Set Off from Stuttgart

 DAY ONE

Set off from Stuttgart

My friend Rolf loves driving. And if you had a modern Mazda MX5 maybe you would too! He has driven it all round Europe and in 2024 we travelled through Romania together. This year he opted for a trip to see the solar eclipse in Spain in August and after I hinted I would be interested, he asked me to join him. As he had to travel from Hamburg, Stuttgart was a convenient meeting place, and he stayed with us.


Kit and Rolf searching for the solar eclipse

     The beginning of the trip was fairly boring for anyone living in or near Stuttgart. We took the motorway A81 directly from Stuttgart southwards to the German border with Switzerland and crossed at Koblenz (not the one on the Rhine!). Then through Switzerland which was uneventful. Although we passed both the big lakes at Neuchatel and Lausanne, we saw little of them. We quickly made for our first overnight stay at Annecy, just inside France, below the Swiss border.

We had a cheap hotel half an hour from Annecy old town. We decided to walk, and as the sun was still shining at six, we took our bathing trunks. Through the old town of Annecy one is struck by how it is similar to many Swiss towns near the Italian border and almost like the architecture of South Tirol. Many streets are very narrow, buildings are several storeys high, and many have the arches, formerly used by the sales people selling their fruit and veg. Today, many premises are selling food and drink but there are other shops. We stopped to take photos of the more pretty sights, but our aim was to get to the beach fairly quickly.

 Annecy is on the edge of a fairly large lake and is surrounded by mountains. And in the distance there was a very dark grey area. Nevertheless we had a welcoming swim, giving us the chance to cool down - it had been 35+ in the car during the day - and chilled out a little. Returning to town we could hear the thunder in the distance. We quickly found a small tavern and made the wise decision to sit inside. 20 minutes later, the rain began. 

We had a very good meal, and very good beer and it was a very enjoyable evening surrounded by two Dutch with International backgrounds and three US-Vietnam-Mexicans.  And yes, we did get wet. Although the rain eased, we hurried back to the hotel (uphill!) in light rain, eager then to have a warm shower!

Annecy:

       

      







Go to DAY TWO - CLICK HERE.
Go to DAY THREE - CLICK HERE.
Go to DAY FOUR - CLICK HERE.
Go to DAY FIVE - CLICK HERE.
Go to DAY SIX - CLICK HERE.
Go to DAY SEVEN - CLICK HERE.
Go to DAY EIGHT - CLICK HERE.
Go to DAY NINE - CLICK HERE.
Go to DAY TEN - CLICK HERE.
Go to DAY ELEVEN- CLICK HERE.
Go to DAY TWELVE- CLICK HERE.


For a list of my other (mainly map) blogs - CLICK HERE.



PS Please ignore all references to Romania - I used a previous template.






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