the town all ski towns are emulating

if there were ever a town in france that i thought tim would go nuts about, it would be chamonix. after a week in talloires, annie (a fletcher friend, wonderful travel buddy, and incredible woman, for that matter) and i headed back to the geneva airport and caught a ski shuttle up to chamonix for two nights. i don't even know what to say. it was just awesome.

we took the aigule du midi, an insane cable car, up to about 14,000 feet above sea level, and experienced light-headeness along with an incredible view of mont blanc. we walked around the insanely cute ski town of chamonix, and met some wonderful people in the local saturday market. we drank red wine! we tasted the local liquor, genepi! we ate FONDUE!

i don't even ski anymore, but i can't wait to go back with tim while he skis! (i apologize for the wealth of photos. i could not decide in this instance.)

les hommes francais are so romantic.

snostation- spa chalet (where we stayed): http://www.snostation.com/property.php?id_property=41&property_name=Mont+Blanc+SpaChalet

annie and i made a stop in to this wonderful relais & chateaux property: http://www.hameaualbert.fr/en/gallery

the venice of france

while in talloires for the week for a conference on leadership in humanitarian action, we had the opportunity to pay a visit to the nearby larger town of annecy, "the venice of france." i can't tell you too much about the town, because i didn't pay attention to the history lesson. but i can say that annecy it is absolutely beautiful, with beautiful canals, very friendly and warm shopkeepers, and colorful old buildings. also, if you enter a store that has liquors in large tubs with little spouts and it looks like you are allowed to fill your own bottles of liquor (see below), you are not, in fact, allowed.

bonjour d'annecy!

a week in tallories

i spent a week in the small town of talloires for a conference a few weeks ago. tallories is a small (and when i say small, i do mean very small) town on the shores of lake annecy in france, about an hour from geneva. i was there because tufts has a campus of sorts there, an old 16th century priory that an alumni donated to the school. it was an incredibly relaxing place for a conference. absolutely beautiful scenery, easy to get between our small french hotel and the priory for the conference, incredible restaurants where we had some amazing french meals, and not too much else to do!

the town of tallories was absolutely incredible, but the wonderful people i met during the week were really the greatest part of it all. and i'm not being cheesy. it was easier to get to know people being "stuck" in a small town together rather than being in a big city where people might have had friends or activities to partake in after conference hours.

...and did i mention there is an absolutely beautiful lake?

i'll be back, talloires. with tim next time.

hotel beau site http://www.beausite-talloires.com/
le cottage-incredible food and atmosphere http://www.cottagebise.com/