Antsy-Pantsy Annecy

A couple of Saturdays ago I headed to the city of Annecy with some fellow au pairs. We checked out the enormous outdoor market—I mean, stall after stall of fresh fruits and veggies, breads, cheese, meats, and other specialty items. Besides the food, there were some cheapish quality clothing items, mostly shirts and pants, but there were also tables of lacy lingerie out there in the open, should you wish to buy some while you pick up your food for the week ahead. Or you could even buy a mattress. Personally I wouldn’t want to, as they were lying on the pavement between the stacks of zucchini and bunches of grapes.

Of course we stopped by a cheese vendor in stocking up our provisions for a lakeside picnic. Our selections were the Bleu des Causses (a strong conventional blue cheese), alongside something that really caught our eye, for amongst the standard cheese shades of white and yellow, stood the bright orange Mimolette—a la classic Kraft macaroni-and-cheese orange. The neon intensity got my attention, because despite the enormous selection of cheese available in France, cheddar (or any cheese with annatto coloring) is next-to-impossible to find. Here is a picture so you can see the orange color for yourself:

Photo credit goes to Noah—an action shot of me in midst of eating some of the Mimolette

Post-picnic, we headed out to explore the city. Annecy is known as the Venice of France, and it’s not without reason…First of all there are the canals:

But it was the gelato that made me really feel like I was in Italy:

After a solid two minutes standing in front of the display case weighing the options (there were a lot of flavors to choose from!), I decided to try the Chocolat Noisette. So good, with crunchy chocolate-dipped hazelnuts. It was somewhat reminiscent of Nutella, but more refined.

Some other pictures:

View from the top of the chateau d'Annecy

Along the street canals