Annecy

After an extremely long day of travelling (3 trains and 1 bus later) we arrived in Annecy.  Jasmine and I both agree that this is our favourite place in France that we have visited.  The lake is a clear, turquoise blue, our hostel is comfortable and the town is gorgeous.  

Canals through the town of Annecy.

More canals in the old town.

After a couple of days of hanging out at the beach and many hours ofswimmingin the lake, we decided to rent a kayak for a couple of hours. As soon as we got out into the lake Jasmine jumped out and wanted to swim next to the kayak!  I agree that it was hard to stay out of the water.

One day we took a ferry that circles the lake.  The ferry stops at all of the little villages that border the lake and allows passengers on and off.  We spent a few hours on the far side of the lake, roamed around the village and enjoyed the quiet beach. 

A privately owned castle on Lake Annecy.  

Mountains around the lake.

A quiet beach on the other side of the lake.

Waiting at the dock for the passenger ferry to take us back to Annecy.

A typical building in the medieval section of Annecy.

We enjoyed our stay in Annecy, but tomorrow we are heading off for a couple of days in Marseille.  We are looking forward to meeting back up with Cedar who has been travelling on her own for the last week, visiting some European friends who attended school in Squamish.

Limoges

We spent a few quiet days in Limoges.  We arrived late on Saturday night, but first ventured out into the town on Sunday.  Unfortunately, almost everything was closed.  It felt like we were in a ghost town.  The only place where we could find food was at a Subway restaurant where we were forced to dine.  At least there was a pretty terrace outside.

We wandered around the deserted streets for awhile until we found the river running through the town.  The girls quickly found a small dock to jump off from and have a refreshing swim.

Limoges is known for its porcelain and fine china.  Many of the buildings are decorated with mosaic tiles.

An old book store.

Fun at a city park.  The two other mothers at the park were quite surprised to see Cedar and Jasmine having so much fun.

Cedar left us in Limoges to go visit her friend Emilie who lives a few hours away by train.  Jas and I left the following day for a full day of train rides to get to Annecy, in the Alps.

Loire à vélo

We arrived in Blois excited about renting bikes and getting into the countryside.  We picked up our bikes, packed our panniers, looked carefully over our cycling map and set off toward one of the most beautiful castles in the region 'Chateau Chambord'.  The route stayed close to the Loire river until about 5 km before the castle when we followed paths that wove between villages and fields.  

Typical cycling path between fields: level, paved and nobody in sight.

We had to stop for a picture at our first sunflower field.  Sunflowers as far as we could see!

We arrived at the castle after a couple of hours of cycling.  We were impressed with our first glance of the castle.

Picnic on the Loire.

The following day we left our back packs in our home base of Blois, packed our panniers with our essentials and headed East along the Loire towards Amboise.  It was another beautiful ride and we passed some impressive castles and many gorgeous villages.  We are overwhelmed with how beautiful everything is.

Castle in the centre of Amboise.

We arrived in Amboise after a long, but enjoyable day of riding.  We checked into a hostel which seemed more like a hospital.  We planned to go for a ride the following day, but when we discovered there was a swimming pool down the street from our hostel we dropped our plans and spent all afternoon lounging around the pool.  It was fun to have a relaxing day.  There are strict rules about the type of swimsuit that men can wear in swimming pools in France.  Here is a sign that strictly informs men of the rule.

We need to remind Martin to bring his speedo!

Jas took some great pictures capturing the beautiful sunsets we in Amboise

Wandering through the streets trying to find wifi!

Taking a break in some empty boxes on the street!

After our break day we headed off in the pouring rain to the last town on our cycling trip, St. Avertin.  It rained for most of the day, but it was warm so we didn't get too cold.  St. Avertin is a beautiful village and the hotel we chose was cute.  The owner was excited to find out we ere from Canada and was pleased to inform us that other Canadians had stayed at the hotel before.  He later came to get us so that he could introduce us to the mayor of the town.  We were lucky enough to catch a small music festival on the river during our one night stay.

Playing air hockey before the music festival in St. Avertin.

The next day we returned our bikes, repacked our backpacks and boarded a train for Limoges.