Annecy

Yesterday all of the EAP people went to Annecy, which is a cute little mountain village. It's really more of a city or town than a village, as we know because the bus driver drove randomly around the city for about twenty minutes before finally giving up and driving the bus over a sidewalk to get us to where we wanted to be. Annecy is really one of the cutest places I've ever been. It's sort of what Solvang wishes it were. All of the houses are old, and the streets are narrow and cobblestone and windy, and there's a little river running through the center of the town. It's very alpine and entirely adorable.

We were there for the Retour des Alpages, which is when they bring all the cows and sheep and goats and things down out of the Alps (where they've been grazing all summer) for the winter. It was very crowded. There were lots of English and American and Italian and French tourists, which didn't bug me at all, really, except for when I heard the American tourists saying really stupid things. (Speaking of getting annoyed at Americans saying stupid things, as we were walking past the line into the cafeteria last week Laura and I heard a very American accent say, "I'm just, so over the baguette thing, you know?" We just about died.)

When they have been gotten down from the mountains, all of the animals are paraded through the streets for people to watch. I watched the parade with Jessica, and as we were getting ourselves set up I heard a small, very English voice behind me say, "But I can't see," and then a larger, also very English voice say, "Well, Georgiana..."

"Georgiana?" I thought, "This I cannot miss," and turned around and asked if she'd like to sit on my shoulders, and that is how I watched the parade with a four-year-old English girl named Georgiana on my shoulders.