An Easy Day in Le Sappey

We took it very easy today, and mostly remained in Le Sappey, the small village where we are staying. We walked downhill into the center of town, had an excellent prix fixe lunch for 10 euro (a first course of salad and a leek tort, which was like a flatter, cheesier quiche, followed by veal served with a strong, dark red sauce that Suzie says was a red wine reduction) -- completely satisfying. We walked around a little more before a thunderstorm came in, and forced us back home.

I realize I forgot the beginning. Le Sappey is known for its pure mountain water. Across the road from our house is a spring-fed public fountain, which the Barrands told us to use to get water for their plants. We were fetching water this morning when we met one of our neighbors, an extremely nice retired gentleman who proceeded to (1) invite us to his home for drinks in the evening and (2) offer to have us follow him and his female companion into Grenoble (actually, a near suburb) to show us where the supermarket is. So after we came home, we piled into the car (a cool car, sure to be subject of a post) and drove down the hill (through incredibly narrow streets) to the Carrefour market. This was a huge, huge store, a seeming combination of an upscale Wal-Mart and a super-sized Pacific Market on steroids. We got groceries, unpacked them, then went to the neighbors. They could not have been nicer to us. Both were retired engineers, and the man worked for many years at the big nuclear research facility in Grenoble. Amazingly, we were actually able to have 2 hours worth of conversation with them in French, sitting on their patio overlooking the mountains. Very, very pleasant.

Tomorrow we are going to Annecy, to look around and hopefully to swim. We are starting to get less jet-lagged, a very good thing. A few pictures follow. The first one is the house we are staying in, from the rear (click on it for a larger view), click here and here to see the other two.