Tia and I spent this past weekend in Yvoire and Annecy! Yvoire is a happy village bursting with flowers in the street, in window boxes, growing on houses, in driveways, and anywhere else you can imagine. Our hotel overlooked Lake Geneva and the ferries that passed by every few hours. We explored a beautiful garden with seven different sections separated by hedges: toxic plants, plants to touch, plants to taste, etc. A henhouse and a birdhouse were on the outermost paths of the garden maze so every now and then we saw a chicken running through the path, sticking its head into the bushes and then take off running again. I couldn’t have loved Yvoire more if I tried.
The day we left Yvoire, we took a ferry ride to Geneva and a bus to Annecy. It was gorgeous. We went for a walk until we ran into the main lake surrounded by mountains. We saw that we could go on a boat ride for 30 euro, so we walked to the dock and met John who took us to a boat and helped us aboard. Tia was setting our backpacks down at the bow when John motioned to me and said, “You drive. I show you how.” He proceeded to give me directions, untie the boat, and wave goodbye. Tia turned around, waved goodbye without thinking, and then saw me behind the wheel and shouted, “Wait, he’s not coming with us? You’re driving!” We just looked at each other and busted out laughing because neither one of us knew that would happen. We had a blast! Don’t worry Mom, we had a ring buoy with us, and it only went about 10 miles an hour.
When we left Annecy on Sunday, we got back just in time to try out Le Nord (kudos to Katie for the choice) for Katie’s last night here. It was delicious! Katie had steak and green beans, Tia ate the fish and grilled vegetables, and I didn’t share more than a bite of macaroni and cheese. We ran to the metro in time to meet Vic and Boat at the train station! They have been on a three week trip around Italy celebrating Boat’s graduation from Orthodontics. Now we’re all happily reunited and ready for adventures ahead. It was Katie’s last night in Lyon last night, but something tells me this isn’t the end – her world traveling has just begun!