Swiss Dreams are Made of Cheese! (who am I to disagree)

"Can we live here?!" - Mark

Foodie moment

Gallettes are buckwheat pancakes which are cooked and served in a similar fashion to crepes. We found a place which specialised in them, and had an amazing dinner. Mark ordered a cheese, beef, onions, tomatoes and egg one. I decided to be adventurous and ordered goats cheese, tomato, egg, honey and herbs, although the savoury and sweet was different, it worked!! Yum!

I had been eyeing off the people enjoying Fondue at each restaurant, but was avoiding it due to the price. Finally Mark convinced me to take the plunge, as there was no better place to have it than on the Swiss border. It was a mix of three cheeses, bubbling away in a saucepan. We have NEVER eaten so much cheese in one sitting, but we just couldn't stop (particularly Mark), the salad was a necessity to slightly neutralise the cheese, CHEESE, CHEESE! Bring on the cheese dreams!

Cultural moment

The French traditionally have their dinner very late in the evening. They will often have an aperitif around 5/6 pm - which is a drink and a small snack, to keep themselves going, then out to dinner later. It is strange to see families eating their big meal for the night around 9/10pm. I'm surprised the children aren't falling asleep in their pizzas!

Wow moment

Lisa had raved about Annecy from the get go, because she had been there before when she was on exchange at 16. So I had high expectations, and she was nervous it wouldn't live up to them. But wow did it ever! First time in France since the Eiffel Tower that I was blown away by what I saw. The old town (where the best areas are) is set around a glacial lake a few kilometres across. Setting the backdrop to the lake are the French and Swiss Alps. Amazingly stunning, with snow on the highest peaks, even in spring. The architecture of the buildings are all traditional and a beautiful. A river from the lake runs through the middle of the town as canals, with restaurants and shops lining its banks. The most amazingly beautiful town so far!

What we learnt today

The drive into Annecy was an unexpected surprise for sure. It took us through the Alps along bridges that spanned valleys 100m plus in the air, through mountains by the way of long tunnels and around valleys that took your breath away. It was a great drive, but it didn't come for free. The motorways in France all have tolls, but this was the biggest by far, 44 euro to be precise, ouch! Yet when you think about the amount of work involved in creating the roads we took and the time saved, it was worth it, even for just the views alone.