Well, I had quite the weekend, so prepare for a long blog :)

Time is running out on my time in France, which means I have to try and accomplish all of those things I have been putting off doing before I return to the states. As you will see, this mostly involves food. 

Lene and I have been dying to try the local food of Annecy. Since Annecy is situated in the French department of Haute-Savoie, the regional cuisine is also named as such. With the cooler temperatures of the Alps region, this local food is usually heavy and often in large portions.

This is the tartaflette. It really reminded me of ham and potato casserole with cheese :)

This was the meal I had. It is a 'charcuterie' plate with cheese fondue. The meat is different types of ham, very common here. I have eaten more ham here than ever before. It was very good though.

Lene and I after dinner. Hanging out with some friends :)

Saturday morning, we got up and went to Lyon. As part of my food consumption mission, I tried a new pastry, called the Broche Suisse. It was soooo sweet, I had to eat it in intervals! And that is sweet, because you all know how much I love sugar. It was like a croissant-type pastry, filled with this vanilla frosting-type cream and chocolate chips, then covered in sugar. Woah. 

Since Lyon is the gastronomy capital of France, we spent a good 2.5 hours eating a 3-course meal for lunch. I started with a Cesar salad, which was easily enough for me. But I had to indulge in the entire experience, thus, I kept eating.

My long was steak, au-gratin potatoes and grilled vegetables. Unfortunately, nothing I found spectacular. But  definitely worth the experience. The dessert however, totally worth it. This tiramisu was to die for.

Moving on...part of our day was spent in an old medieval town called Perouges. It was originally an Italian colony and at some point became French. It is located high on a hill with a small wall border surrounding it.

Me at the entrance to the village.

Found this interesting. Our guide told us that this same area was used back then for very different reasons. During the time that people lived here, a lot of animals roamed freely throughout the village. Therefore, young children could not be left unattended playing on the ground. As a solution, when mothers would go to work, they would place their babies on large bowl-basket type things and hang them from the ceiling. Odd, but logical.

This is just another view of the city. All of the buildings were made of these cobblestone things, as well as all the walkways.

This is in Lyon. You are looking at the biggest shopping center in Europe.

This is the sight of a traboule in Lyon. It is a secret passageway that moves through different houses in the town. They were used during WWII when the Germans were occupying France as a way for residents to get around and escape from the Gestapo.

Me standing in one of the passages. The buildings surrounding it are now apartments and are still lived-in by locals.

This view is the result of climbing up 250 stairs and then hiking up a few large hills. You are looking at the city of Lyon.

This is the Notre Dame Basilique, which sits on top of the same hill you were just viewing. It is absolutely gorgeous. The architecture and detail on the outside of the cathedral are incredible.

One of many murals inside the cathedral. We were told that these were not painted, but are made from little pieces of something I don't know the name of and carefully put together. The pieces are each the size of like the tip of my finger...so this definitely took a long time.

This is the last main thing we saw. It is the ruins of a Roman Theater from 17-15 BC

I must also tell you that yesterday, I found I had placed my butter tub in the sink. I found it about an hour after I did it. I think I'm going crazy....

The next several days should be pretty busy as I work down my to-do list, but I will try to keep you all updated! See you soon!

Bon Nuit!