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Annecy Day 2
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| Market day in Annecy |
Our first stop in this misty morning was the tourist office, to find out what we could do in Annecy today. They had a local guidebook that recommended a number of walking tours, and that of course sounded good to Lin-Wei. That girl loves to walk. Our vacations are a constant struggle of me wanting to sit in one spot the whole time, and her wanting to walk and explore the whole time. I think we find a good balance. But the balance was tipped in her favor this day. First, though, we needed breakfast, so we stopped at small cafe by the canal for coffee and eggs. As I was reading the guidebook, a medium-sized green bug landed in the middle of the page. Setting down my coffee, I went to flick it away, but the damn thing exploded all over the page. I mean, the amount of guts on the page in no way equaled the intact bug. It was quite amazing, and disgusting. Luckily none of the walking tours were described on that page. After breakfast we explored the town market. There was so much meat, seafood, cheese, and vegetables there, we wanted to buy it all. But we had to resist. We had walking to do instead.
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| A beautiful day to go gambling |
I had noticed that one of the tours went by the Annecy casino (!) so I mildly suggested we start with that one. It was a longer hike, so of course Lin-Wei agreed. When we got closer, I let it slip that we were heading towards the casino. The accompanying frown was expected, but her willingness to give it a go was very-unexpected. The casino opened at noon, but they only had slot machines. We got some change, and I think I immediately lost my €10, while Lin-Wei more than doubled her money. Dammit!
More walking tours were to take us up the hill to the castle, but when we got up there, we found out that this was the one day of the week that it was closed all day. Dammit! I made Lin-Wei explore the town cemetery with me, and the entire time she made fun of me wanting to explore those European cemeteries. But I just found them fascinating.
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| I'm still mad at this church to this day |
As twilight approached, we had one more stop to make. Some famous church way up at the top of the highest hill in Annecy. We started up the roads that led that way, and then yet another never-ending staircase up to the top. Exhausted, we reached the top to see the imposing facade of the church before us. Heading immediately over to the door, we tried to open it. Locked! A sign on the door said that this church was only open until 6pm. My watch read 6:20. Dammit! What kind of church closes at 6pm? That was a lot of stairs we had to climb up, Chester. I was really mad at this church.
In a huff we went back down the (very steep) hill, and got some dinner. Lin-Wei ordered a chicken dish, but who remembers what I ordered. What I do remember what that Lin-Wei was really enjoying her dish. So I had a bite, and I too thought it was delicious, but I also recognized a very distinct flavor: mushrooms. I was positive that the chicken was in a mushroom reduction sauce. And she was just digging it. If you know Lin-Wei, then you know she really likes food, but there are some things she hates: zucchini, iceberg lettuce, and...mushrooms. She loathes them. So it was with a certain amount of amusement that I watched her devour her meal. I didn't have the heart to tell her before she was done, because I figured that she would not finish it, and be hungry the rest of the night (another mode to be avoided at all costs). So as she reached the end of her meal, I grabbed my digital camera, put it in movie mode, hit record, and proceeded to tell her what the sauce was made of. Her forked paused in mid-air, she looked up in disbelief. Man, that was sweet. Later she claimed that she was feeling sick, probably "due to the mushrooms". But she was fine.
Dinner, as always, took about two hours, so it was bedtime by the time we finished. This was our last night here, and I think it was the right amount of time to explore the whole town. I really liked Annecy, and we figured we'd have a summer home up here, when we retire to Montpellier. yup.
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 I really did feel sick after eating that dish |
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