Sometimes when a girl lives in an elegant, romantic and charming city she needs to escape it all for the rustic pleasures of…er…a romantic and charming village 🙂.  So this past Monday, on the French national holiday of Pentecost,  I left the bustling streets of my dear Paris for some quiet time in the lake town of Annecy in the French Alps of France’s Haute-Savoie department.

Lac d’Annecy

The 4 hour TGV ride from Paris to Annecy clipped by as I got caught up in the drama of Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’ pre-French revolution masterpiece, Les Liaisons Dangereuses. Hmmm…if I was The Présidente de Tourvel would I have succumbed to Valmont’s charms?? Oh, probably :).

Upon arrival at Gare d’Annecy I was greeted with sunshine and fresh mountain air. Hurray! Mes petits vacances ont commencé!

 Palais d’Isle

My hotel room was not quite ready so I laissé mes bagages at the front desk and headed to the old part of Annecy to see for myself the quaint canals and the 12th century palace-turned-prison in the heart of the town.

Without using too much hyperbole, I almost swooned at first sight. The water was a crystal clear green, the surrounding buildings were delightfully painted in different pastels and fairytale-like white swans drifted in the canals.  I immediately found the closest café table and order a glass of a regional white wine. I just had to sit and take it all in.

Swan of Annecy

View from my table (swooning yet?)

It was impossible to stop taking pictures in this town.  Every corner was a new photo opportunity.  If it wasn’t the turquoise waters of the lake against the backdrop of the magnificent Alps or ancient buildings in charming old -town, it was pretty doors and windows that looked like they were placed to just be photographed. This was one of my favorites.

Annecy is know as “Venice of Savoy.”  The pristine and tiny canals wound all throughout the medieval village.  Twice a day during my visit, I would take lazy walks on the canals to watch the ducks and try to spot fish.

Night time in Annecy

After settling in my tiny hotel room and a nap, I showered, found my little cotton black dress and headed out to see Annecy at night.  If possible, the town is something even more to behold when illuminated.  Above is l’Eglise Notre Dame de Liesse as I saw it after sunset.

I had originally planned to go to a well-reviewed restaurant outside of old-town, but seeing  the prison aglow  in the evening made me change plans on the spot.  There was no way I was dining without this ancient structure in my sight.

Tartiflette!

Many goats and cows graze in the open alpine fields that surround Annecy making cheese a very prolific ingredient to regional fare.  My first night I indulged in a traditional “Savoie” dish called tartiflette.  It is a melange of potatoes, melted Reblochon cheese, onions and white wine served piping hot. A bit too heavy for a warm spring evening…but I couldn’t come all this way just to order a garden salad!

My tartiflette was served with a side salad and fromage blanc.  The lighter white cheese was to serve as my dessert.  For an hour I happily sat enjoying all my cheese dishes while staring at the pretty, little prison. Between fork-fulls I would dream, “What could I do to get sentenced to a stay over there?  Steel a swan? Could I then request the tower…and maybe a glass of Chignin Bergeron each evening around 5pm to drink while I gaze out onto the village? ” 🙂

Nougat de Savoie

The next morning the town had its marché!  I weaved the many stalls lining the canals and admired the goods of flower, fruit, vegetable, cheese and saussison vendors.  A new item to me was a traditional candy found in the region called Nougat de Savoie. It is like a very sugary meringue mixed with nuts, dried fruit and honey.  Not bad!

My favorite market stop was at this lady’s saussison stand. She had salamis stuffed with hazelnuts, salamis rolled in peppercorn or herbs, salamis made from porc or canard,  big salamis and smalls salamis. Really, the salamis selection was endless. I opted to buy 2: one with hazelnuts and a classic porc. For 5Euro extra she talked me into also buying a block of Tomme of Savoie cheese that was the size of  my head.  Since it didn’t need a refrigerator to stay fresh, I decided pourquois pas!  Note to my friends in Paris reading this:  You will soon be getting a bout of this cheese wheel!

More of Annecy…cuz really it is impossible to include too many of these shots!

The perfect late afternoon weather prompted me to take a boat tour of Lake Annecy. Old villages, chateaus and some of France’s best gastronomic restaurants lined the lake shores.  Lac d’Annecy is the 3rd largest lake in France and the town of Annecy lies on its northern end. Geneva, Switzerland is only an hour away.

Twilight in Old-Town

Glace time!

All day and all evening I would see people walking with ice cream cones.  After one delicious-looking waffle cone too many, I decided to join the masses in their pleasure.  I found the LONGEST ice cream queue in town, and took my place behind what I would learn to be the most hyper little boy in all of Annecy (see the little guy in the green shirt in the photo?)! I burned calories just watching him for 15 minutes dart from side to side and back and forth.  He was going to need that ice cream cone to keep his strength at that pace!  Incroyable! But more so was his very patient grandmother. 🙂

I chose the flavor tarte au citron in a waffle cone and even asked the cute ice cream girl to add some of the free chantilly. MMMM….well worth the wait!  After 45 years of making homemade ice cream, these guys knew what they were doing.  I later learned Glacier des Alpes is considered the best ice cream shop in town and the le “Berthillon” d’Annecy! It isn’t hard to believe I went back the next day for another one :).

A Tarte au Citron Waffle Cone and this view…almost perfect. Next time I will bring someone to share my waffle cone. 🙂

My last hours in Annecy were lazily spent next to the lake laying in the fresh cut grass. I passed the hours before catching my train alternating between reading and napping in the sunshine.  It wasn’t easy to leave my little paradise when the time came to head to the station. Ah, but all good things must come to an end…and really the idea of going back to Paris wasn’t sooo bad!

One more for good measure!

Okay, I will let you go now so you can go book your trip to Annecy…. 🙂

Bisous!