Beach Bums at the Basilica :: Annecy

Hello everyone,

I meant to finish up all of the European posts last week, but I got side tracked by trying to create my own website(!!!!), and then my trio came into town for a performance at the end of the week, so that left basically no time for anything else!

We are taking a week off before getting back together for another intense week of rehearsals and a concert, so here I am, back to blogging  ;)

During our stay in Annecy, we were basically half aimless wanderers and half beach bums. Annecy is the perfect place to do both! The first day we visited Lake Annecy, it was a bit too cold to go into the water, so we took advantage of the grassy beach for a little snooze instead ;)

We left after the snooze to explore the town, hoping the day would be warmer/sunnier the next day for a swim!

The next morning dawned with exactly the kind of weather we were hoping for; hot, humid, and sunny!  

It doesn't sound appealing now as I sit in this Boston summer heat, but it was perfect in Annecy for the little dip in the lake that we had planned for the day.

With a gigantic chocolate croissant in hand, we wandered through the charmingly-sleepy town toward the lake.

Oh, and somehow, even though we thought we had gotten lost in vast majority of the town the day before, we still found places we had not seen!  Like this Boston cafe!! we were so excited to see it (maybe a bit homesick?  haha) and had a good chuckle as we passed by  =)

after a few pleasant miles of window shopping and marking places we wanted to return to (mostly for gelato), we arrived at the beautiful lake once again!  

A perfectly sunny day for a swim, without a cloud in sight!

After swimming and napping the day away (mostly from the every-sleepy Z haha) at the beautiful lake, we drove up the hill to the basilica. The grandeur of this basilica took my breath away as soon as we arrived.

Isn't it funny how we always start whispering as soon as we walk into a church?  Even if there isn't anyone there!  haha

We had the entire basilica to ourselves (ah the joys of going during the off-season!) except for a nun who came in to change out the flowers in the front for a bit, so we enjoyed spending very peaceful time here by ourselves, wandering around and marveling at the beauty of the church and reading about the history.

We left the beautiful basilica and came back into the town to visit the places we had marked down earlier, like this gelato place!  We had the pomegranate and goji berries flavor, and it was so delicious!

We wandered around the town with our gelato in hand until sunset. It's the best way to experience Annecy in our opinion  ;)

Sadly, this was our last adventure in Europe since we drove back to Paris the day after to catch our flight back...  but we have definitely enjoyed this whirlwind tour of Europe, and we will definitely be back to revisit our favorite places like Annecy, Verdon Gorge, Cassis, and Avignon!

Thanks for joining us on our little European adventure, and I hope you enjoyed this little photo journal of our time in Europe!  

Have a wonderful week!

--Janny