Annecy is beautiful. I mean, everything we read said that it would be, but gosh, it’s a lovely town. Just an hour’s drive from Geneva, it was the perfect place to take my sister for a little taste of France during her visit from the states.

Guillaume, Leanna and I picked up the bus in Carouge in the late morning and arrived in Annecy in time to check out the bustling Sunday market. After weaving our way through the stalls – my favorite was full of all different kinds of straw hats – we bought goat cheese and tomato sandwiches and headed down to the lake for a picnic. The sandwiches? My sister described them as heavenly. The view of the sparkling lake surrounded by the Alps? Absolutely gorgeous. The park’s bathrooms? Definitely less so. They have some sort of weird system that disinfects each cabin after it’s used, which meant it was totally soaked when I had my turn (and lacking any toilet paper or soap, I might add). But hey, if that’s my biggest complaint about Annecy, c’est rien.

We spent the next hour floating around Lake Annecy on a paddle boat, which Gui and Leanna pedaled and steered while I hopped around the backseats and took photos. The water was bright turquoise, yet so clear. Next we climbed up the hill to the Château d’Annecy and spent a couple of hours exploring the exhibits inside. Our favorites were about the anthropology of the Savoy region, pollution in Lake Annecy and the history of the châteaus in the area. We ended the afternoon with some refreshing gelato at Glacier des Alpes and took one last stroll through the old city before hopping back on the bus to Geneva. Enjoy the photos!