Month: October 2016

Clouds and Cranes

During our field trip of crafty places (a week or so ago), we found a couple offering cool classes for kids. We signed G and L each up for one, as we thought it would be a fun way to meet some kids since they aren’t going to school.  (Unfortunately, we don’t have the documentation necessary with us in order to enroll them.  We’ll still work on it, though.)  

G began a sewing class (1 of 3) last Wednesday and LOVED it!  She met a nice girl, who we happened to see the next day as we were walking around the city!  It made it feel like we’re really a part of this place. 🙂  She had her second class yesterday and finished one of the projects!  

Proud crafter! 🙂

 

L took an origami class last Saturday and made a “guirlande de grues” (garland of cranes). He enjoyed the class (and the snack of juice and croissants), but all of the kids were very quiet.  He said the kids were friendly but none of them talked to each other — only to the instructor.  🙂

Focused crafter. 🙂

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!  

Big Air

A couple weeks ago, G and I noticed some signs and flags advertising and events called “High Five” and “Big Air.”  We did a little investigating and found out that High Five is a ski film festival with more than 45 ski films (including documentaries, short films, road movies, feature films, and new web episodes) over the three days.  Big Air is an international free-style ski jump competition festival held in the middle of the Place des Romains, just a few blocks from us that uses a metal structure 42 meters high with an elevator to get the skiers to the top!  

The events were this past weekend, and we could see the ski jump structure from our apartment window!  We also got a kick out of listening to the announcer. (He was very excited about things and got the crowd going!)  On Saturday morning, in addition to the struction, we actually could see the skiers jumping.  Even though they were quite tiny from our vantage point, it was still super cool!  We decided to get a better look, so we headed over in the evening to check out the finals in person.  Amazing freestyle stuff!  While we know nothing about the sport of freestyle skiing, it was fun to watch and another cool experience!

Afterward, we wandered around the old city, hoping to get ice cream at our favorite spot — Glacier Perrière.  Unfortunately for us, it was closed.  Just around the corner, though we spotted the golden glow of a yellow awning  — Glacier des Alpes — and it was open!  We hadn’t been there before, so we decided to give it a try.  We love the scoop of “la crème chantilly” (whipped cream) you get on top of your ice cream at Glacier Perrière — soooo good — and were happy to find out that Glacier des Alpes tops your scoop with a little extra something, too, a taste scoop!  (We noted right away that it was similar to an “Izzy”!  For those unfamiliar with St. Paul’s Izzy’s Ice Cream, they are known for great ice cream and the Izzy Scoop®!)