Annecy the beautiful, and a marche under my window

Hello my friends, I hope you're all well and happy and wearing lovely thrifty outfits. I've been MIA as we've been settling into our new home, having now been in the lovely Annecy for two weeks. This is the view from a cafe in the old town around the corner from where we live, overlooking the canal that leads to the lake. So gorg!

This is me our first night in Annecy, on my B-day, wearing my "Wonderful Wife" pin and sucking back the vino along with a huge pot of hot cheese and a loaf of bread bigger than my head - the meal du jour for tourists is cheese fondue, btw.

If you ever visit Annecy be forewarned: things aren't cheap here, especially in the old town where we live, which is a tourist haven. A bottle of coke will run you almost 5 Euro in the cafes - only slightly less than a beer or verre du vin - so it's almost better to drink booze! The Haute Savoie region is known for its white wines because of the climate (which is similar to Canada, come to think of it, just not as cold in the winter).

And Lac Annecy? Well what can I say? With the mountains behind it, it's glorious - and the water is clear and clean. On hot days such as this, people are swimming, boating, water skiiing and paddling on the lake. Every one here is slim and fit and tanned and healthy looking - hopefully we'll soon be looking like the locals instead of like tourists!

It's been so hot here - and I wanted to tan my fish-belly white legs - so I bought a short sundress that matched the colour of the lake in the sun - for only 15 Euro, a steal for the old town! I know you're dying to hear of the shopping - only one second-hand store that I've found, but more on that at another time as I have to tell you about the markets! The bag is a fake Fossil found at a charity shop, as are the leather Clarks sandals.

Not only do we have a fresh produce market outside our window three times a week where we buy local cheeses, fruit and veggies, and sausage (the fondue was a one-off as we're eating so healthily we're losing weight) ... but we also have a marche au brocante (basically a second-hand market) once a month in the same place! This is the view from our window. I have so many pics to show you that I will dedicate the next post to the market ... and what we bought! Bye for now. xo