Dragons on Lake Annecy!

Sunday morning we walked over to the lake to watch dragon boat races!  That’s one of the things we’re enjoying the most here — finding all kinds of things to do that we may not have seen before or wouldn’t take the time to do.  So dragon racing it was!  We realized that we were around the other side of the lake from where they were happening, so a quick stroll down the side of the lake we hadn’t been on yet and there we were.  The teams were decked out in matching shirts or costumes and the boats had already begun racing.  The drummer rhythmically pounded on the drum while the whole team would count to keep their paddling in time with each other.  

We watched for a bit and then strolled over to the “food tent,” which was more like a bake sale — clearly all homemade and very lovely and tasty!  It was great!  🙂  

Across the road from the lake, we noticed a skateboard park, so we walked over to check it out.  Lots of ramps and middle school/high school age kids boarding and scootering up and down ramps and over walls. (Later, the age range changed drastically to elementary aged kids with their moms watching from the side. I’m convinced there were unspoken rules about who gets the park at what time. 🙂 )  

Off to the left of the skateboard park, we found a small pasture of sheep and goats and beyond that a bunch of kids doing some sort of Sunday afternoon camp games in the woods. A sign near the start of a path indicated that it was a hiking trail and within it somewhere was a mountain bike trail as well.  While we hadn’t planned on a hike, we thought we’d check it out anyway.  

As we made our way past a lone snail, the sheep and goats, and then past the elementary school kids playing the camp games, we got a few looks (as the path led us more or less through the area they were playing in).  A few “bonjours” were exchanged, and we were on our way up the hill through the Semnoz forest.  There were beautiful views of the lake and lots of interesting plants, trees and mosses.  In addition, we discovered a beautiful 1930’s-era hotel (Les Trésoms) on the top of the hill.

 

On the way back to our apartment, we stopped by an Irish pub to see if the Ryder Cup was going to be on later (remember the 7-hour time difference), but the pub was closed until 7pm, so we headed home.  We didn’t have any luck finding it on TV, either, so Mike headed back to the bar to catch some of the play.  The bartender warned him that at 9pm, they’d be switching to soccer.  In the meantime, the kids and I watched a movie and made some more “riz au lait”. 🙂  After the kids went to bed, Mike and I tuned into the BBC radio broadcast, which was a fun way to experience an competition!