More days in the Alps

On Monday we needed to replenish our food supplies so went to the supermarche in Faverges. After lunch we drove up to the Col de la Forclaz, from where our hosts said we would get a great view of the lake. At the start of the usual narrow twisting road we encountered a bus coming down. Somehow we squeezed past, after retracting the external mirrors. We did wonder how the bus on it's way up behind us made it. They were not wrong - the views were fantastic. A bit higher up was a jumping off point for hang-gliders and parasailers.They were everywhere. I did wonder how some would be able to find their way back. There were hordes of cyclists plodding up the road and hurtling down, with no helmets,as usual, and oblivious to the motor traffic. We had coffees, took lots of photos and drove down a less tortuous road to the pictureque lakeside village of Talloires. The traffic and people as we drove into Annecy were very numerous. It is obviously a popular spot. It may well be that some would take the Monday off, because Tuesday is a public holiday, celebrating the end of WW2 in Europe.(VE day) We stopped to get details of various boat trips available - we will take one later. For those interested, I was delighted to see a number of postwar classic cars, obviously on one of the many rallies run these days in Europe, pass through Faverges, possibly going up to the Col de Tamie(more of that Col later) models involved were a DB2 Aston Martin, an Alfa 105 coupe, a Peugeot 203 and an early Volvo. Back home Valerie cooked up a superb Risotto for dinner. After dinner Don became very frustrated - more problems with the blog. On the Tuesday we drove up to another Col, the Col de Tamie. Just near there is the Abbaye de Tamie. We had been following another leased vehicle (identifiable by the red plates) up the hill and I asked the occupants, in my finest French, where they were from. "we're from Australia" so we compared notes on France, the French and the driving. They hailed from Ballarat, the parents and 2 school age girls. The Abbaye is still in use. At their new service centre we bought, well Valerie bought,a few more presents and some of their cheese. The Abbaye is owned by the Cisturcian order and it was originally built in the 12thC and rebuilt at the end of the 17thC. We stayed to see the monks in procession (we missed that bit) and to attend one of their 15 minute services. At the Col itself are 2 restaurants. We decided to try the posher looking one but were told they were full. It didn't appear so - maybe I should have been wearing a tie. So we ate at the other one. The food was delicious and we made friends with the only other diners, a local couple. We took a different road down the hill, to look at an old village on the hillside above Albertville (winter Olympics 1992), Conflans. Unfortunately the road in was being rebuilt and so we attempted to walk up. It was too much for Valerie but Don made it up. There were the usual sweeping views from the top (by now we are getting a bit "viewed out" Don discovered that cars were driving right to the top, via a route unknown to us. So we came home. It was drizzling a bit and had been overcast all day. We tried the cheese (no sampling had been available) and voted it superb. Another good day.