Un Jour Tranquile in Bonneville

 We didn't do much today - a bit of shopping to stock up our kitchen, and some trip planning for the rest of our France visit (Lyon, Chamonix and side trips to Milan and Zurich).

Here is a picture of Sonya drooling over the local tomato selection.

Hiking in the Alps

 Yesterday we did an "easy" hike in the Alps, about 7km round trip with about 500m elevation gain.  (I say "easy" because it was the easiest in the area.  We were thinking of doing a multi-day hike including overnight in one of the :refuge's" (see video below) but are re-thinking that ... 

Mont Blanc somewhere in the background there ...

This is the scenery around the Refuge de Veran which allows overnighting for multi-day hikes.  There are many of these refuges, including some that serve meals.  No Starbucks unfortunately :-(

One the way home we found that everything is closed Sundays in France - we've been just buying stuff daily but will have to revisit that strategy.  We found a Halal convenience store and an Asian convenience store that was open so we bought a few frozen appies for our dinner.  A far cry from the French meal we had a Bon Vin Bon Pain the other day!

We also had some pre-dinner drinks with our neighbour and got some recommendations for local restaurants and activities.  Today will be a planning day!

Annecy

 Day 3 we did a road trip to Annecy, about a 50 minute drive (and our first European road trip since Covid).  Annecy is a small town near Bonneville, very touristy and recently in the news, but I won't go into that ...

There are lots of canals and we did the "Rick Steves walking tour".

We had lunch at the Rick Steves-recommended "Bon Von Bon Pain" which definitely meets the "3+1" rule of eating at tourist sites (from a tourist site, walk at least 3 blocks with at least 1 turn before sitting down to eat).  This was our best meal in France!  ...  so far ...

Leek, asparagus, potato, trout and herring, yum!!!

Annecy is near a lake, so after our lunch and Rick Steves walking tour we took a walk along the lake and had a nap in the grass.

In the evening we wandered around the hills of Bonneville (where our flat is located) and were surpirsed to find Canada Street :-P

Tomatoes and Live Music

We've spent two nights in our flat in Bonneville but already I feel like I've been here for months.  For our first full day we just wandered about town, visited the local market and had a nice lunch.  Then back to the flat for a nap.

Second dinner was pretty much the same as first dinner, except we started feasting on Sonya's tomatoes.

There is an amazing assortment of local cheeses.  I've started into the local ciders as well :-)

There was a music festival downtown in the evening, they had closed off a couple of streets and setup a few stages for some local bands.  The bands all seemed to be comprised of "old guys" (like our age lol) and a couple of DJ's for the younger crowd.  It was free and all the restaurants and cafes had setup patios in the street or were just selling beer and punch.  It seemed like the whole town was out!

Today (it is now Saturday morning) we are heading to Annecy for the day.  Sonya has the Rick Steves guide on her Kindle so we're going to follow some of his tours!

We Arrived in Bonneville France!

 After two long days of travel we arrived at our house exchange in Bonneville, France!  Here is the view from our large deck:

Planes trains and automobiles!  We left Sonya's place around 9:30am on Wednesday and took a taxi to the airport.  We flew from Victoria to Toronto, and since out flight was delayed about a half hour we had to race from one gate to another to make our second flight to Zurich.  As we were lining up to board they were announcing final call.  We had a long layover in Zurich where we enjoyed a $10 latte and then sat in the plane for over an hour waiting for the paperwork.  Eventually we made it to Geneva where we puzzled over the train system for awhile and eventually figured out the three trains to Bonneville (one from the airport to Geneva downtown, one to Annemasse just over the border in France, and then the third to Bonneville).  We were greeted at the station by our new neighbour Claire who drove us to our new home.

We did a wander around town to pick up some staples and stretch our legs - we visited the Maison de Fromage and the local grocery store where Sonya was floored by the variety of tomatoes!  I was floored by the variety of beer and cider.

Our house here is lovely although we were puzzled by how to lock the doors.  Clair told us to "Just pull up the stuff up and turn off the lock" (we figure she is using google translate) and after a couple of drinks of French beer and sparkling wine Sonya figured it out.

We had a nice meal of cheese, pate and a baguette and hit the sack!

June Gardening

 

May Planting

 Just planted most of my seedlings this weekend!  A few of the tomatoes and peppers are from a couple of weeks ago, a bit early and not enough "hardening off" ...  hopefully this batch will fare better.

I put netting over 4 of the raised beds:

Close up view of some tomatoes and peppers, with some space reserved for strawberries (I need to buy some starters):

My fennel patch (apparently fennel doesn't mix with other vegetables, we'll see ...):

Approaching my new patio (I have 2 new Muskoka chairs arriving this week):

I don't have netting (yet) on the raised beds around the patio, and the squirrels have been treating them like a Pacific Buffet:

Close up of some peas starting to sprout (and an unhealthy tomato) - so far everything in the beds is from seed:

Putting up some temporary netting to discourage the squirrels:

Sunflower bed, also with some squirrel-resistant netting (but not before they managed to snag the one sunflower that started to flower):

"Hardening Off"

 I've started "hardening off" my seedlings, which means taking them outside for progressively longer periods every day.  So far we're up to 3 hours.

Keeping an eye on the weather and looking forward to planting!!!

New Patio

 With Sonya's help, finished off the brickwork for the new patio this weekend:

Christmas Tree 2022