Saturday March 18
We left Zermatt on the 9:37 train for Geneva changing in Visp and arrived in Geneva at 1:30pm. We walked to our hotel the M-Gallery about 10 minutes on foot. We were both still suffering from colds so were quite wiped out by the time we reached the hotel.
To our surprise (mistaken) our junior suite was a duplex suite with the sitting area on another level up 10 steps or so. It made the room seem very cramped - added to this the windows were dormer style and the lighting was poor. Anyway the mini-bar (non-alcoholic) was complimentary and the bed was very comfy. After having our welcome drink in the bar we took a walk around to buy a couple of things and check out the hotel’s Italian restaurant recommendation. We booked a table at the near-by Casanova - getting the last table after some discussion. It was a good choice, we both had one of the menus with fish as the main course - excellent - Geneva prices make Zermatt look like a budget destination.
Sunday March 19
We had brekkie and headed out for a self-guided walking tour of the old city and sites various. It was a mostly cloudy day with a high of 19C - since the sun came in and out you had to continually take your puffer jacket on / off as well as your sunnies. We shared a panini at an outdoor cafe for lunch. Shopping of any kind was not on the agenda as all shops are closed on Sunday. We had dinner at a local bistro - Bagatelle - we both had pasta with mushrooms - then home to bed. We would have watched the Federer - Wawrinka final at Indian Wells but it was delayed to 11pm Geneva time when the ladies final ran overtime.
We were both still battling our respective colds.
Monday March 20
It was another amazing day - sunny and warm - high of 19C. We visited the UN for a guided tour which took longer than expected. We had a late lunch at Le Lacustre (a river front restaurant) - a shared pizza which was very good but needs to be entered in the Guinness Book of records - $50 - so stop complaining about Ventuno's prices. We walked around some more then eventually had dinner at the somewhat famous Brasserie Lipp - best part was the Chablis wine ….
Tuesday March 21 - Geneva
It was another pretty fine day - a bit cloudy and a bit cooler. We headed out early (for us) to get to the Patek Phillipe watch museum when it opened at 10am only to find it did not open until 2pm - hum 😅so we just went back to the hotel. Later we bought a sandwich and caught the noon tram to Cern where we had been able to secure a booking for a tour - usually these are booked out months in advance. The tour lasted 2 hours and was very interesting - just a bit incomprehensible in parts. We returned to the city in time to get to the Patek Phillipe museum which was excellent. We had dinner at Casanova again - good again and not very crowded like Saturday night - when our waiter found out it was our second visit in 4 days he comped us a Limoncello.
Wednesday March 22 - Geneva - Annecy
It was up early and off by hire car to Annecy today. Our Hertz car was a snazzy Mercedes hatchback - we had to get the office attendant to help us figure out the GPS - she even had to call the help-desk It was a short (less than 1 hour) drive to Annecy and we found our hotel, The Novotel, easily. The hotel has underground parking which is very very cramped - fortunately someone was just leaving the ‘best” spot so we snagged that one - otherwise we would have had a bit of strife getting the car into one of the other available spots. Our room was not ready when we arrived at 11am so we stored our luggage and walked to the old town and lake (5 minutes away). The day turned from very overcast to totally sunny so we stopped at an outdoor café for lunch - there was an issue with the service (our pizza took nearly an hour to arrive) so they comped us both the pizza and a carafe of wine (which was as rough as guts so not worth anything anyway).
We continued walking around checking out possible dinner venues and headed back to the hotel around 5pm just as it started to drizzle. After resting and showers we decided to eat at the hotel as the weather had turned quite miserable and we were both very tired. I had the “plat du jour” which was salmon and it was very good; Dieter, who was not hungry, ordered an Entrecôte XXL which as tough as bejesus so he didn’t eat it. (I had warned him not to order a steak !!).
Thursday March 23 - Annecy
It was our only full day in Annecy so we opted for a driving tour of the lake and surrounding area - this was the reason we had hired a car in the first place. The day started out cool and cloudy (8-15℃) but it eventually cleared. The car’s GPS initially sent us on a wild goose chase but we eventually got on the right road around the lake. First stop was Talloires, a picturesque lake-side town - the season does not start until April so most places were closed. From here we drove high into the mountains, stopping at Montmin, a popular paragliding center - again the season had not started. We had lunch at a bistro with marvellous views of the lake, Annecy and surrounding area - at least once the clouds cleared. We shared a Tarteflette - a local speciality of the area (essentailly a French version of scalloped potatoes with ham). Then it was back to Annecy via the other side of the lake with a couple of inconsequential stops allong the way. Unfortunately our first choice for dinner was fully booked so we opted for another place , Bistro du Rhone which somehow to our amazement was number 7 on trip advisor. It was clearly a popular bistro with locals but not much else to make it memorable.
Friday March 24 - Annecy - Lyon
So it was off to Lyon today - unfortunately we had decided to return our hire car to Geneva when we could have just taken the train from Annecy. Alas - the drive Geneva only took about 35 minutes then it took us another hour to find a petrol station then the train station. Anyway we made our train with some time to spare. On arrival in Lyon, we took a taxi to our hotel, Sofitel Bellecour, right on the Rhône. We had a junior suite (full suite in fact) overlooking the river. Lyon is situated at the junction of the Rhône and Saône rivers. The Sofitel was definitely a major step up from the Novotel - no plastic cups here - but alas no wine glasses. The complimentary mini-bar was soft drinks only.
It was around 2pm by the time we checked in so we set off to walk around the old town, stopping at the Grand Café de Negotiations - a real landmark in Lyon. We did a lot of window shopping - I was planning to do a bit of shopping.
We had our complimentary welcome beverage in the hotel’s top floor bar overlooking the city - 2 glasses of Champagne - large ones at that.
We had dinner at the hotel’s brasserie (their fine dining restaurant is Michelin stared and very exxy) - the food at the brasserie was excellent.