We spent another relatively relaxed day today – avoiding long car rides so that Sophie would be spared the windy roads a little while longer.  We did take a short drive about 15 minutes outside of town to the Gorges du Fier, a beautiful walk through steep cliffs formed many moons ago.

There’s even a legend surrounding the site – a medieval page fell in love with his charge, an unhappily married countess who didn’t know of the page’s feelings, and who herself fell in love with one of her husband’s rivals.  It ended badly for the page, who dies in a jealous rage, thrown off the cliff in an effort to catch the lover.  Only in France.

After our little hike, we returned to Annecy, where the lakefront park served as the stage for the much-anticipated announcement of whether it would be crowned the host city for the 2018 Winter Olympics.  The town was one of three finalists, along with Munich and Pyeongchang, South Korea.  Widely believed to have had the least successful candidacy, the scene in Annecy was still incredibly festive even after Jacques Rogge announced that Pyeongchang had won.    It was a hoot to be here for the party, especially since I lived and worked here when the region last hosted the Winter Olympics in 1992.