Out of competition or Swiss - Italian perfection (Part 3)
Day four. France.
And at the foot of the French Alps we are met by "Venice of the Alps" - a picturesque, fabulous city - the resort of Annecy! 
Our guide was Madame Elena from Odessa, so the whole tour also went in the style of "but I won't tell you for all of Odessa" and "oh, you're fooling me. " But in general, Madame was humorous, and almost the entire group was delighted with her, and I will refrain from commenting, although in fairness it must be said that I laughed heartily at her anecdotes. But she is a good and sympathetic person, after the tour we walked around the city, and Elena volunteered to be our guide in the supermarket and helped us choose good French wine, for which many thanks to her.
Well, we went for a walk around the most beautiful village in France.
The city is divided into islands by numerous canals and thanks to this it acquired its name "French Venice". 
The biggest attraction of Annecy is the Island Palace, located in the middle of the Tiou River, which has grown as if from water. His age is also impressive, this is a resident of a very advanced age (1132), impressive, right? And the locals call it an old prison, since there really was a prison there before. 
All the houses seem to stand "with their feet in the water", you just wonder how you can live in them?
Houses were always attached to each other, and therefore we see such a heap of different styles and eras. Moreover, there are almost no balconies anywhere. At that time, there were very high taxes on balconies, which even the richest people could not pay.
And this is the Church of Notre Dame de Lies. Only the bell tower remained from the original church. The church itself was destroyed during the revolution and rebuilt only in 1850 in the neoclassical style. We also went inside, it does not shine with special beauty, but still there is something to see. 
Annecy's other attraction is the Medieval Castle. 
In the Middle Ages, it was the residence of the counts of Geneva. The castle was built in the 12th century. The castle was destroyed by fire many times, but it was constantly restored. And from the top of the castle you can see the whole city and Lake Annecy.
In the distance you can see the Church of Saint Maurice.
We decided to have a small picnic and have a bite to eat by the water, surrounded by carnivally catchy flowers that decorate literally the whole city.
The embankment is located on the lake and adjacent to it is a park area called the Garden of Europe. 
The water in the lake is crystal clear. This is the place where you should definitely come to rest, here you forget about everything in the world. We have a friend who spends every vacation with his family right here in Annecy, and I kept wanting to get to this place in order to understand what attracts him so much that he flies here every year? Now understand. Here is a small "paradise", and most importantly, you just stand, just look at the water, and there are no thoughts in your head, relaxation, nirvana. . .
After a little refreshment and admiring the nature, we went for a walk around the city. 
The mandatory walk program includes:
We managed to do all this, except for the most pleasant procedure - a kiss, although if we tried, we could do that too, since there was enough time. Part of our group went on an optional excursion to Geneva, and we stayed to admire Annecy. An elective to Geneva cost 38 euros, the duration of the excursion was 2 hours, then they asked the adherents of Geneva “Well, how? ” and did not notice much enthusiasm and emotions. And then we also saw Geneva with one eye, when we moved to Italy and picked up our group along the way. Our lady "cap" Katyusha allowed us to take just 15 minutes to take a picture on Lake Geneva.
It was also possible to take a boat ride in Annecy, where our tourists went on a cruise, and I see them off.
To the question of what to bring from France?
Well, we traditionally have dry red wine and classic French cheese “Camembert” (but you can’t take this cheese home, you need to eat it right away). And if you want cheese without a specific smell, then you can buy Comt cheese, which tastes like Swiss cheese. But since we bought cheeses in Switzerland, we limited ourselves only to wine.
"Comrades, Swiss cheese, French wine"
And you can buy all this in a supermarket in the center of Annecy, on Place Notre Dame, opposite the fountain with lions. Here I specially post a photo where you can see the entrance to this Monoprix store. Haberdashery departments are located on the 1st floor, and products are on the 2nd floor, but the entrance there is so veiled that if you have never been, you will not find it. In general, you need to go into the store, go straight along the first section, then turn left and you will see an escalator where you need to go up to the grocery section.
I specially post a photo with a view of the supermarket (near the monument "woman in white" - this is our guide Elena). 
One more day of our trip came to an end and the next number of our program was Italy. First we go to Geneva, pick up some of the tourists from our group, and at 19.00 we go to the Ligurian coast of Italy to the resort town of Arenzano. Distance 370 km.
And then all the fun began: moving through the Alps, gentlemen! I have never seen such serpentines - Mont Blanc above you, an abyss below you, in general, a coward, as it turned out, I'm still that. But all our tourists were just completely out, their puppy delight was heard from all sides, the cameras clicked all 4 hours of the journey. Beautiful, really, unrealistically beautiful! The views are amazing, and in front of you are the snow-capped peaks of Mont Blanc!
In the tunnels, and there were countless of them, I took a breath, since these bridges and cliffs were not visible. Many thanks to the drivers for their professionalism, because when we finally arrived in Arenzano, our tourists said that since we are alive, then God exists. The hotel in Arenzano ended up on a mountain, and our things were delivered separately, and we went up by funicular.
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