Vacances en Annecy

Who loves to read a really, really long post about someone else's life?  Probably lots of people, as long as there are a million pictures to accompany said post.  In order to satisfy both those who enjoy long posts and those who do not, I've split this update into two parts: my trip to Annecy, and also my 80 kilometer biking adventure to Geneva, Switzerland.  The latter part will come later.  Please excuse the weak wordplay, I don't know how to be creative in French so I'm unleashing my pent up creativity on you...alas, here's the story of how I got to Annecy, and also what I did there:

i just...didn't know what to think...

Friday of last week, which would've been the 21st, I was planning on catching a bus out of Annonay to a train station at Le Péage de Roussillon, a small town just a couple minutes down the way, where I would ride the train to Lyon, and then to Annecy. Anyway, since I was also planning on biking to Switzerland I packed super light (two shirts and a pair of jeans, plus church clothes for six days).

I didn't wanna just sit around all day waiting for a bus out of town, so I made plans with Ashley to meet up in town for lunch and just to hang out before for a while before I left.  Well I couldn't take my bike with me, so I walked 45 minutes into town and we met at the bus station.  After we took care of some administrative business at her school we grabbed a bite to eat from a patisserie in the city center.  We both got a quiche and then I got this almond pastry and she got a raspberry one, everything was delicious. As you can tell by these pictures.

We picked up a letter from the postoffice and then she showed me her apartment.  It's really cozy inside and the view out her balcony was amazing! Something about making panoramas...I love it.  Doesn't quite do it justice though.

Anyway, we were still hungry, plus we walked all over the place so don't judge us but we went and got another something to eat on my way back to the bus station. I got a crab sandwich and she got a croque monsieur, both which were good but a little too much mayo in mine and a little too much bechamel sauce in hers.  Still, a disappointment here is like heaven back home.

I got on the bus and made it to the train station with like 5 minutes to spare.  I tried to buy a train pass but the train got there in the middle of the transaction, which is unfortunate because I could've saved like 30€.  I made it to Lyon 20 minutes before my next train left to Annecy, but I still needed to get a ticket.  I went to the ticket office, which was jam packed with people, but found a small line of maybe four people in front of a ticket machine.  I wondered why the line was so short when there was another line of probably 30 people in line to buy tickets from a real person.

 I figured out why when the first person took 10 minutes to buy a ticket from the machine.  I literally watched a guy get in the big line and go all the way through and come out with a ticket as I stood behind three people.  I also watched the clock tick closer to my departure time.  Fifteen minutes. Ten. Seven. Four. Then there was only a guy in front of me, who restarted his search four times, and THEN froze the machine (no joke) and left the line. I stood there in disbelief until divine intervention made the machine work again.

I bought my ticket with maybe 45 seconds to spare, ran to my platform and jumped on the side of the train as it was rolling away.  We were well out of the station before I finally pried the doors open and stumbled inside as the passengers looked at me like I was crazy.  Ok, it wasn't that dramatic.  I did run to the platform, but I got on normal-style and the train left like two minutes later.

I watched three or four people get on the train, realize it was the wrong one and get off.  Unfortunately, two girls were not so lucky.  They got on the train as it was leaving and then they found out it was the wrong one.  Poor souls...I had peaceful ride though, and when I arrived in Annecy I called the president of the branch there because we had arranged for him to pick me up.  He was super nice, but he didn't know of anywhere I could stay (I didn't ask why I couldn't just stay with him) so he took me to a hotel. I paid 45€ to sleep in a big bed for six hours.  But it was nice!

At six the next morning the president came back and took me to the church building, where we met up with some other members to carpool to the Bern, Switzerland temple.  Among them were my friends Flor and Emily!  They're in the same program as me and teach in Annecy.  We carpooled to the temple and I got to talk to the other man who came with us, he was awesome. It was cold in Bern, but the sun was shining and the temple was beautiful.

Afterwards, we all went to McDonald's.  It was actually the first time I've been there since I got to France, which I was pretty proud of.  Culture observation:  in Switzerland they have three national languages: French, Italian, and German.  I guess as kids grow up they just learn the language of their parents, and then in school I think they just learn the language of the country closest to them.  I don't really know.  The point is that the girl behind the cash register spoke German, but the girl next to her spoke both German and French, and there was another guy who worked there who spoke German, and it was just cool. The food was so good, of course. I got this big chicken wrap and a raspberry frappé thing. Again: So. Good.

We met up with people back at the temple and left for home.  When we got back to Annecy, Flor, Emily and I walked around looking for something to eat.  We stopped at this pizza place and ordered the most delicious pizzas I've ever had...in France.  They tasted as good as they look.  One was a three meat combo and the other was some Haute-Savoie (the department I was in, remember Ardèche, my department?) specialty, a creme based pizza with potatoes and other stuff.

After pizza I rented a bike from the train station, a 7-speed that I prayed would make it to Geneva and back.  We rode back to their apartment, taking the scenic route alongside the lake.  It is so beautiful there, I can't even describe and pictures will never explain it in full, no matter how many thousands of words they're worth.  If I were to show you a picture though, it would be another sweet panoramic I took.

The view out their apartment is breathtaking, here's an attempt to capture it.

The next morning we all went to church, and it was so great.  It's such a different experience being in France, but the Spirit was just as strong and I loved it.  We took the same route there and back as we did the day before, but on Sundays there's this ginormous open market for a couple hours in the morning and we rode right through it. It was so busy in the morning, but I only thought to take a video on the way back as things were dying down, which won't load for some reason so I'll have to show you it in person!

We got back to the apartment and ate this really good Argentine dish that Flor made while we waited for her friend Adriana to arrive from Montélimar for the bike trip the next day.  That night Flor, Adriana, and I planned our route to Geneva.  It would be full of epic failures and wins, for sure, but in the end we...well I guess you'll just have to read about it in the next post! :)