Day 10: Annecy

On Day 10, allow me to take a moment to say that, yes, I do recognize how obnoxious this blog has become.  If I were reading post after post about someone else's luxurious European vacation, I'd quickly become bored with their delightful escapades.  Frankly, I'd be jealous and a little sulky that I didn't get to take a similar trip.

I don't have a strong defense against these complaints, but I'm not changing course either.  This blog is our family's journal, and I want to remember this extraordinary time.  This may sound cheesy, but I feel like the smoothness of this vacation was a remarkable blessing.  It's unprecedented for Jason to take three weeks off of work.  The fact that these three weeks were filled with perfect weather and remarkable experiences feels like a direct blessing.  Jason works SO hard and serves SO many people, whether at work, through church, or just in the neighborhood.  He rarely takes time for himself.  Likewise, our children have been very generous in sharing their father's love and attention.  On Day 10, like many others, we felt the blessings of a loving Heavenly Father being poured out on an overwhelmed bishop who was taking some time to be with his family.  (Nineteen days precisely, just so that he could be there for Sunday meetings on both ends.)

So what big blessing?  

AdBlue.  

This is a bit out of sequence, but ever since we'd picked up our rental car, the dashboard repeatedly displayed this message about how we had x-number of miles to add AdBlue.  Having no idea what AdBlue was, we thought it was similar to Sirius XM radio.  We ignored the warnings and kept driving.  We were not interested in Ads, be they blue or any other color.  Well, once we hit the zero mile marker, the warnings became difficult to ignore.  The vehicle dinged at us incessantly, probably every mile.  We finally pulled over over to figure out what in the world was going on.  Thank heavens Jason kept the car running.

An internet search revealed that AdBlue is a required additive for high efficiency diesel vehicles.  If you run out, apparently your car won't start up again once you turn it off.  In other words, you're stranded.  The first store we tried was sold out, the second didn't carry any.  It took three or four more stops at gas stations before we finally found some, but we managed to pump some AdBlue before we ran out of gas.  See?  Blessings.

So where were we headed on our AdBlue deficient journey?  The beautiful medieval town of Annecy, about ninety minutes from Lyon.

Lake Annecy is known for being the cleanest lake in Europe.  Not only can you see the swans swimming on it, but you can clearly see the giant fish swimming in it.

The kids were pretty excited about the swans on the lawn as well.

More fun parks

And, a stroll across Lover's Bridge, Pont des Amours. 

Annecy is often referred to as the Venice of the Alps.  While I've been to Annecy twice before, this was my first time experiencing it in summer.

This spectacular place put a smile on everyone's face.

Here's Annika with the new marmot stuffy Apples that she earned for her great hiking on Mont Blanc.  

I know these pictures look a lot like the last.  I just liked them all and couldn't decide!  Plus, the triangular Palais de l'Isle between the canals is just so intriguing.

Wandering the cobblestone streets.

In Wheeler death march style, we paraded them up to a fortress on top of the hill.  Morale started to wane...

...but was quickly restored with crepes.

The public art displays were fun...

...but not as much fun as our paddleboat ride!

The best part was that you could use the paddle boat as a swim platform and jump right off the back into the pristine waters.

If you haven't read the backstory behind Jason's European swim trunks, you should.  It's pretty rich.

Brooklyn seems to be enjoying the lounge chair.

Last funny memory.  This beautiful wooden sailboat was pretty brave to tackle the maze of paddle boats swarming the lake.  It caught a good breeze and tacked right by us, missing our boat by inches.  The good-natured captain kept calling out a friendly warning to not paddle so that he could navigate around.  I don't think he intended to steer quite so close, but all's well that ends well.  As for Jason, he just wished he were on that boat.

Coming full circle, our day ended with more friendly swans who did indeed eat straight out of Annika's hands.

Spellbound by the Lac Annecy's beauty, we decided to drive all the way around before heading home.  It turns out that there's a well-developed bike path lining much of the shore.  Cycling around Annecy is definitely on my bucket list for life.

And hey, we even found AdBlue on our way back to Lyon.