Today, Miss Boulangerie played perfect hostess and drove us to Annesy, which is a lakeside town where her father grew up. It is about 100 km from Grenoble, and the lake is nestled amongst mountains, quaint buildings and cobble stone streets. It’s officially known as the cleanest lake in the world and the ridiculously good looking people of Grenoble spend their holidays lounging back in their paddle boats, swimming in the lake, and enjoying the sun.
In Europe, the sun is bright and you feel obliged to follow the “Slip, Slop Slap” rule that was drilled into you at school. Accordingly, Man from Mars and I slathered on the sunscreen, padding it onto our ears, arms, neck, nose and legs. Not so for Miss Boulangerie who laughed at our comprehensive efforts and explained that the European sun “isn’t as strong as the Australian sun”. In hindsight, I think she was actually right. A general scan of the people on the streets shows a caramel tan that doesn’t verge on sunburn (yes, I know, tan is the first sign of sunburn, but you know what I mean- it’s not as immediate as it would be in Australia). And, even after being in the direct sun for 2 hours, we didn’t feel the usual sensation of dehydration that you feel after 45 minutes on Manly Beach.
Miss Boulangerie and I lay on the front part of the paddle boat, sunning ourselves while Man from Mars leapt randomly into the lake, taking half his towel with him. He kept lifting himself out of the water using the two front sections of the boat like parallel bars. I think he thought he was Thor.
Afterwards, we enjoyed fabulous gelato before driving back to Miss Boulangerie’s house.
[Annesy- Man from Mars and Miss Boulangerie:]
[Charming narrow streets:]
[Colourful houses- only in Europe:]
[Miss Boulangerie- busting out the paisley print because she's not in Paris anymore!]
[Sunning ourselves:]
[While Man from Mars swims and fools around:]
[After a great day:]
Dinner was a real treat with Miss Boulangerie’s mother cooking up a traditional French Fondue- combining three different types of cheese. Generally, this dish is eaten in winter after a long day of skiing in the French Alps, but Miss Boulangerie’s mother made us the exception to the general rule, and we dipped and ate and dipped and ate. It was delicious. The rule is that if you have that much cheese, you need to have wine/alcohol with your meal. If you don’t, the cheese solidifies in your stomach and you feel like you’re lugging a cannon around in your gut. Another rule of French mealtime is that every lunch and dinner consists of a main and a dessert (and usually wine/alcohol). In honour of this, we finished off dinner with a phenomenal mango icecream that had been made by Miss Boulangerie’s mother only an hour before. Such a treat and soo delightful.
It was seriously such a great day.
[Lily/Alily the cutest, biggest dog in the world:]
[Fondue time!]
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