Annecy

This morning, we woke up very early to get into Lyon and catch a train to Annecy. To give you an idea, Annecy is a city in the Rhone-Alps region of east central France (Lyon is in the same region), on the shores of Lake Annecy, 22 miles south of Geneva. We have this great card called a 12/25 card that gets us 50% off most train tickets, so it was really fairly inexpensive to explore today.

When we got to Annecy, we walked around and wound up at one section of Thiou, Annecy's famous canal:
We then stumbled upon a market that put Lyon's to shame! It was huge and filled with people and vendors. The vendor's booths were also very unique in the way each one was set up and decorated.

We then went up to the Chateau d'Annecy, which had breathtaking city views

Then we wandered back down to the canals and walked around down there and found a place to eat near the beautiful Palais de I'lsle which "was the primary residence of the Lord of Annecy as early as the 12th century, and later became the Count of Geneva’s administrative headquarters, then alternately a courthouse, the Mint, and finally a jail, from the Middle Ages until 1865 and once again during World War II."
After lunch, we checked out Lake Annecy and got some beautiful pictures of the scenery and the Jardin de l'Europe d'Annecy.
After that, we got come ice cream, did some souvenir shopping, and caught a 5 o'clock train back to Lyon. We were actually scheduled for 7 o'clock train, but with all the walking we did, and being out late at dinner last night - by the way, most French dinners don't start until 8 and then last several hours - we were so tired, that we caught an earlier trip back. We're all pretty exhausted as the week comes to a close, so it's been a quiet night here. I'm meeting some really great people and friendships are forming very quickly. This weekend, it looks like we're going to get everything together for classes, which start next week.