Anncey, France

Ok so by now I have had a few days to get my bearings straight here. This past Friday was spent just in orientation of the program. So not bad at all. We had a little bit of the afternoon to prepare for the French placement. I was the first to go, I honestly wanted it over with. My prep with Rosetta Stone did help out a lot. After that the afternoon was ours. My roommate, Emily, and I wanted to take a trip to a town called Annecy. So we started planning, well more so her than me. We had to get help with the train situation (which was a slight headache) but then it all worked out and we got a taxi called for us, had a hotel room booked and we were set.

A fellow student, Matt, decided to tag along with us to Annecy. The taxi came to early in the morning to take us to the train station and thus began our journey. We made it to Annecy, which was much larger than we had thought it would be. But I later found out it was the capital of Haute-Savoie region.  The old part of town, which Emily and I stayed in, was a maze of winding narrow roads crossing over and running beside canals. It was flooded with people. We all grabbed a quick bite just outside our hotel and began exploring the town.

We found a chocolate shop by Yves Thuriès, one of the chef’s of our school ENSP. His store was not bad at all. I got a chocolate caramel square and a chocolate tart… Absolutely perfect. The three of us took our goodies to this lakeside park to enjoy them. It was relaxing and fun to just people watch.

When I bit into that chocolate tart, everything that was going on around us faded. The velvety smooth texture of the chocolate with the crisp crunch of the crust was an experience. I’ve never had anything quite like it. Same goes for the chocolate caramel.

We continued to explore the town and we later all met back up and got dinner at a restaurant that served fondue… we thought it was fitting since we were in a region that is known for their cheese. We were right beside a canal at this café. We were served a big dipping pot of cheese and all of us got a plate of a few cold cuts (prosciutto, ham and some type of salami I think) and a small salad. Of course there was a basket of bread on the table. We had some of the house red wine and then dessert was a pot of melted chocolate with fruits and marshmallows to dip. Went great with my coffee.

 

The next day we took a boat ride on the massive glacial melt lake. It was an hour long but the lake was so clear that it looked like water you would see in the Caribbean. Didn’t learn too much about the lake b/c it was mostly in French and I couldn’t understand the accent. Worth it regardless. Walked more around town and indulged in ice cream. I got nutella, citron and small free scoop of vanilla. Then the second time I got tiramisu. Emily got citron and raspberry with almond scoop, and then she got chocolate noir. Matt got chocolate noir and something else. And then he got grand mariner and something. I can’t remember. But we enjoyed the markets and walking around and seeing what they had and also saw an interesting window display at a lingerie… squirrels were in the display so I’m not sure what the message was suppose to be… You can decide for yourself.. We got a kick out of it to say the least.