Notre Dame Paris - Annecy

Met the new tour group last night. Seems good. Our tour guide is Jonathan and his father was Scottish and his mother was French. He's a funny fellow. He has a British accent then swaps into fluent French. He's youngish but he seems to know the ropes. Our tour group seem nice. Mostly Americans which makes an interesting mix. As far as I know there is only one other Aussie - Jan from Brisbane who used to work as a hostess for Qantas. There are a few othe nationalities, but we are all very much in the minority to the Yanks.

Morning tea stop on the motorway

Had a good night last night when I took the optional extra to see Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, then out for dinner in the Latin quarter. I had been to Notre Dame before but I had forgotten how grand it was. The only drawback was that it was at night, so we couldn't really see the glory of the rose window as it was dark outside. They were celebrating Mass whilst we were there (this time I could really tell it was Mass - altar, priests in vestments,etc...). Heard a bit about the history of mediaeval Paris and the story of St Denis, who had his head chopped off by the Romans for his trouble. Apparently he's the patron saint of Paris. There is a statue of St Denis holding his head in his hands, but unfortunately it was a bit dark to take a pic.

St Denis - patron saint of Paris

Notre Dame Cathedral

Notre Dame Cathedral Mass

Dinner was good but I'm struggling a bit with the rich French food. Everything has a really rich creamy sauce on it. Not good for the internals!

Had a good drive today to Annecy. It's a long trip.... approx 500 kms. We arrived about 4pm. Went via the motorway most of the way. The first part was a bit boring, but then we wended our way through the hills of the Burgundy wine region. After a while the hills turned into mountains and we went through numerous tunnels, each time yielding to a surprising view of beautiful mountaans and valleys and small towns nestling inbetween the mountains.

Views taken during journey through bus windows. No stops for pics today!

The weather started out fine in Paris, but got progressively worse as we neared the mountainous regions in the South East.

In fact the rain was falling steadily as we arrived at Annecy. We were let loose in the town for about an hour and a half, which given the weather conditions, didn't seem like a great idea.

Annecy is a very pretty town nestled between the lake and the mountains, and given a fine day would be a lovely spot to spend some time. There is an old town and a new town, and we walked through the old town with its winding cobble-stoned roads and quaint houses. But it was too wet to do much, so a few of us holed up in a coffee shop, and I had a Latte but the other girls had a hot mulled wine, which they said was lovely.

Pics of Annecy

We were all dying to get back on the bus and back to our hotel... it was good to have a hot shower and change the wet clothes.

Map of our journey

Tonight we went out for a special dinner, but when I heard what they were serving, my heart sank a bit because it was yet another rich potato and cream and cheese bake. So, on behalf of my stomach, Iasked Jonathan if I could possibly get a plain meal, and I ended up with a steak and vegetables..... C'est tres bon!!!! Much better altogether. Actually it came out and the waitress gave it to the wrong person who duly tucked into it!!! She was a bit embarrassed when she realised it went to the wrong person. But another one was ordered and it was really good to just have something plain.

So that's it tonight folks. it's a bit late and i'm a bit tired, so it's short and sweet tonight! Tomorrow we're going over the Alps - God help us all!!!!