A thoroughly pleasant Saturday

27/02 - This morning I popped down to the tea-room/boulangerie opposite my flat and got a selection of tasty treats for us. After breakfast we were picked up by Zack and Masa, who asked us for dinner last night but asked us to come to Annecy with them instead when we said we couldn't make it. We wandered around the (beautiful) town for a while, looking at antiques and avoiding the carnival folk - there were richly costumed and decidedly dour people wandering around the town posing for photos, generally creating the least carnival atmosphere I have ever encountered. After much searching we found somewhere for lunch, a little place by the old jail which sold sausages (all Masa wanted - she is 8 months pregnant, so she can demand whatever she wishes). These sausages were later thrown at me as the waitress tripped over, throwing a dish of diot and onion gravy over the table, the floor, my camera bag but not over me, incredibly. Annecy is famed for its antiques and curios market, but we returned with mainly wine and meat. Oh, I also discovered the most exciting vegetable I have ever seen, the Romanesco Broccoli. I stood and looked at it for ages, long after everyone else had lost interest.

Romanesco Broccoli

We stopped by a Carrefour on our way back to take advantage of the half price goods (compared to Switzerland), where I discovered that skidding along on the back of the trolley is just as fun for UN employees in their 30s & CERN physicists in their 20s as it is for children. I mean, I never doubted this, but it was good to have it confirmed.

We got back at 6 o'clock, and after hanging out, having a dinner of various delicious things (mainly cheeses and dried meats) and generally relaxing we realised it was 10 o'clock all of a sudden, so we walked to Café Bizarre where Ailsa was having a birthday celebration. We got there, planted ourselves at the bar and occasionally grabbed a passer by to chat to. when we grabbed Dan he seemed slightly distant - I put this down to his having just finished an 8 hour shift in the control room, but Kelly decided he was 'on the prowl'. Hmm. We walked back home through the old town, which impressed Kelly quite a bit - I suppose this city is pretty beautiful if you look at it in the right way.