Annecy

May 7, 2019

Beautiful Day, Beautiful City

We are very comfortable in our hotel in Annecy and it is nice to think we will be here for two more nights. There is also an excellent breakfast buffet and we do love our breakfasts, biking or not. After our enormous dinner last night I was actually astonished at how hungry I was this morning. I certainly ate more than my share.

First order of business today was to get our European SIM card sorted. There were many distractions between us and the Orange store, so it took us awhile to get there. Of course it was exactly when we arrived that I realized I had forgotten the passports. We were a bit stunned at the cost of the Orange prepaid plan, 40 Euro for 10 GB of data, phone calls and SMS. We were planning to buy a SIM for each of us in France, but may not given the price. We will see. I can always tether to Keith’s phone for data. Vodaphone in Germany was much, much cheaper last year. We did some wandering and checking of other options and can definitely do better than Orange, but the advantage to paying more is that Orange is ubiquitous in France, should we have a problem. A bit like buying insurance I suppose. Forgetting the passports meant we had time to think the whole thing over, so maybe it wasn’t a bad thing. No decision made yet.

We wandered haphazardly around the old town, vaguely headed back to the hotel for the passports, but again, so many beautiful distractions. Cathedrals, the market, the lake, the canals. We visited tourist info and came away with some excellent maps, including one of walking tours which we may attempt this afternoon. Once back at the hotel, the CN, who still hasn’t reached full health, fell asleep and I am letting him snooze for awhile. He needs it.

A touristy spot. I counted seven tour buses in a parking lot and it is early in the season. There is a good reason for those tour buses though. This is just a gorgeous place.

We are lucky to have such a beautiful day to enjoy this amazing place.

So many canals and all so clean and a beautiful colour. It is a feast for the eyes.

Lunch anyone? Looks pretty appealing, doesn’t it.

Look at how crystal clear that water is. This is the iconic shot in Annecy.

This one is for the Grampies. We think that could be a torte on the far right.

There was an organ concert going on in one of the churches but it was a little beyond Keith and I. It actually drove us out of the church. A bit too atonal for us.

After Keith’s nap we headed out and attempted one of the walking tours. Trouble was, this really is a distracting place. We just couldn’t stay focused on one walking tour and were all over the place. We loved every minute of it.

This is new by European standards, built between 1922 and 1930. It is the Visitation of Annecy, Basilica and Monastery.

Next to the castle. Perhaps we will stay here next time, if we win the lottery.

After all the exploration it was time for an aperol spritz for me and a beer for Keith and people watching for both of us. One of the simple pleasures of being in Europe on a warm and sunny day.

I am not sure what I think of the grey beard hehe.

Then it was dinner and a wander back to our hotel. We love Annecy. What a great day it has been.

One final thought, the SIM card decision was to go with Orange, and at this point, just for Keith’s phone. Between the morning and the afternoon Orange came up with a special that doubled the data. Funny how that works. Keith now has a whopping 20 GB of data for 40 Euro, which seems inexpensive by Canadian standards, and is certainly enough that I will just tether to him if the wifi is slow in a hotel or we are out and both want to be browsing. We are happy with that decision and glad to be back online.

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Jacquie GaudetI went with Free Mobile. There’s national coverage and it’s MUCH cheaper than Orange (which I used last time) and which only lasted for 2 or 3 weeks.

Free hasn’t the signal strength in some small villages to upload my big photo files but that’s to be expected. (I need to upload the raw files then download them again to upload jpg files to the journal since I don’t have processing software on my iPad.)
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5 years ago

Kathleen ClassenTo Jacquie GaudetAre you downloading from a camera? I bought a little gizmo that connects my USB from the camera to my iPad. Quick and easy downloads. You can find them at any Apple reseller...if that is what you are doing of course!

Orange was expensive but we are good for a month and we will add more time at the end. It also works in Switzerland which solves that problem for the last week or so of our trip. I tethered to Keith’s phone tonight to do the journal and it was lightening fast, unlike the hotel wifi. Telecom providers are confounding businesses anywhere I think.
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5 years ago

Jacquie GaudetWith my old camera, I saved the photos in camera as jpg files and copied them to my iPad with a USB/lightning connector. With my new camera, I save the photos as raw files (just data) and copy the files to my iPad with a card reader. I prefer to have the raw files because I can edit them at home later. It was only when 8 encountered slow wifi that I realized Apple Photo needs to upload and download before I can copy a photo onto Cycleblaze. Why exactly I don't know.
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5 years ago