Annecy Trip

Thursday morning I got up to go on a run before class, which I hadn't done in a while. Then as per usual, I had class in the morning. After class we went with Patrick to visit les Cuves de Sassenage. We had a little 20 minute hike up to the caves. It was 98 degrees outside, and about 55 inside the caves. It felt wonderful. The caves were pretty neat. They were hollowed out by the the Furon (?) river I think. It was pretty cool to go on the tour through the caves and understand the tour guide (since it was all in French). When the damn above the caves releases it's water there are flash floods. Downstream deaths can be fairly common due to the flooding, but they close the caves during the season they release water.

Friday morning I went on another run and then went to class. I went to the theater after class and watched Harry Potter. It was shown in English, which I have mixed feelings about. It would have been cool to see it in French, but I was sort of happy it was in English... It started to rain while I was in the theater.. which means the temperature had dropped below 70, though it didn't feel all that cold. After that I swung by Geant to grab a few things and then worked on some homework.

And then I worked on some homework some more... Then I realized it was after 9... Dinner ended up being at 10. Rose's train was late (she spent Thursday and Friday in Paris for a conference). It turns out that a man had thrown himself on the train when it started to leave... I don't really know what happened, but that's what Rose said. It was a fun dinner.

Saturday was my trip to Annecy. I set my alarm for 5:40 since I still had to get a few things together in the morning and didn't want to be rushed since I had to leave by 6:40. Well... I did set my alarm.. but I didn't turn it on. It wasn't disastrous though. I woke up at 6 when I've been going running, and was able to get ready to go in time, though I was a little rushed. Also it turned out that I had miss judged when I needed to take the trams... so I actually was 30 minutes early...

All was well and the trip headed out just after 7:30. I ended up not sitting next to the girls in the program for the bus since they wanted to sit in the middle of the bus and I ended up on the aisle. If I had been on the window I might have stayed with them... But one promptly curled up to sleep, another turned on her ipod, and the third pulled out a book to read... So I moved and sat in the front where I'd have a great view and not get motion sick. I ended up sitting next to a teacher in training (half the people on the trip were teachers in training).

On the way to Annecy we stopped at Chambery, which is the capital of La Savoie. (I have no clue what that means, I think La Savoie is the name of an area... though I'm not sure). We were there for 45 minutes just to look around. We didn't have enough time to really wander or do much, se we ended up just going into a cafe 'cause the girls were in desperate need of caffeine and something warm (it was raining... and cold... and I was so thankful I had the thought to grab a jacket and wear jeans... 2 of the girls didn't have jackets with them...)

3 people were 30 minutes late getting back to the bus, which was rather annoying. But once we got them we headed out again. We stopped once more at le Lac du Bourget. This is the largest natural lake in France. It was rather pretty and we took pictures while freezing cold. But then got back on the bus and headed up to Annecy!

We got to Annecy and it is still cold and drizzly and it almost lunch time. We find a little restaurant for lunch and are there for about an hour or so. Then we wander around a bit and the girls wanted to go shopping... which they could just do in Grenbole... a lot of the stuff was the same... I ended up parting with them after a bit so I could wander around the section with the water and go into some churches.

At 2:30, I went on a little group tour with the excursion leader around the city a bit. She told us a bit of history and and showed us a few historical locations. After that, I wandered around Annecy a bit by myself for an hour or so. I had a crepe sitting on one of the bridges there. It was really nice and peaceful. Everyone else went over to a beach not too far away. Some people went swimming in the lake (I was having trouble staying warm and I was dry...) and others just sat around on the beach. I figured while I was there, if I wasn't getting in the water, I wanted to see more of the town.

Just before 6 we started back for Grenoble. On the bus ride back just about everyone except me slept... But I got to see a gorgeous mountain covered in snow through an opening in the clouds. I couldn't get a picture, but I was rather excited about it. But I guess that's what I get for being in the Alps... It took a little while to explain to Rachael and Rose at dinner why I was so excited. They see snow all the time...

Well I got back at 7:30 and dinner wasn't too much after that. It was just Rachael, Rose, and I. It was a fun dinner. We talked for a long time after dinner, just about our lives and such. It got darker a lot earlier since it was still cloudy having drizzled all day long here and in Annecy...

Today... is Sunday, which is difficult to remember. I've just lazed about doing homework and studying. I went to downtown to grab some lunch, and on the way back got hit on by... a 30 yr + man who spoke French, Arab, and a tiny bit of English. Me trying to act uninterested apparently came off as me not understanding French very well... But luckily I was only on that tram for 2 stops. After that I've just been doing homework and taking it easy.

The girls come back tomorrow. I was apparently way off on the dates of their vacation, but that's to be expected 'cause I was never told directly about it. Rose and Phillipe redid their room while they were gone... The girls know that it was being redone, but how is going to be a surprise for them. While Rose was gone Phillipe did dinners.