Haute Savoie, France May 2014

Here are the pictures I took with my little digital camera on my trip to Haute Savoie with my Grand Pa. I was really sad my reflex was at the repair shop. It has been more than two weeks now and I still have no news about it. Anyways, it's a good thing I bought that little Canon Ixus in the end!

On our way to Annecy we stopped and visited the Monastère de Brou. We had such a beautiful weather but that was not meant to last.

Here is my Grand Pa, once we were all settled at the camp near Annecy.

I felt like an explorer with my camera bag always with me!!

These are all pictures from Annecy on different days we were here. It is a very beautiful city but as soon as the sun comes out from behind the clouds, it is packed! I wouldn't spend my summer vacation there! The roads are always clogged up, people park anywhere... But since we went there in May, it was rather okay. :)

These are places we stopped along the way while visiting. We haven't been very lucky. We stopped at a few places that were closed, like the butterflys and bugs museum, you have to call in advance so they can open it for you. The tower on the second picture of this set was also closed, we got to the second floor when a man told us we couldn't climb all the way because they were waiting for a group of kids to visit and the tower was actually closed to the public. And on another day, we drove 30miles, most of them on mountain roads, it took us two hours to get there, we went to a monastery that was closed on tuesdays and of course it was tuesday. We had to go back the next day.

We also had pretty bad weather. And yet, nothing could bring my Grand Pa down. :)  We had fun anyway and saw quite a few nice things! France is trully a beautiful and versatile country! You can drive a hundred miles and see all kinds of different scenarys.

I love this picture of my Grand Pa! It's quite blurry but I love his expression!

We went to the restaurant a bunch of times. On these pictures we got a 'fondue savoyarde' in Annecy. Basically it's melted cheese (3 kinds) and a dash of white wine. You put it in a pot on a gas burner and it stays liquid and smooth so you can dip pieces of bread on a very long fork and eat the bread covered in melted cheese. Of course it's to die for! Well, they didn't give us a gas burner at first but a tiny candle, and it wasn't hot enough, so the cheese started to get hard again. I was trying to churn it but it was so hard I just knocked everything down! And set the table on fire! :) How embarassing! It was not that bad, but I don't know what's up with fondue savoyarde, it's always such a big deal and people are always so afraid of it.  It is dangerous, of course. But the fire was so pathetic, we had nothing to worry about this time! :p

See the burnt spot on the table? That's my work :) And my Grand Pa is laughing behind his dessert menu! By the way, nobody is able to have dessert after a fondue savoyarde because it is so rich! Well, my Grand Pa is, chocolate cake! Fondant au chocolat to be correct. :p

This guy was posing for me! I was delighted! I love bugs and I'm considering getting one of these as a tattoo. I took so many pictures of him!

About this other guy, he landed on the bench we were sitting on just long enough for me to snap a picture and for him to crap. How nice.

Delicious 'Abondance' cheese! 

The city of Auxerre where we stopped for the night on the way back. It had some nice places but since we stopped there on a public holiday the streets were empty and everything was closed. Besides a lot of apartments and houses are for rent or for sale there. It's quite desolated.

And finally, everytime I go a trip with my Grand Pa and the caravan, I make him a little decoration to keep in the caravan. This time I sewed this kind of nursery rhyme from my Grand Pa's childhood, he has no idea where it comes from but it always make us laugh! I put the little Savoie flag as well.

It says:

Hello you who's cross eyed

Scare me 

I'm in the cupboard.