A Little Country-Hopping to End the Trip

 On Tuesday morning we left Lyon on the coaches and headed toward Geneva. It is about a 4 hour drive, but of course cruise/tour guests can't possibly go that long without a) a washroom break, and b) without food! To alleviate both issues, we would be stopping in the town of Annecy for a walking tour and another Tauck-funded lunch on our own.

It had looked like the weather was going to be nicer, but the closer we got to Annecy, the darker the skies became, and, yes, it was raining again as we set off to start our walking tour.

The centre of the town is mainly a pedestrian zone, so we had a fair walk to the Tourist Centre where we would be meeting our local guides, of course, in the rain. We were really hoping not to have a repeat of Monday in Lyon, and it seemed that the weather gods were going to finally give us a break. The rain let up partway through the morning, and by the time we were sent off for our lunches, it had stopped altogether.

Annecy is another town dating back to Roman times, but it was not as important as Lyon or Arles, so there are no significant ruins from that time. It was not until the 10th Century that it was the court of the Counts of Geneva, and then became a regional capital in the 1400s under the Counts of Savoy. After 1815, the Savoy region fell under the rule of the King of Sardinia for 45 years until the Treaty of Turin annexed it to France in 1860. It is still a regional capital today, even though in 2017 the regions f France were realigned and reduced in total number.

Annecy has a very charming old town with lots of interesting buildings, especially around the River Thiou, which runs through the centre, and out into Lake Annecy. Because of the amount of water flowing through the town, it is sometimes known as the 'Venice of the Alps'.

The river flows quite strongly through the town

This is a view of the back side of the
Palais de l'Ile, the iconic building of Annecy

The most iconic photo site in Annecy is the bridge over the Thiou River, looking back at the Palais de l'Ile, which is pointed at one end - the wrong end - the one pointing away from the direction of water flow. It is actually built on a small island of rock in the river. It has quite a history, dating back to 1325, when it was used as a stronghold, and 1355, when it was also used as a minting workshop as the Count of Geneva had the right to mint gold and silver coins, something it continued until the end of the century. After that it was also used as a courthouse and a prison. Our tour guide told us that it wasn't the best place to be incarcerated, as the river tended to flood out the cells on a regular basis way back then. Oddly enough, it continued to be used as a prison until 1864, when a new one was built. In 1880, it was supposed to be destroyed, but a few respected people, including the Inspector for Historic Monuments at the time, spoke out against it, so in 1900 it was listed as a historic monument, and now houses a Museum.

The Palais de l'Ile

We had passed any number of restaurants during our walk around town, and chose one that was on Tauck's recommended list. I can never resist having something local, so I had a skillet with melted cheese (that's what looks like a schnitzel) with boiled potatoes and charcuterie on the side. The cheese is Savoyarde, particular to this region, It is the same type that is used for raclette and in cheese fondue. On one nearby table, a fellow was enjoying a fondue, and at another one, a couple had this contraption with the cheese hanging in the middle. You can fold the two sides with toaster-like heating elements down to melt the cheese, and then you scrape it off and spread it on your bread. It sure looked interesting!

And Larry can never resist a burger. He's tried any number of local versions.

After lunch we gathered up and headed back to the coaches to drive the rest of the way to Geneva. While on the buses, we were told that our bags would not, as expected, be in our rooms when we arrived at the hotel. The two trucks carrying them had been pulled over by Swiss Customs, and the drivers had to unload them all for x-ray scanning. Fortunately, they also had the lists of guests including passport information, so Customs knew that all luggage was accounted for. The really funny thing about this was that our coaches were NOT stopped for border control, as we thought would happen.

We were staying at the Intercontinental Hotel, a very nice hotel about a 10 minute walk from the European United Nations Building, but quite a distance from the city centre and Lake Geneva. We had a tour booked for the final day of the Tauck tour, but were planning to see something of Geneva on our extra day in the city.

Our excursion for Wednesday took us back into France, to the ski village of Chamonix. From there, we would visit the Mer de Glace, the largest glacier in the country. The drive the Chamonix was about an hour, including a brief slow-down (no stop required) at the French border. Being so used to passing from country to country in the European Union, we keep forgetting that Switzerland is not a member, and still has to maintain its border controls.

On the drive to Chamonix. The town is in
the foothills of the Alps at about
3,400 feet (1,000 metres) elevation

Once we arrived in Chamonix, we had a 'quick' (no such thing!) restroom stop and then walked over to the Montenvers Chemin de Fer, the cogwheel train that took us up to the glacier. The restroom stop was at the cable car base station for the Aiguille-de-Midi. This is a peak in the Mont Blanc massif with a viewpoint at 3,840 metres, about 12,600 feet. Another group from our tour was going up there, but so were lots of locals with their skis. Well, they likely were going to the first cable car transfer point where they would still be able to ski. The peak doesn't look like it would have any direct access, and, if you ask me, you'd need to have a death wish to try it anyway. Google it for yourself!

It must have been busy on the upper
slopes. More and more people kept
showing up as we waited for our group.

The first cable car tower to Aiguille-de-Midi
disappearing in the clouds

We finally go to the Montenvers train station, where they still had one of the original cogwheel train engines on display. Apparently people could climb around in it until recently. The train has been running from Chamonix to Mer de Glace since 1910, with technical and technological upgrades done a few times in the past 100 years.

We were a little late getting into the train for the ride up to the glacier, so there were no window seats available. The ride takes about 20 minutes through very picturesque landscapes. They would have been even more picturesque with a little sunshine and fewer clouds, but at least it wasn't raining! We got some good photos on the way back, though.

Once we reached the train station, we transferred to a cablecar to take us down into the valley itself, and from there we had to walk down a series of staircases to get to the entrance of the Ice Cave. The cablecar and station were only rebuilt last year, opening officially in January. The outer terraces still weren't completely ready.

The glacier. Not as impressive as some, but
then it is covered in crushed rock and other
debris it carries along

The cablecar going down to the valley 
from the train station

From the cablecar station, a closer view
of the glacier, with some hikers on it...
you'll have to look very closely to find them!

A closer view for perspective.

From this level, we walked down
the metal staircases to get to that hole in
the side of the glacier - the Ice Cave.

On the walk down. There are 430 stairs each
way between the cave and the cablecar

A view of the staircase from the cablecar
station at left

The Ice Cave is quite spectacular. It is made up of a couple of large tunnels carved right into the glacier, to which are added an ice fireplace and and ice bar that you can pose beside. The icy floor is covered with mats; otherwise it would be way too slippery to be able to move. The Cave has to be re-carved every summer because the glacier moves about 70 metres every year, and breaks down the tunnels. Apparently there has been one family carving out these tunnels each year for quite a long time.

You would think it to be very cold in the cave, but it is only at 0 degrees Celsius, the freezing point of water. But it does apparently reach about 5 degrees when there are larger numbers of people inside.

at the fireplace

Once we came out of the cave and took the cablecar back to the train station level, we waited for our second group to finish and join us, so we could all take the train back to town together. It was starting to fog up a bit by then.

The train ride down was quite not as full as the first one, so we were able to sit by the window and get some photos of the valley, the mountains and the town below.

The train arriving

One of the mountain peaks peeking through
the clouds

Chamonix below us. The chalet there must
be a party spot. A whole group of people was passing
boxes of food, beer, and liquor from near the
train tracks all the way down to it.

Looking down toward town again

We even saw some people parachute gliding
near the steep hillsides.

Back in town, we had a brief tour to orient ourselves and determine a meeting point after lunch, and then we were sent off to find something to eat.

After looking around a bit, we found the restaurant 'Josephine' and settled in for our final French meal of the trip: Escargots and Cheese Fondue.

No, we didn't finish the whole pot of cheese. It was delicious,
but way too filling!

On the way out of town, we noticed this very impressive glacier. It would have been more interesting to see up close, but is probably not very accessible.

That evening, we had the farewell reception and dinner in the hotel restaurant. It had been a great trip when we chalked up the weather and inability to sail on the Saone to Mother Nature and the Weather Gods. I did a lot of sketching during the longer bus rides and had a few people asking about it. The next post will include my sketches from both cruises.

On Thursday we set out with map in hand and recommendations from the hotel's concierge for a walking route to the middle of town. He suggested that we walk down to the Botanical Garden and walk along the lakefront. The pathway would take us to the centre of town and from there we could walk up the hill to the old town. So that's what we did.

The 'Broken Chair' sculpture in a large square 
across the street from the European UN Building

Walking along the shore of Lake Geneva

The large fountain is the 'Jet d'Eau'. It shoots water
140 metres into the air. It is turned off at night
and on again in the morning...unless it gets very windy

There was an exhibition of cartoons from around
the world, many political, along the
boardwalk

We walked from the lake into the old town. The cathedral is up on a hill along with most of the old town.

Getting ready for the lunchtime crowd.
Some restaurants even had tablecloths on
the outdoor tables

A small square with a fountain at the top
of the hill

The cathedral. The interior was impressive,
but there was a service just ending and
we couldn't stay long

Once we had finished with our visit to the old town, we waited for a local public transit bus to get back to the hotel. It would have been way too long to walk back. The concierge had told us which bus came right past the hotel, and we had transit passes, so we rode back. The transit pass idea is very good. Transit is free for residents and people staying in local hotels. We each received a printed page with our pass, including name, hotel name and the dates of our stay. There's no swiping on and off the bus; everything is on an honour system. You have to show your pass and I.D. if a transit employee/official asks for it. I don't know what the penalty is for not having a pass or using someone else's. Probably a fairly hefty fine.

We got our packing done in the afternoon and took a few photos of Mont Blanc from our window, now that we could see it clearly. The last day of our trip ended up being nice and warm and sunny.

The colours of sunset lighting up the snowy
peaks of Mont Blanc.

Our trip home the next day was comfortable and uneventful. It was quite a busy month away, but we saw lots of new and interesting places. We may want to have a do-over on the river cruise. It would be nice to see all of those places in nicer weather!

The final post, my sketches from the trip - is coming up next.