May 18 - Annecy & Geneva

It's  time to get on the bus and head to Annecy, in France.   Our French driver is Thibeault (tee-bow), he lives in Annecy.   We make a stop at an interesting bridge, the 'Pont de la Caille', over the Usses River.

It was inaugurated in 1839.   It's 630 feet long and overlooks the canyon 482 feet high.   Back on the bus ..

 Seeing some pretty countryside along the way.  Did I mention blue skies .. again !!

We arrive in Annecy and park next to the beautiful lake.

We begin our walking tour with Catherine.

We're at the edge of Lake Annecy, a very clean and beautiful lake enjoyed by swimmers and boating enthusiasts.

We started back to the medieval part of town along the canals.

You can see the tops of the castle.  It was built between the 12th and 16th centuries and served as the residence of the counts of Geneva.  The castle's walls no longer stand, but they originally surrounded the medieval village.   This used to be the prison.

Enjoy views of this medieval village and several gates.

A very old canal 'lock'.

We needed an ice cream break before getting back on the bus.  We shared three flavors.

A famous company in Annecy is the 'Fonderie Paccard', a foundry founded in 1796 and run continuously by seven generations of the Paccard family.   It has cast more than 120,000 bells located throughout the world.   Paccard is best known in the United States for its participation in the Liberty Bell Savings Bond Project.   As part of the Marshall Plan, the foundry cast 57 replicas of the Liberty Bell in 1950 and 1951, which were distributed to the then-48 states.

After a good visit in gorgeous weather to a beautiful town it was time to get back on the bus for Geneva and lunch.   Our guide on the bus, Olga, recommended a cafeteria at the top of a 4-story department store called Manor.    It was quite the buffet of selections.   We ate:

And .. had a view.   You can just see the lake fountain spray.

After lunch we walked down to the lake with the intent to ride a couple of the small water taxis, the Mouettes, Geneva's yellow public transport boats.    After a long walk on the north side of the lake to Line #4 we got on to go to the other side.

Good timing when we got to the other side as Line #3 boat was just arriving.    We hopped on it for the ride to get closer to our hotel.

We walked back to our hotel and needed a cold beverage.

Info. for Matt & Marty :

Another fun day, more gorgeous weather, more interesting historical sites and information.   A better understanding of the region.   A few more pieces of info. before we leave Geneva.

In the summer of 1816, along the shores of Lake Geneva, three very talented writers, Mary Shelley (then Wollstonecraft), her soon to be husband Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Lord Byron, at a dinner party decided to have a competition to see who could write the best horror story.   Thus .. the creation of Frankenstein, the novel, by Mary.

A busy day tomorrow.  We check-out, get on a bus to visit Dijon, a picturesque capital of the Burgundy region, then travel to Chalon-Sur-Saone to board our cruise ship, the AmaCello.   See you there!