Expatriotical

Episode 40: Finding My Favorite Place in France

• Chandra Alley • Season 1 • Episode 40

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Finding your favorite place in your new country can take time as an expat. It took host, Chandra Alley, over two years! But in this episode she shares all about her favorite place in France. A place you may have never heard of...

Plus stay tuned for not just one, but TWO "Chan Selects" at the end of the episode. You don't want to miss it!


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"Live and Travel in the Know" with Expatriotical!

Bienvenue, Benvenuti, and Welcome to Expatriotical, the podcast for expats, travelers, and other adventurous souls. I’m Chandra Alley and after living as an expat with my husband and 4 children in two different countries for 6 years, I’ve learned the arts of pivoting during pitfalls, traveling tastefully for less, and soaking in amazing new cultures without losing your own.


Join me, as we dive into the joys and challenges of travel and the expat life in every episode!


Hey everybody! If you listen to last week's episode you know that this week I am going to be sharing about my new favorite place, because I didn't have one before, in France! And can I be really honest? This is me ad-libing my script. I’m really excited about this because I went back and I looked videos and it’s gotten me inspired and I feel sunny again. Because it’s been gray for, I don’t know, like 10 days here in Paris and so this place is just going to add a light sunshine to your day.


Ironically, my daughter Lilliah, asked me on the drive there if I had a favorite place in France, and I said , “No, not really.” But by the next morning I did!


Don't get me wrong, I have been to a lot of amazing places here in France. Normandy is a beautiful and very special and sometimes very somber place.


Bordeaux and the Dourdogne Valley are also beautiful and a bit more light hearted than Paris. The Loire Valley is regal and majestic and pretty jaw droppingly stunning when you see castles as you drive, spotted on different hillsides. Provence and the Mediterranean coast is gorgeous and the water is delightful, but unfortunately, our car getting broken into when we were there last year in October 2023 put a bad taste in my mouth and has me hesitant to return. (Listen to Episode 34: Chaos, Catastrophes, and Insurance to understand more.)


Even Strasbourg and Colmar with all of their festive magic at Christmas time had not stolen my heart to be the favorite spot or place for me here in France. But this place that I'm about to describe to you absolutely did.


That place is Lake Annecy, I honestly might not even be saying that right. I hear people say AnnEcy and Ancy, so I'm really not sure the correct or proper pronunciation, but for purposes of fluidity, I'm going to say Annecy.


Annecy is about a 5 1/2 hour drive from Paris without stopping. You can also take the train, but for our family of six, that was a bit too pricey this time. So about a week into our Toussaint Vacation we hopped in the car and started driving down. It probably took us about 6 hours and we stopped twice. Once to get gas and some food and then once to change drivers as Chris had started driving but then needed to jump on a meeting so I drove the last two hours or so.


I have been told by a friend here that her kids had even loved the drive when she did it on her own. Once they got through the big tunnel, the landscape changed and her kids were like “wow”! And I will say that my kids and I were too.


There really was a vast difference between the rolling farmland on one side of the tunnel and the mountains and River Valley on the other.


The sun was setting as we got close to Annecy and I could tell that it was going to be gorgeous when we woke up in the morning.


We made our way to the apartment we booked, settled in and then walked to the super cute little restaurant right by the lake called Bernadette. The stone and wooden interior. Coupled with the red geraniums and warm light made it feel cozy and the food was absolutely delicious! At the end of our amazing meal, including drinks and a huge shared dessert, our family of 6 only paid €82, it was fantastic!


The next morning, we set out after breakfast to go rent some bikes. Another friend had shared how she and her husband and their son, who is about the age of my oldest son, had rented bicycles and rode all the way around the lake leisurely and it was an entire day trip. I thought this sounded wonderful. I imagined that we could stop at the little villages along the way and grab a bite to eat and get a coffee or maybe an ice cream and probably a glass of wine and just enjoy the day on our bikes by the water.


After about a 15 or 20 minute walk, we found the first bike rental place and everybody got one. It's important to note that our youngest son Caleb, who when this episode airs, will have just turned six years old, has been able to ride a bike with pedals without training wheels since he was about three years old. The only thing is that he has always had brakes that were attached to the pedals. Meaning to slow down or stop you pushed backwards on said pedals. And the bike that we rented him had hand brakes and could even change gears. Which he was very excited about because he felt like a big boy.


Isaiah, our next youngest son, does have a bicycle with hand breaks, but has never dealt with changing gears. These facts are important to note for later.


As we set off, everybody was excited, the sun was shining, the lake was sparkling, and everybody was happy. I was especially happy because there was a designated bike path that was separate from cars pretty much the entire way around the lake. And after about the first mile or so we began to come to the only incline that we would face, since we were going clockwise around the lake.


This began to prove to be a challenge for Caleb and Isaiah, who did not understand about shifting gears. So we would stop, have them get off and then Chris and I or one of the older children would try to change the gears for them so that they could pedal more easily up the hill. After some slow going effort, we made it to the peak and the bike path separated, even more so from the car traffic and went down a small hill. Caleb seemed to go down with abandon, which, of course, made me very nervous as his breaking was kind of an all or nothing issue. Gentle breaking had not yet dawned on my youngest son.


Then we came back to another hill and now multiple children were struggling. By the time we got to the top (or almost to the top), Chris and I realized that this was an effort in futility and that we needed to turn around and just go back and ride around the town of Annecy, instead of trying to ride around the lake.


I know many of you listening are probably like, “Yeah, well that's what you should've done to begin with.” But we've been on family bike rides many times before and it wasn't an issue. Well, not too much, we did have a mishap with Caleb, not slowing down and causing me to wreck last year. But he had ridden his bike a lot since then, so I had figured that we could do it as long as we took our time.


As we headed back, Chris stayed with Caleb and I went on with the older three kids. Not intentionally, but that just seemed to be how the flow had gone. And when we got so far ahead, once we got back to the Lake, we pulled over in the grass and waited. And waited. And waited and finally I looked up and could see them coming down the hill. And all of the sudden I saw Chris flip over his handle bars diagonally and sideways and fall to the ground.


I let go of my bike and ran to him as fast as I could, he was only about 100 yards or 100 meters away. When I got there, I got Caleb out of the way as there were other people coming up and down the bike path and asked Chris if he was ok and he said he was. I didn’t see any blood and he seemed to be moving alright. Then I asked him what had happened. And he told me that Caleb had stopped suddenly right in front of him and to avoid hitting him he also stopped and this caused him to wreck.


Caleb chimed in and said that he was slowing down because of the things that were coming up ahead. I looked up and there was what I will call traffic arms, the kind that bikes can ride around but cars cannot drive around, but they were at least 100 feet away. It has made me question my child's depth perception, but because Caleb still had not adjusted to the hand brakes he had braked too soon and too hard and caused Chris to have to do the same unexpectedly.


Needless to say, Chris was a little bit upset and so we all got back on the bikes and headed towards the bike store to return them. I was a bit disappointed about this, but I wasn't going to argue because I remember how I had felt last year when Caleb had done pretty much the same thing to me and I was hurting and frustrated. When we got right across the road from the bike rental shop Chris pulled off into the grass and said let's just wait here for a little bit and cool down.


So we did, the kids played on the dock over the crystal clear glacial waters of the lake that were probably only a foot or a foot and a half deep. While I monitored them, kept them from interrupting people's picnics, stepped in hidden dog poop, cleaned that up, and then sat myself on the dock and began to sing “Sittin’ on the dock of the Bay” by Otis Redding, while a beautiful, black and white waterfowl swam up to me curiously as I munched on a granola bar. It was lovely.


After about an hour or so of a break, Chris had cooled down, and decided that we could indeed ride the bikes into the town of Annecy and explore. This would be an entirely flat ride, still on the designated bike path separated from vehicle traffic. So all was good there.


And it was even warmer now, many people were out and about taking walks, riding bikes, picnicking in the grass and enjoying the day. We made our way to where the canal from the lake met the second bridge and that was pretty much the beginning of the town and then set out to find a fondue restaurant called Le Freti, that Chris’ coworker had told him about.


We took the bike path a ways and then walked the bikes through the crowds along the canal, all the while watching firefighters putting out a house fire in one of the very old buildings near the canal.


I will pause here to say that I had never seen a fire put out in a building like this. The town is really old. Reading on Wikipedia, it says that it became the capital of the Savoie region, which is in the south eastern part of France, near the Alps, in 1434. So these are really old buildings with really narrow streets, and watching the firefighters work hard to keep the flames at bay within the one building and not spreading to the other adjoined or attached buildings was pretty crazy. And even a few days later, watching them, take down a lot of the burnt debris, using drones and cranes and claws, it was pretty impressive. Though my heart goes out to the families that lost their homes.


Not far from where we turned away from the Canal and the active firefighting, we found Le Freti. They were able to seat us outside where we could park our bikes and keep an eye on them. And then we commenced in having some absolutely delicious fondue! It was so fun and the children loved being able to skewer their own bread, dip it in the hot and melted cheese and enjoy it with different charcuterie meats and also salad.


Once we finished stuffing ourselves, we decided that that day would be a good day if the kids wanted to dip their toes in the cool waters of the lake. So we went back to the apartment. Let the kids change into swimming suits, grabbed some towels, and then went back to the bike rental place and returned our bicycles. We rented six bikes for probably about four or five hours and it only cost €88. It was a great deal!


Then we crossed the street and went to the water's edge. Most of the north side of the lake is very shallow at the shore. There is a small beach area and then the rest of it is rocked or walled as a ledge where the water is maybe only a foot deep and it goes out probably 100 meters before it even gets to even be. Let's say 4 feet deep. So it’s a really nice area for children to play. But surprisingly, I saw more adults in the water than I did children.


Maybe that's because of the new trendy push of doing cold plunges, or maybe that's just the lifestyle of the people that live there, regardless many people were in the water and it was only 15°C, that’s about 59° for all of my American listeners in Fahrenheit.


The kids got in and splashed and played and dared each other to go deeper or to sit down in the water, while Chris and I sat on the grass and enjoyed the sunshine. Once the sun was setting, we headed back to the apartment so the kids could shower. Wrapping up the day with cereal for dinner, since we'd had such a huge and late lunch, and looking forward to our next adventure in the morning.


The next day we set off on a short drive, about an hour and 15 minutes, to the town of Chamonix, which is at the base of Mont Blanc, to understand how that would be spelled I will say it in my American accent, Mont Blanc. Which is the highest peak in France.


When we arrived there, it was about 11 o'clock in the morning, and the sun still had not made its way into the valley, so it was pretty chilly, and I ended up buying a really cute and remarkably reasonably priced ear warmer, and we all got hot drinks while we waited for our turn to take the gondola up the mountain. Chris also had the idea of buying food to take with us, which was really smart after our experience on the Matterhorn (a couple of years prior) where we went up and ate lunch for about $1 million, not really, but it was really expensive, so while we waited, he took two of the kids and picked up some sandwiches from a nearby boulangerie and we took that with us.


At 11:45 we got on the gondola and headed up. The first trip was a straight steep shot up to a station where you changed gondolas. Then we mounted a second gondola for the second leg of the journey. This trip got pretty interesting not because of how steep it was, but because of the fact that there were three different metal, let's call them standards, that the gondola passed. And when you would get to them, it would cause the gondola to rock and sway, which for me and Chris and the two little boys was a delight and a surprise, but for my two older kids, they weren't loving it as much.


But we all made it up safe and sound. We exited the gondola and went out onto a platform where you could look across the glacier and see Mont Blanc. Now that we were in the sun, it was dazzlingly bright, and actually pretty warm. And like some other families, we sat down on the wooden deck and had our lunch. After that, we explored all the different places of the station, except for the snow… other than a small alcove that was cut into some snow we did not venture onto the mountain itself at the top where there was snow. Other people you could see had brought snow gear, snow, shoes, etc. and did do that.


In fact, some people had brought another type of gear and at the first station had dismounted to set up to go paragliding. There were dozens of them, and if we would have been there without kids, I would've totally wanted to try it!


But after our time at the top, we got back on the gondola and made our way back down to the first station. But this time when we hit those huge metal standards, it felt more like the sensation of what it feels like to go down on a roller coaster, it was enthralling, Chris and I loved it and all of our boys loved it too.


At the first station we got out and let the kids have a snack and run around a while, while Chris enjoyed a beer and I had a delicious blueberry tart and a mocha. After much fun, exploring, climbing large boulders and figuring out how to get down from those boulders, we all went back down to Chamoix and walked around the town. It was beautiful and quaint and after Chris picked up some postcards. We headed back to the car to drive to Annecy and finish out our evening.


I won't go on and on and tell you every detail of the rest of what we did in Annecy, but I will say that it felt like a really special and magical place to me. That crystal clear, turquoise blue water with the sun as it passed from mountain to mountain, beaming down on it, making it sparkle just kind of filled my heart with wonder and awe of God's beautiful creation.


To paraphrase the rest or summarize the rest of our time, we explored the town more and walked through an open air market, tasting the wares. We tried to rent a paddle boat and a motor boat, but came up a little bit short and a little bit late with both of those things. We had a lakeside picnic, and I even dipped my toes- well up to my mid calf- in the water.


Let me tell you it was pretty cold. But the atmosphere was so lovely that I'm really hoping we can go back again in the summer when I can actually go swimming. But once again the temperature did not affect my kids, and you can believe that they were back in the water again on our third day.


Overall, I think my takeaway is that being there in Annecy with my family, I felt more relaxed, I felt more like myself compared to the normal hustle and bustle that we have in our everyday lives. And I think that when you can find a place like that, that gives you that feeling, that's what makes it special. A place where you can enjoy it, sure, but maybe it's a place where you feel most like yourself. Most alive. And that's why Annecy has become my favorite place in France!


OK, moving onto today's “Chan Select”. We are actually going to do something a little bit different today. Normally we do the “Chan Select" and then we do a quote of the day, but today we're going to skip the quote and do two “Chan Selects” because honestly I really couldn't choose between the two. And I've actually mentioned both of them in today's episode already.


So in chronological order from my exposure to them here they are: the first one is Bouillon Bernadette. The food was delicious, the environment was warm and inviting, and the price was amazing! Add that to a wonderful proximity to the lake, and it's a must stop if you go to Annecy!


The second “Chan Select” is Le Freti. I remember thinking when I heard the name that it kind of sounded like Italian, but not. And when I looked up what Le Freti means in French, Google translate suggested that I change to Corsican, and in Corsican, le Freti means “the cold”. Which makes sense, since fondue is something that you definitely enjoy more when you eat in the cold.


Not only did my family have a delicious meal and wonderful experience with great service there, when I looked them up I discovered that the business has been around since 1973, and they only use sourced local products. From the smoked raclette cheeses and Farmhouse fondue cheeses, to artisanal charcuterie meats.


Le Freti is committed to supporting local businesses and supplying their customers with those amazing products.


I will be sure to include the websites and Instagram handles of both Bouillon Bernadette and Le Freti in the show notes. And as always, I am not an affiliate of either business, just a big fan.


And that's it for today's episode everybody, I hope that you enjoyed going on vacation, if you will, with me to my newly found favorite place in France, Lake Annecy! And I really hope that maybe just maybe one day you'll get a chance to visit this gorgeous and amazing place yourself. Note, if you follow me on Instagram, there will be a reel with lots of videos, showing all of the things that my family and I did, well most of the things that we did, during our time in Annecy and Chamonix. So make sure you check that out.


I look forward to meeting you back here again next week, and before you go, if you haven't written a review for Expatriotical yet, would you mind rating and reviewing it? It really helps to boost things with the algorithm and makes it to where other people can find this content and this podcast more easily.


Thank you guys, I really appreciate it! Looking forward to meeting you back here again next week. But until then, this is Chandra Alley, reminding you to “Live and Travel in the Know” with Expatriotical!