From the title you will see that we had another mishap with trains. On all our other trips we have never had a problem and believed our systems were pretty much foolproof. Clearly there are other conditions that may impact our formula and I am considering now if they need adjusting – or not – well because despite the best laid plans; sometimes shit happens.
So our train left Avignon at 9:19 with one change to arrive in Annecy at 13:20. The hire car place is right at the airport, so no transit time needed to be calculated there. Distance from L’isle sur la sorgue to Avignon is approx 28km and takes about 1/2 hr. So we got up at 6:50 allowing an hour to get ready, collect our takeaway breakfast from Jean-Marie, and 5 minute walk to car park to be in the car by 8:15, and arrive 8:45 to check in car at Avis. Sounded ok to me. Speeding up the story we did not factor the “bleeping” GPS that took us wrong ways and then we hit a ‘detour’ in old town and lost us about 15 minutes before we got on the highway. Result we were in the Avis car park at the time our train was speeding off. Another one of those moments where I wanted to sit on my suitcase and howl. We made our way to the ticketing place and no problem to reissue but the original tickets I got on were on a super advance purchase and our new ones would be costing us 130 Euro extra! Plus side is that the route is different and we spend more time on 1st class (air con please) and only loose about 1/2 an hour in arrival time. We could have got tickets for negliable amount extra but we would have lost 3 hours and not arrived in Annecy till after 4pm. We only have 2 nights in Annecy so we would rather buy the time.
In thinking if we cut it too fine I am not sure? If you put too much buffer time in your connections you loose too much time to travel. I think in the big picture we were just unfortunate and one thing I did not mention was that Jean-Marie insisted we have a quick coffe before leaving and made us an expresso each … that was probably a 5 minutes we did not have to spare so our timing was ok however, our chatting and coffee was not. Nor the GPS and to be fair we did not think of school time and rush hour which had we not been in holiday mode we might have added another 15 minutes. Ah, all so easy in hindsight but with no delays giving 1hr 10 before train should have been ok.
Our new train route took us first to Lyon where the scenery changed a bit. More greenery and rivers, less stone homes, still summer round hay bales on golden fields and some interesting ranges in the back ground that looked almost volcanic in their ruggedness. Some nice lavender fields as well giving a splash of purple to the green and gold patchworks. Lyon station is quite large and well equipt with shops and even had lifts and ramps which is nice. We rested and had a nice cold frappachino at Starbucks before boarding our next train to Annecy. It was a regional but quite comfy and for a start we got those curved ‘lover’ seats at the front. The 2hr journey was really pretty along the side of a range of hills, lots of trees, streams and closer to Annecy through some nice small gorges and views of the lake. As it would happen there are these things called clouds in the sky today – which is a bummer for lake views, although from what we could see the lake was lovely and clear and would be blue and green on a bright day.
Annecy Gare (station) is modern and situated right on the main town edge, so its an easy walk across the road into a light and airy shopping district with colorful plots of flowers. We google mapped our accommodation which was a mere 6 minute walk through tidy commercial and residential apartment streets towards the ‘old town’ centre. The host had given us a key drop box, what we didn’t figure was that the apartment was on the 3rd floor with no lift. Vern kindly took both bags to save any stress on my iffy knee and we entered what we also had the impression of an airy modern type apartment – but what turned out to be a very compact low light nest, probably more of a cave. It still was nice and modernity furnished, but just not the airy semi spacious light one we thought. We have been provided with a nesspresso machine, sugar and olive oil as the only supplies other than cleaner – so we had an expresso, got semi settled and headed out to the supermarket for dinner supplies and a quick explore of the district.
The weather was somewhat overcast but it did not diminish our delight at the colour and clarity of the water in network of canals in old town, and then the lake. The lake looked like a bolder opal with a mid grey background, flashing minty green and blue patches when light managed to get through the cloud cover. The clarity is literally crystal clear – the same as the Sorgue river, and next to the Kings Lake in Germany this is the clearest lake we have ever seen. Due to its lighter colour than the Konig See, it seems clearer. Of course we had to put our feet in it, so found a suitable pontoon and tested. The lake at this end is lined with both private and public water craft, sail, motor, pedal or oar powered. We were really surprised that this being an alpine lake was as warm as a swimming pool in the middle of summer and are excited and hopeful of the weather forecast for tomorrow which is for 30 degrees. Its clear now what we will be doing amongst seeing the town! This is what I hoped for when planning and its always a thrill when plans come into being, albeit I had thought that swimming in an Alpine lake was optimistic but I am always up to it unless its freezing!
Our dinner was simple but tasty selection of white sausage (which I cooked), carrot salad, celeriac remoulade, cherry tomato and buffalo mozzarella, baguette, pate, soft cheese with truffle, spinach and goat cheese tortellini, white peaches, choc mousse and salted caramel cheesecake. Yes, simple I say – and adequate!
Travels with Valrock 