A serene day in Annecy

Annecy is about an hour and a half away by train to the northeast of Grenoble, right near the Swiss border and I said to Wendy after we had made the day excursion up there yesterday that it was arguably the most beautiful spot townwise I had ever visited. I say that having traveled a lot, and having been to such places as Florence, Venice, Rome, Bath, Chester and other cities and towns that are contenders for tourist enticements.

Annecy is a kind of mini-Venice North, with crystaline and azure canals (take that, Venice) and sits on an equally azure mountain lake. Quite frankly, as curmudgeonly and even cynical as I might be at times, I found it heavenly and just the cure for the cold that has been dogging me during the last few days. The cold isn't entirely gone, but this esthetic pick-me-up sure helped me to feel better.

Annecy is a kind of cross between fairytale and Disney, but it's all authentic and it isn't even self-conscious and precious about its mini-splendors. Best of all, aside from the canals, sometimes flower festooned, even in November, are the narrow streets and passageways containing houses dating back to the 16th century.

The Old Town is a classic Renaissance entity and I found it surprisingly reminiscent of Florence. Within the Old Town are chi-chi shops cheek-by-jowl with tacky souvenir outlets, cheese shops, sausage shops, inns and pubs, and restaurants galore. Looming over this all, high on a hill is the Chateau Annecy, in fine repair and one time a prison.

We stopped for a cafe au lait at a sidwalk cafe and basked in the sun, watching the comings and goings of passers-by, and felt a bit like we were in a movie set. It was heavenly, despite the fact that the coffee (which was exquisitely good) cost us over three euros each (about $3.50). We then wandered through the streets and byways until it was time for lunch. For that we had the plat de jour, which happend to be lapin et polenta, or, cute little bunny rabbit stewed and some of the best polenta I've ever had.

Shortly after lunch it was time to get the train back, but we made a dogleg down to the lake which, festooned with swans and other waterfowl, and punctuated by a fine park, showed us why the canal water was so clear.

And then we caught the train back for Grenoble in the late afternoon sun, and this isn't a bad place to come back to, either. It seems unreal that we only have five days remaining in this town before moving on.