A picture is worth a thousand words so this here is worth 90 thousand words give or take.
What more can I tell you really.
Well the story began last thursday.
I woke up at 6. Jumped in the shower, put the coffee on then pulled Sophie out of bed. We had an early train, and needed to be in Gare de Lyon by 7.30am.
Needless to say we made it. Took our seats in the train and while Sophie promptly fell asleep I hit the bar car for an early pint.
I looked at me GPS. We were somewhere in the middle or burgundy when I made the switch over to red. Wine oclock always comes early when I'm on vacation.
Feeling juiced and refreshed the 3h40 min ride went by in no time.
We got off the train at Annecy, headed out of the station and scanned the horizon for our chauffeur. It was 11.32am on the dot. He was gonna be 5 minutes late. Surprising for a Dane.
When he pulled up in a diarhea orange 4x4 citroen i had to chuckle. Vehicle was a piece of shit. Again surprising for a Dane. Though not entirely his fault as it was a rental.
Greetings and pleasantries were exchanged and soon enough we were all breathing the same Covid air in his car, manoeuvring about and looking for a parking spot in down town Annecy. The bumblebee insisted she go on a last minute shopping spree before lunch. As we waited, our chauffeur and I took advantage of the situation, sat down, and ordered coffee. Naturally I demanded a chaser of Calva with mine. When our damsel finally rejoined on us it was pouring. We rushed into the first restaurant we could find and spotted a table outside under a damp pattio overlooking the cute little canals.
Annecy is kind of like Venice that way. It has canals. Only also completely different as it has no Italians, and literally everything else that makes up Venice is missing.
Obviously, I ordered a fucking tartiflette. Sophie had a salad and Mister K, our chauffeur ordered chicken. As it turns out, this chauffeur intended on leaving NY and settling down in the region for good. Great news I thought. Always handy knowing a good driver here and there.
As I smiled, I looked at my watch. We needed to run. Our stay at the Abbaye de Thalloires would not be put off any further.
So we made it back to his car and headed south along the east coast of the lake. A short 25min drive at most.
What was the rush? Oh nothing planned really. Just a 2pm massage at the 4 Star Hotel Spa.
My kind of day.
As it progressed. We relaxed at the spa. Enjoyed the "comfort" of our sweet. Had drinks at the bar. Visited the hotel wine cellar with 20 000 bottles and 1000 different wines, then sat down for meal. The sommelier advised us on the first two bottles. Then, somehow, by the time we were ready to order our third bottle to keep our liquid desserts afloat, we were told he had gone to bed. Fuckin pussy.
And so we took the bottle back up to our room and finished it there, "comfortably".
Thus ended day 1.
Day 2, Friday, was grey, smoky cloudy and humid. The lake is gorgeous no matter the weather and no matter the season really. Autum takes the cake I must say though. You'll see for yourselves.
Day 2 consisted in pretty much nothing. We checked out of the hotel and checked into our Airbnb. We spent the day walking about. Checking out the lake side. Having lunch with our chauffeur and his wife. Then he walked some more and got caught in a downpour. We took shelter in a barn for like 2 minutes then moved on and got drenched some more. Once we were soaked we made our way to the the little town of Menthon Saint Bernard where we headed hey presto to the butcher that somehow moonlights as a cheesemaker. Convenient motherfucker.
We bought truffled goat cheese and a couple tournedos. We bought mushrooms, shallots and plenty of redwine, headed back to the Airbnb, had a quick nap, then walked on down to where the chauffeur and his wife had their new appartment. Freshly acquired. He invited us for dinner waddya know. Friendly fucker he is.
That evening was spent eating and drinking exquisitely.
I was putting on some caloriess cause the next morning I'd be needing them for our 4h hike in the mountains.
Content from this perfectly executed second day, we said goodnight to our hosts and drunkenly walked back up the road to our chalet for a well deserved snore.
Day 3. Got up at 8, had a quick coffee, then was met by our driver. Our ascent began at 8.30am sharp. Our plan was to make it to the Edelweiss restaurant by 1pm. Do i have to say it ? Ok I'll say it. I literally shit myself. In the woods climbing up. And then a second time. Figuratively. When we caught up by the fog and were stuck on some cliff side and could barely see. Intense. Just the way I like it.
We made it to the restaurant and were joined by our damsels and by Mister K childhood friend.
I ordered 1 liter of wine and we drank it all with raclette.
When we drove back down, I was drunk and exhausted. I felt great. Was a good hike:
That evening we were invited over to some of Sophie's friends. They have a magnificent cabin with unbelievable location and view of the lake. We had to cut the evening short cause the curfew had just been extended to the region as well. It sucked cause we still had a shitload of wine to drink.
We said goodnight and made sure we would be back in the morning for coffee and one last walk all together before taking the train back to paris at noon.
And that's what we did.
Day 4. We slept one extra hour. Always a good thing. We packed up our bags. Whistled for our chauffeur then headed over to lakeside cabin for coffee and a morning stroll in the woods. I took no comfort in knowing that at the exact same time, several hundred kilometers north west, a couple of up to no goods were busy-bodying in Bobby's woods scavenging, finding and picking up our largest ever collection of Cepes to date.
I was jealous. And my weekend was ending.
We hopped on the train and rode in silence all the way back.
I'm sure those mountains won't miss me.
Zero
