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The picturesque village of Annecy France adorns the cover of Rick Steves France guidebook. We had never been, so thought we would include it in our swing through southern France.   It lives up to the hype with its central canal and pastel buildings perched on the shore of a beautiful alpine lake.  It is popular with tourists and outdoor enthusiasts.

It looks like most of the villagers hike, bike and ski on a regular basis.  It is beautiful, if a bit too touristy for my taste.  Its beauty attracts some of my least favorite tourists, Instagram tourists who are there to check the box and get the perfect picture of themselves at the most photographed spot in town.  I am guilty of taking pictures at popular locations, and even taking a selfie on occasion.  But taking dozens upon dozens of shots in an effort to capture your perfect look can be annoying, the worst offenders in my book are those crowding in and blocking others so they can get a picture of themselves with a famous building or painting.  But I digress with my personal pet peeves.

We were still fighting the heat and our heat avoidance tactics worked well with crowd avoidance as well.   Early mornings were perfect to avoid hot weather and crowds. 

 We rented bikes and rode the shore of the lake, stopping for a beverage and then returned for a late lunch at our new favorite Michelin restaurant Cozna.  An amazing $30 meal served by a great staff.  Then a little relaxation back in our almost air conditioned hotel.  As the sun dropped below the horizon we headed out for a beverage or two at the Captain’s pub along the canal, followed by an ice cream stroll home. This time, drinks and ice cream for dinner took the place of charcuterie.  A wonderful day in a beautiful village.

I find myself reliving the past on this trip.   42 years ago, traveling with my friend Jim and a copy of the recently published “Europe through the back door” guide book by Rick Steves we made our way across the Alps by cable car.

 Back in the old days, a Eurail pass let you step onto any train in Europe and go anywhere without a reservation.  It also included boats and buses in various parts of Europe.  Unfortunately, it didn’t include cable cars.   There was very little planning, no smart phones, no weather apps, we followed the guide book and took the train to Aosta Italy, caught a bus to the cable car and with four connections made our way over the Alps from Italy to Chamonix France.

 I remember it was more expensive than we expected so we probably had to cash a travelers check along the way.   It was a spectacular ride on a sunny day and I would show you pictures but the slides are long gone.

I have been wanting to repeat that trip over the Alps with Kelly for about 40 years and we finally made it happen. This time there was much more planning, watching weather forecasts and buying tickets online.

 Even so, the forecasted sunny weather was anything but as we drove from our hotel in Annecy to Chamonix at 5 AM.  Clouds blocked our view of any mountains but we had already spent $150 on two tickets to the Aiguille Du Midi, 12,500 feet up Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe.  We climbed aboard joined by hikers and rock climbers.  We looked a little out of place without ropes, crampons or even an ice axe. As our second cable car of the day rose almost straight up the rocky face, we hoped we would break out into sunshine, but it never happened.  Stepping out of the car we were surrounded by clouds as if in a dense fog.  So, we climbed the stairs (no small feat in the thin air) and planted ourselves in the coffee shop.

While sipping our espresso and eating a muffin the clouds would briefly clear giving us a quick view of the surrounding mountains only to be fogged in seconds later.  We checked the various webcams and it looked a bit clearer over on the Italian side.  I questioned whether we wanted to spend another $100 to see the inside of more clouds, but Kelly insisted, “we have come this far we should give it a try.”  We paid the $100 and boarded our two person cable car for the 30 minute crossing from Aiguille du midi over to Helbronner point 11,358 feet above the Aosta Valley in Italy.  Kelly was right, the clouds parted and the views were spectacular.  For an added bonus, we had the place to ourselves as very few people had made the early morning trip into the clouds. It is not a cheap or easy trip to make but we thought it was well worth the ticket.

Returning back to Chamonix on our 6^th cable car ride of the day we had landed just in time for lunch. Chamonix is a mountain ski village that reminds me of Whistler Canada.  We found a great burger place and enjoyed the sunny day with gorgeous views of Mont Blanc. All of the weather forecasts and advice to get their early for the best views proved to be wrong, the afternoon was beautiful.  After Lunch we paid the $60 toll and drove under Mont Blanc into the Aosta Valley. 

To insure no accidents occur in the 7 mile tunnel, access is metered and you are required to keep 200 meters between you and the car in front of you.  We wanted to break up the 5 hour drive to Lake Como so we used our Michelin guide to pick a restaurant and hotel along the route.

The alpine town of Brusson and its Hotel Laghetto with its Michelin rated restaurant appeared to fit the bill.  It turned out that Brusson is about thirty minutes off the highway up a twisty, turning narrow mountain road.  The hotel was beautiful sitting beside a lovely alpine like.  However, I need to talk to the Michelin people about updating their guide.  I think the hotel lost its Michelin rated chef, or maybe they were on vacation.  I would not recommend making your way to Brusson for the food.  Maybe the pizza place next door would have been the better choice. 

See you at Lake Como.