What better way to spend the day than a roundtrip 18km bike ride along Lake Annecy? It was a gorgeous day — 70ish degrees and sunny! We rented bikes from a friendly bike shop near the library, which included helmets, lock, and baskets, and we were on our way! I thought we’d get as far as Veyrier-du-Lac, but it felt like it took no time to get there, so we continued all the way to Menthon-Saint-Bernard.
Along the way, there are large, beautiful, old homes set right on the shore of the lake and separated from the bike/road by ancient stone walls covered in moss. Oh, it’s just so picturesque! We found our way down to the lake when we got to Menthon-Saint-Bernard and strolled along the lake before having a nice lunch at le Chalet du Port with a beautiful lake view!
While walking before lunch, we found a sign that directed us to the center of town, so after lunch we followed the path up. From the center of town, we had great views of the Chateau de Menthon-Saint-Bernard, now a fairy-tale looking castle, first built as a fortress in 923!
I’ve read in a couple places that it was the inspiration for Walt Disney’s Sleeping Beauty castle! We didn’t have time to go all the way up or do the tour, but we may stop back another day. For today, we just enjoyed seeing it and imagining what it must be like to live in it! The Menthon family still lives there — the 23rd generation! (We’re the 3rd generation living in our house…guess we have a ways to go! 🙂 )
That looks like a great ride ! The weather is perfect, better than here ! I have good news; a package will be coming your way very soon 🙂
Thanks for sharing your tour so I could enjoy it virtually. You gotta love any landmark that only has three digits in the foundation date.
It sounds like a dream come true and that you can live it. For Mike especially the part of how good the German beer was
Hi Mike, Jody, Grace and Leo,
So enjoy reading about your adventures and am so impressed with Grace and Leo’s ability to speak the French language so well! That is awesome! Not much new to report around here other then we had lots of rain the past week. Some areas like Maple Grove and Brooklyn Park got over 7 inches in less then 24 hours. Lots of flooded roads in some areas. We ended up with about 2 inches so lucked out. Ashley did cut the front grass the other night, but Bill helped her out with the back the next day when he heard rain was coming! Continue to enjoy the sights!