Rain Cleans Things Out

Twelve hours!! I woke up after twelve hours of sleep at 8 a.m. local time. Perfect. The skies were cloudy and a steady drizzle was falling. I went downstairs for petit dejeuner and enjoyed my coffee, pain au chocolate and cold muesli (where else would I even consider eating a cold muesli?). I packed my bags, took the hotel shuttle back to the airport, and rented a car. The real journey was about to begin. I had intended to visit the village where we had lived in the 1980's, but it was raining so hard when I left the airport, I decided to save that visit for my return and go directly to Annecy which was at the head of the Lake D'Annecy. My final destination was Talloires on the shore of the Lake south of Anncy. It was a short drive, about 40 minutes. The border I remember, which separated Switzerland from France, was wide open...no passport or customs control. Way to go European Union.

Anncey is a delightful little town. My Google Maps had no idea where we were and went silent the moment we left the autoroute. Happily, the signage in Annecy was good and I was able take the right exits from the many roundabouts that dot the city (Duranagatangs would never be able to cope with all the roundabouts) and end up in a Vieux Village parking lot by following the many blue P parking signs that point to city parking in most European cities. One wonders why the Durango City Council is so opposed to a city parking lot! I parked the car and wandered around the old city and shopping areas for awhile. Luckily the steady rain had turned in a drip/drop affair. Teh ild town is charming. A few tourists, but not too many. Lots of Brits and Japanese. It's the end of the season. After a couple of hours walking I decided to continue on to my final destination. A steady rain began to fall again. Happily, the rental car had a GPS which actually knew the way to Talloires, where I arrived after half an hour of twists and turns, narrow mountain roads, and sometimes heavy traffic. It occured to me that there are probably not many 77-year-old women driving around a foreign country alone. I finally arrived at my destination, The Cottage le Bise in Talloires. It's perfect. Nice room, beautiful grounds, friendly staff. I made a reservation for dinner in the fine dining room since the rain continued and it seemed like a good time for a welcome dinner. It was, and I went to bed tired and happy.