Wheels and other modes of transporation
One of the things that was immediately missed (and still missed) by the kids were wheels! They’re used to running outside and hopping on ripstiks, roller blades, scooters, and bikes…and now…we have just our feet!
It’s been a bit of an adjustment for them, but they are doing a good job with all the walking. Me, I love having to walk everywhere! G and L, given the choice, would love to hop on something with wheels every now and then, though. (We all enjoyed our bike ride the other day!)
All around Annecy, we see people on all varieties of scooters — three wheels, two wheels, adult ones, kid ones, little bitty ones with a seat and a handle for parents to push — skateboards, long-boards, roller blades, roller skates, and bikes. Today, we finally saw our first two ripstiks! We were wondering if they had them here. While it would be great to buy some wheels while we’re here, packing them in our one suitcase or backpack might prove difficult, not to mention heavy!
Water modes of transportation are plentiful around Annecy, too. From pedal boats to small motor boats to lake cruise boats to kayaks to rowboats to canal boats to stand up paddle (SUP) boards. The are a daily part of life here. This weekend is the Oxbow SUP Challenge – the 5th annual SUP Open Race on Lake Annecy. We stopped by today, but somehow we missed the race. We did get to watch people trying out various sup boards (regular ones and inflatable ones), 4-person boards, a catamaran-looking board, and even a group doing pilates on sup boards! We’re going to head back down to the lake tomorrow to see what we can see. The kids are hoping to have a chance to try them out…we’ll see… 🙂
(The pilates group is in the circle formation on the bottom left.)
(A view down the beach of all the various paddle boards lined up.)
(There’s a family on the catamaran-type SUP board on the left close to the rock wall.)
(Four guys on a SUP board!)
While there are plenty of cars around, there are not a lot of parking places, so it’s actually nice to not worry about it. We’ve decided our Mazda would be considered a larger vehicle here! Related to cars and driving, it seems there’s an unwritten rule…well it’s probably written somewhere…that if a person is close to entering a crosswalk, the cars will stop. I mean stop. Like squeal on the brakes and stop to give the pedestrian the right of way. It’s kind of cool, but takes a little getting used to at first.
We’re used to really making sure someone is stopped before entering the crosswalk. Here, while you want to make sure they are going to stop, you also want to get across quickly, so the car can get on it’s way. We’ve started being able to read how fast they can come up to the crosswalk and still stop. Of course there are instances here and there when someone doesn’t stop, so you still have to be on guard!
Another fun fact related to driving in Annecy: On Saturdays after weddings, guests and the wedding party drive by the lake honking their horns!! Many of the cars have ribbons tied to side mirrors and/or hazard lights on. But it’s really a thing here…just like in Babbitt…and probably other cities around the world, too, but Annecy and Babbitt are the most important cities for me with regard to this fun fact!
