Annecy, France - Alps trip continued

Our next stop on our Alps trip was to Annecy which is a town just south of Geneva, Switzerland. Jim had been to Annecy in the summer and said it was a beautiful town located on a pristinely clear lake surrounded by mountains. Annecy was also equidistant to two cross country ski places we planned to check out.

Our first afternoon in Annecy, most of the shops were closed so we just wandered around the town and went out by the lake. It was still pretty bright out so we were able to get some decent pictures before the clouds rolled in for the rest of the trip.

While we were there, Jim was on a mission to find a café that he spent a lot of time during his last visit. Around every corner he identified a café as that being THE ONE, and then would add, “No, this is really the one”. Of course it wasn’t until our third day in Annecy that he actually found it.

For dinner that night we got recommendations from the concierge. She recommended a place called Contrasens which we had seen on our walk. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get a reservation until after 9:00. We hung out in the room before going over to a bar next door to the restaurant for a glass of wine. Dinner was good, but I wasn’t able to enjoy it as I should have. For some reason, earlier in the day I started feeling sick so had a bad fever by the time we sat down to dinner. Jim thought the food was very good, but I couldn’t really taste anything.

The next day, I still had a fever but was feeling better than I had the night before so I agreed to go skiing. We decided to go to Le Saises. According to the GPS it was only about 35 km away. I’m not so sure how they determined that measurement because it was a lot farther than that. It was raining in Annecy but it didn’t take long before that rain turned to snow. We started rising in elevation and in the span of about a mile there was suddenly 3-4 feet of snow along the road. We passed a bunch of people putting chains on their tires but figured they didn’t have all wheel drive. The road was pretty sketchy. For some reason all over Europe, they just love the hairpin turns. Jim loves to bike them in the summer, but driving them on steep, narrow roads in a blizzard is something else entirely.

We finally made it to Le Saises in one piece after considering bailing on a few instances. After a visit to the tourist center, we found the cross country trails which didn’t look very groomed. Jim asked a skate skier how the trails were and she didn’t give them a very glowing review. Since it was already late in the afternoon and the snow was still really coming down, we decided it might be safest to scrape skiing and get down before all the traffic from the ski hill got on the roads.

Five hours later with no skiing under our belt, we were safely back in Annecy albeit somewhat frustrated at how the day’s events had played out. We decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner at L’atelier Gourmand. It was a great meal and made our earlier skiing debacle sting a bit less.I’d definitely recommend the restaurant. It was good service in a relaxed atmosphere. The restaurant chairs were big comfy leather ones that you just sunk into. I was reticent to leave after we had paid our bill.

The next day we headed back up to Le Seises and the roads were much better. It was a busy bunch of trails with a lot of skiers. I was hoping for some sun but it was completely cloudy all day. We both had a decent ski but it paled in comparison to our skiing the next day at Le Ferclaz. The trails were great there and they even had a small lodge which I’ve found is not all that common in Europe. Unfortunately, it was another cloudy, cold day but we both had a good ski on almost empty trails.

After our hard ski, we decided to pamper ourselves and got a couples massage. The hotel had a deal with the spa next door. It was Jim’s first professional massage so he was a bit uncomfortable and it was good that we did it together. It was incredibly relaxing and was a great way to end our trip.