A sunny day trip to Annecy

In yesterday's final blog post for the Sakura Bloom Sling Diaries, I wrote about the theme of travel...

...specifically, in part, the bliss of travel. To me, travel bliss is something different than merely being happy with traveling. To feel bliss while traveling is to be in a place that gives you a certain feeling that I just can't describe. It's something you just feel to the core of your soul when you're there. It's relaxation combined with happiness combined with the feeling that you've come home.  

The little town of Annecy is one of those places for me. 

There's just something about it. The second we begin walking through the park towards the lake, a park that is often filled with families having a picnic or running and playing, I just feel at home, like I belong there. 

That little town of canals is somewhere I could live in a heartbeat. Annecy is a very active city, with running and biking trails along the lake, and a ton of roller bladers to boot (yep, that's still a thing here). Paddle boats and swans dot the lake, tiny boats fill the canal by the carousel, and the town, the shops, it's just all so magical to me. I love to grab a renverse at Cafe des Ducs when we arrive, stare at the Bastille in the canal (who knew you could fall in love with a prison!), and people watch. 

It's where you'll find me swooning over every piece of ceramics in one of my favorite shops. It's where it seems I can always find fig gelato. It's where you feel like you can get lost on all the ancient cobblestone and winding alleys and hills. It's where we always find something new, no matter how often we make the daytrip. It is the Venice of France, and oh so much more. 

Pardon me while I wax poetic over one of my favorite cities in the whole wide world. So now it's your turn: what cities bring you absolute travel bliss? 

A la prochaine friends...

Honey 

The best kind of birthday.

I've often heard people say that you can't have any fun once you have kids...

...that you can't travel...

...or be the person you once were. 

That your relationship with your significant other will flounder...

That you will forever be covered in spit up...

...and changing diapers.

That your adventures as a fun person are over.

...well to those people I say...

...you couldn't be more wrong.

Sure, things have changed for us, but not that much to be honest with you. Doc and I have always been homebodies, and we'd much prefer to have a bunch of people over for lots of foods and drinks than be out in a bar until 2 AM any day. I get up earlier now, but not because of Oswin (we're very lucky to have a good night time sleeper: 11 - 12 hours straight through the night since she was 7 weeks old...), but because I like to have an uninterrupted coffee with Doc before he leaves for work. My days are jam packed busy, but that's a good thing. I'm a little rounder in the middle, but I'm slowly working on that. Motherhood has helped me to really prioritize what is important to me, so that when I do have a chunk of free time I can indulge in those passions. Nap time becomes yoga time. Or try to re-pot this plant as fast as I can time. It's also helped us to figure out how we want to spend our time with Oswin, as the weekends are so short, and that's the most time Doc gets with her. 

One thing that is very important to us, as you all know, is traveling with our little miss. We want her to see everything. And experience everything. In fact I think having a baby has made us try harder to travel, especially for day trips, just to make that happen. 

Which brings us to my birthday last weekend. We very easily could have just had a lazy day around the house. Doc made me pumpkin pancakes and bacon. We had lots of coffee. Watched a Phillies game. Played with Oswin. But by lunchtime we thought, we should do something. "It's my birthday. We're not going to live in SwitzerFrance forever." Doc suggested a day trip to Annecy. 

It was perfect. Just really perfect. 

The weather was picture perfect spring. There were a ton of people out, because unbeknownest to us, the Annecy Marathon was the next day. We had a birthday drink at Cafe des Ducs, where Oswin tried desperately to get a hold of Papa's glass of pastis.

{"Oooh this must be for me..."}

{Saddest face.}

Oswin and I got matching "I love Annecy" shirts (because we do). We got gelato from our favorite stand, some beer to bring home from Le Brasserie du Monte Saleve, and a ceramic treat from my favorite ceramic shop. We walked the old streets, took lots of pictures, found new paths, and in the end brought home some gummy treats from Le Peche Mignon. 

31 brought us the best gift of all, our little miss Oswin Jade. What will 32 bring? 

A la prochaine friends...

Honey