This trip was a high school graduation present for granddaughter Cecilia and included her family and her mother. We left on June 11 and returned yesterday, June 25. The first four days were in Paris, and then we drove to Annecy in the French Alps near Geneva where we stayed in a beautiful Alpine retreat for the remainder of the trip, except for a day in Geneva.. On the final day, we drove back to Paris, spending the night in a hotel near the airport.
A big plus was spending time with old friends from Shirley’s time in Geneva working for Dupont in the 1960s and Kim’s high school exchange visit to France in the 1980s.
Admittedly, we only saw a slice of France, but I was impressed with the cleanliness, urban planning, apparent prosperity, bustle and economic activity.
Most of the photos and narrative below are from Andrew’s Facebook posts.
And we are off!
Luxembourg Gardens near our Paris apartment
Santé!
Along the left bank.
France = pastries!
June 13, we ended the day with dinner and drinks (in typical French fashion) at the home of Kim’s French host brother from her high school exchange family. His teenage daughter gave us a great local’s walking tour in the afternoon. The French National Library was a definite highlight, and full of local college students who go there to study and use the free internet and access to books in the incredible space.
Everywhere you go they are cleaning up and renovating buildings, paving, and generally sprucing up and preparing Paris for the upcoming Olympics. It’s amazing how clean and beautiful the City is. Apparently, they’ve told the locals to plan to work from home and stay away from the City center during the Olympics, and most Parisians are planning to be as far away as possible, and not greatly enthused about the whole thing.
The Louvre
Paris has amazing department stores!
Le Bon Marché
Notre Dame under reconstruction
It was so great to get to have lunch with our lifelong family friend Sébastien and his family, more of whom we saw in Haute-Savoie.
Finally adapting to the 9-hour time difference. Andrew was up and out around 7 am when the locals were just setting up at the markets, patisseries, and boulangeries in the Quartier Latin, and we just got back from an incredible dinner at a tiny bistro near the Pantheon and stopped to pick up a bottle of surprisingly good wine for 3 Euros (about $3.25 USD). It was light until nearly 10 pm, and another incredible weather day, with some light rain in the evening.
There is a new water taxi service on the Seine that allows multiple stops.
Lunch with the Tiberghiens in Paris.
The Louvre
Street outside our apartment.
Last day in Paris.
Farmers market
Had a nice Father’s Day. We packed up and picked up our rental car at Gar de Lyon, had coffee at the local cafe, then stopped at the best farmers market I’ve ever seen in my life, before leaving Paris to drive about 45 minutes south to Coudray-Montceaux, to spend the afternoon visiting with Kim’s host family at their wonderful home in the countryside, eat, visit more, eat more, and take a nice walk along the Seine. Next day we head to the Alps and Annecy.
Norbert and Kim
View from Chalet
A visit to France is not complete without a chateau. The Chateau de Menthon-Saint Bernard. Home of the Menthon family for 23 generations – since 1100.
Celebrating Andrew’s 50th birthday. We drove to Geneva for the day and visited with two of Shirleys close friends form the 1960’s (both now in their 80’s) from the two years she spent in Genève in her early 20’s working for DuPont.
We had lunch at a Turkish restaurant with Shirley’s old friend Francoise Jacquemet and her son Vincent (who’s two years older than Andrew, and whom h and Daniel stayed with when they were 12 and 14. Vincent stayed with us in Point Richmond when he was a teenager as well). In the Geneva old town, there was a city-wide music festival with dozens of stages and an incredibly eclectic assortment of music. Shirley showed the kids where she used to teach Sunday school at the Scottish Protestant church, then on to Arnaud Tiberghien’s home (who was Shirley’s boss and dear friend at DuPont) for drinks and a lovely visit and recollections. We then drove to Francoise’ home (we had to cross/drive through a bicycle race to get there) where we had homemade tarts and visited more.
We stopped on the way back to Annecy to check out an incredible suspension bridge completed in 1839, over a massive gorge (Pont de la Caille) spanning the Usses River, then for a final stop for an ice cream and a sunset stroll through medieval old town Annecy, bustling with people at 10:30 pm.
Back in our chalet just before midnight having some wine, cheese, and salad, and watching my family play bridge.
Tom, Arnaud and Shirley
At Francoise’ home
Shirley and Francoise
Annecy old town at night
Annecy old town at night
Last day in Lake Annecy/Haute Savoie. We had an incredible farewell lunch BBQ with the Tiberghien family at their home on the lake, then a nice stroll down to the lake/beach where there were a ton of kite and wing-boarders, and around the neighborhood.
Andrew and Harlan ended the day with what was going to be a little ride down the trail with Harlan on the new MIZEA e-mountain bikes (VTT in French) from Tiberghien family’s new company Impacc - vélos et accessoires , but ended up on a 20 mile 2300+ ft elevation gain gnarly but very fun and adventurous ride with waterfalls, rock gardens, and unbelievable vistas. Impressively fun and hardy bikes! Amazing way to end the day and this trip.
We leave in the morning to head back to Paris and back to the US on Tuesday. This has been a truly amazing and memorable trip for all of us. It’s been so great to reconnect with so many great friends and to make new ones, and lasting memories
Tiberghien home in Annecy
Lake at Annecy
Andrew, Harlan and Alain-Christophe did a 26-mile bike ride into the hills
Our Chalet
View from the Chalet
Picnic along the river on the way back to Paris
On the autoroute to Paris wind turbines go on for miles (kilometers)
Last meal in France
Au Revoir, Paris!
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