Weekend trip to the Alps: Part 1

I am splitting this weekend trip into two sections, mostly because I have so many photos to share.  I promised that I would try to take more photos, and I am delivering on that promise.  Between Adam and me, we took several hundred photos on this trip, so after sifting through them, these are some of my favorites!  Hopefully they give you a flavor of the region.

Our first stop on our weekend tour was Annecy, a lovely little town next to a very blue lake.  Someone told me that the lake water there is some of the purest in Europe.  It honestly reminded me of the Caribbean, because it was almost a light teal color.  It was beautiful.  Our group took a little tour of the boat.  Fox and I were sitting at the back of the boat in an open section, but quickly it got quite cold and windy, so he and I headed into the covered seating, which was directly in front of the open air seating.

We were practically alone in those seats, with almost the entire group behind us because everyone had chosen to sit in the open section.  Fox soon started smiling and laughing, as I lifted him up in the air and played with him, and within a few minutes, I realized almost the entire group behind us was looking at him, and not at the beautiful scenery.  He was adorable, so I can't blame them.  Adam came up and took a bunch of photos of us, and they are some of my favorites to date!  Such a wonderful memory!

(this is what we call "a fox bite")

When we finished the boat tour, we met with a reader of this blog, who lives in this area!  She had contacted me when I first announced that we were coming to Lyon, and sent me a large amount of very helpful information about France, Lyon and French culture!  She was delightful, and we had a tasty lunch at a creperie. Hooray for Internet friends! It was such a wonderful experience, and it made me so grateful for the wonderful readers of this blog!  And it made me wish I could meet more of you!

(Claire, Fox and me after our tasty lunch)

After a nice lunch, we headed off to see a lovely and historic Chateau, the Chateau de Menthon-Saint Bernard. It is still owned by descendants of the original family who owned it in the 1300's, and they live there for 6 months of the year.  They didn't allow us to take any photos inside, but it was still furnished with original furniture, and it was really quite lovely!  I don't know if I would want to live there, but I thought it was neat that a family still does.

I wish we could have spent a little more time in this lovely town!  It really was so picturesque, and we thoroughly enjoyed visiting!  Next up, Chamonix!