France 2015 Day 8 – Lyon to Annecy (Venice of France)

The last day of the France leg. It meant that half of our holiday was almost done. The tiredness of the trip was starting to take a toll and today we woke up late.

It was supposed to be an easy day, planned some places to visit but not at all important. In the end, we decided to visit Galeries Lafayette after asking for late check out which was granted to 2pm. The reception advised us to take the tram, T1 line towards IUT which would take us to commercial center at Part Dieu and there was a GL there. The tickets could be purchased easily from the automatic machines and it was 1.8euros for a trip within 1hr of validation, which was done on the tram by inserting the tickets into the validation machine.

This mall was considerably huge and using the free wifi and downloaded the app, we sought out the places we want to visit while having lunch at their fast food joint called Quick burger. The burgers was actually tasting better than the other fast food joints. The restroom was a challenge to visit as it was passcode protected to restrict usage to its customers only.

We visited the H&M store and purchased some baby clothing and then Loccitane which was much cheaper than Singapore. After that, went to GL but was disappointed to find out that the store there did not carry Chanel. Understanding from the staff, only the one in Paris did so.

Continue to shop in the pharmacy and Carrefour where we bought Sophie the giraffe for just 10euros. Left at about 115pm.

It was a rush to pack and check out but we managed. Almost had a hard time getting out of Lyon with a slight traffic jam due to so many traffic lights and confusing roads.

The trip to Annecy was fairly easy with a time of about 1.75hrs. Stopped by the service station where there were many restaurants but all were closed as it was almost 3pm. Continued our journey but baby K was fairly cranky today.

The French Alps started to peek out against the horizon when we started to arrive towards Annecy. This was a small beautiful town and we parked at the basement parking of Novotel. It was quite difficult to park as the car was too big and I couldn’t do it parking face front. Check in was done smoothly with an incredibly friendly staff attending to us.

The room was similar standards, as with the Mercures. We stayed for a while before walking towards the old town, going thru Carnot street.

The place was quite crowded with quite a number of tourists visiting the area. We stopped by a biscuit shop “La Cure Gourmande” where they sold some really delicious biscuits made from various fruity flavours, Bought some to try before deciding on which to buy.

Proceeded to walk towards the old town where it was more known to be the little Venice of France. The place was really pretty with the rustic look and the waterways with ducks swimming on it running through the town, along the sidewalks lined with blooming flowers. The backdrop of the mountain completed the this lovely picture that we would normally get to see only in drawings. Downside was there were many people around, i was kinda surprised that many knew about this place.

We actually wanted to visit the restaurant Little Italy for dinner, but on seeing a Aux Creperie Bretonnes La Bolee, we changed our mind and had dinner there instead. Ordered a pancake and a fruity crepe and it was delicious. Left filled and satisfied. Before continuing to walk around, we got ourselves some tasty ice cream from Glacier Des Alpes, where the staff was generous enough to give us another scoop for free!

Walked to the lake and it was a little chilly. Again a beautiful sight with the setting sun. Baby K wasn’t cooperating with a family selfie but it was ok.

That was the end of Annecy walk about and 20 mins walk back to the hotel. Rest of the night was the usual, like giving baby K a warm bath after the chilly walk. Again an activity packed day as we would soon leave for Switzerland.