if we wanted to buy one, do we did. We enjoyed it with our dinner this evening. It was fruity and peppery and for 10.50 Euros a bottle, we thought it was very good. The couple are Stam and Pam and they live two blocks away from our niece Lisa and her family in Willow Glen. They even know their house and drive by it every day. Small world.

Tomorrow we're off on a walking tour of Lyon at 9 am (kind of early for us). We will have lunch I'm town rather than on the boat because we like to eat the local food. In the afternoon we'll relax becausecwe have a nighttime tour of Lyon, considered next to Paris as a city of lights. It's a 2 hour tour and we both hope we can stay awake for the whole tour.

Tonight we cruise most of the night to get to Lyon. We go through 4 locks to get there and that takes a lot of time. Apparently, on this week-long cruise we travel through 14 locks. What a great invention!

Time to turn in. Rich is already asleep - apparently exhausted from eating all that chocolate!

As Rene out tour director says, "ciao for now!".