You know the crystal clear alpine lake? The one that looks enticing with it blues yet you know will shock you through with a frigid blast? Where merry-go-rounds from yesteryear spin round on its banks and children laugh? Where beautiful people picnic with wine under the little crease where the blue sky meets the water? I’ve been there… it’s in Annecy, France.
This article I thought I would try to talk less and let Annecy speak for itself through the pictures. Perhaps this way you can see how this town merges old world, a time usually only imagined, with modern life. It whispers of Venice, as towering buildings seem to lean dangerously into the canals.
We took a day trip here from our home base in Chambery. We discovered it through my favorite book, 1,000 Places to See Before Die. So far, that book hasn’t let us down.
Yet it isn’t as though Annecy is an undiscovered hamlet. It was busy, clogged (even in the auto-free areas) by tourists from all over the world. This was a mild surprise since Annecy is far from the beaten path and hard to get to.  But I suppose when something is as unique and special as this, we do what we need to in order to make it there.
Fighting crowds certainly tampered what could have a near-religious experience of walking over worn cobblestone streets and communing with ghosts from centuries ago. But it was still worth craning my neck around and jostling fellow sightseers to take it in.
Places like Annecy are why we travel: to realize how different life is across the globe and across the ages. Plus, it is eye candy you never forget. Worth every morsel.
Our favorite moment in Annecy was enjoying the picnic we had packed ourselves in the shade beside the lake. My niece chased the ducks, the waters blinded us with unreal colors, and the cool wind tickled our faces with fresh mountain air.
Annecy felt magical, a place where French families can live a movie-style life in a landscape and city that feels fresh out of daydreams.
Read more about our time in France, including our trips seeing Chambery, France and Chamonix, France.