Au Revoir: Annecy and Geneva


There is nothing more rejuvenating than nature, so after spending ten days in some of the finest cities in Europe, we literally ‘took to the hills’ and landed in the hillside town of Annecy.

One of our first sights in Annecy
The first thing that struck us as we walked past the canals towards our hotel was the serenity of the town (the perfect word here would be the Urdu ‘thehraav’). After being a part of the hullabaloo of Paris and the nearly fanatic tourists in Versailles, Annecy seemed strangely calm. Almost everybody we saw on the road - locals, both young and old, tourists, children- seemed to go about their work with a happy satisfaction on their faces. Despite being climatically cooler than Paris, Annecy felt warmer because of its people, who seem to leave no stone unturned when it comes to helping other people - we had a restaurateur directing us to another restaurant which had “the best fondue” , shopkeepers smiling at us from behind the counters and even the hotel concierge arranging a breakfast for us about half an hour before official breakfast time!. If being close to nature can give you that sense of peace and goodwill, I’d gladly trade Bangalore’s temperate climate for Annecy’s freezing one any day!

The town’s affable languidness seeps into sightseeing as well, for the entire town has only three main ‘places to visit’ - the Chateau D’Annecy, the Palais de l’Isle and Lake Annecy. Investing a full day to roam around these three sights is as relaxing as spending a full day in a spa after working 50 hours a week. This is probably why a majority of Annecy’s inhabitants commute daily to work in nearby Geneva - who wouldn’t want to live in a town which flourishes on relaxation and also hosts an international animation film festival annually?

The Palais de l'Isle - apparently the water in this canal had dried up a bit

Chateau d'Annecy
For Annecy’s youth demography, however, relaxation seems to be synonymous with fitness. Around the shoreline of the lake, we spotted people cycling, running, jogging and briskly walking, seemingly motivated by the beautiful visual of the 14 km long emerald-green lake embedded amidst (certain) snow-covered mountains of the French Alps. And mind you, almost all these people were in very professional looking sports gear, making me wonder if they were French national-level athletes or football players. Too bad my sports knowledge is shameful! 

Can you spot the blurry man running?

Lake Annecy
My wonder about Annecy being a hub for sports wasn’t unfounded - apparently the lake is the epicentre for outdoor activities such as golf, hiking and paragliding in summer and skiing and snowboarding in winter. Trivia - Annecy was also one of the contenders to host the 2018 Winter Olympics, but, as we all know, lost out to South Korea. 

Flowers and snow - such a lovely combination!
In a way Annecy was a perfect combination of all the places in our itinerary. It had the canals of Netherlands, the food of Belgium, the chateaus (and the French) of France and the snow covered hills of Switzerland! 


Our first view of Lake Annecy

Tips:
  1. Since Annecy doubles up as a resort for the rich and famous, everything here is expensive. Except sightseeing - that is mostly free!
  2. You CANNOT leave Annecy without trying out its crepes and its fondue. I do not believe I’ve ever tasted anything as gooey and as heavenly as that wonderful pot of cheese!
  3. There might be a couple of homeless people on the bridges - they’re harmless but persistent. Keep your pockets to yourself!
  4. Spend some time at the lake - just take in the beautiful vista and the clean waters, and (if you’re anything like me) pray that you get to see at least one lake in Bangalore that is as pristine as this one!

Geneva

There’s a bit of a backstory to our Geneva trip. While planning our Europe trip, we discovered that we had about half a day free before heading back to Asia. We decided to get our money’s worth and squeeze in one more country. SInce our flight was from Lyon, there were two options - Italy (Turin) or Switzerland (Geneva). In my mind, it was a conflict of the necessities - food (pasta) vs film (Bollywood, Yash Chopra), and since I was footing the bill, film won :-p.


But initially I didn’t feel any Bollywood magic hit me at all in Geneva; in fact there were times I had to forcefully remind myself that I was in Switzerland, for thanks to its proximity to France, Geneva could very well pass off as another French city. Or so I thought, till we passed by Lake Geneva, the crescent-shaped lake that is shared by both the countries. The crowning jewel of the vast placid lake that goes all the way up to Vevey passing through places like Lausanne is the Jet D’Eau, a 140-m fountain that stands right at the intersection of the lake and the river Rhone. The tall jet of water just bursting into the air is somewhat awe-inspiring, and nothing like the mild, delicate fountains we’d seen anywhere in our trip.

The Jet d'Eau - spot the rainbow!

Lake Geneva with Jet d'Eau

Another thing I hadn’t seen anywhere on our trip was a statue of Mahatma Gandhi. Right on our path to the United Nations office, we stumbled upon a small clearing with a decorated statue of Gandhiji. I swear, for a minute I did feel my heart skip a beat and practically heard ‘Ghar Aaja Pardesi’ from DDLJ play in my head! I never realised how much I missed home, but there, that moment, I really wanted the desi cacophony to break through the western stillness.
The Gandhiji statue that made me senti!
The Palace of Nations, home to initially the League of Nations and subsequently, the United Nations is a building complex that hosts over ten thousand conferences in a year. A one-hour guided tour takes one through the buildings, where one learns more about the UN. Our rote CBSE education came in handy there, because whenever the guide would ask us basic UN questions, we had the answers! The best part of the buildings are the sweeping views of the gardens and the lake that one gets from the windows.

The view of the French Alps and the Jet d'Eau from UN
However, the best view of the Palace of Nations comes from its backyard, where one sees the building stand tall at the end of a lane laced with flags on either sides. What interested me more than this view was the huge ‘Broken Chair’ installation right across the road. This huge red wooden chair with one leg broken off symbolises the failure of major countries to sign an agreement on a mine treaty, and forms a beautiful contrast with the pale beige of the UN building. 

The backyard of the Palace of Nations

The Broken Chair
While taking pictures of the flags I did try, like a dutiful Indian to spot the Indian tiranga, but sadly it was lost amidst the other fluttering flags. I sighed and put my camera back into my bag. It was to be my last photo in this Europe trip. We had been away from India for ten days. In those ten days,we had journeyed to eight places in four countries, peeked through their societies, ate their food (well, eggetarian food!), even spoke their languages and seen all possible combinations of the colours red, blue and white! But it was time now to pack our bags and memories and head home, where new adventures and journeys await. To quote Bunny - “Kaheen pe pahuchne ke liye, kaheen se nikalna bahut zaroori hota hai”. Let's see where we ‘pahuchofy’ in 2019!

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