Airplane: Minneapolis-Paris-Geneva
Train: Geneva Airport - Geneva - Aix - Annecy
Accommodation: Room with double bed in cozy home (Airbnb); hosts Astrid and Guy. Private room with double bed, shared bath, wifi.
Ken spent the first part of the day cleaning the apartment and shuttling the bikes to the train station. I spent it flying from Minneapolis to Paris to Geneva. I grabbed the first train from the Geneva Airport to Geneva, then tried hard to make the 11:32 train to Aix, but missed it by seconds--I reached the top of the steps to the platform just as the doors closed and it rolled away. I had expected I would not make that train, and actually had a ticket for the 4:40 train, but was not looking forward to the long wait. I found a grocery store and some lunch food, then settled in with my book.
When I got to Aix, I located Ken and the bikes where we had agreed to meet, and we were able to catch the 18:30 train to Annecy. We were both starving, so we looked for a good restaurant as soon as we left the station. The only thing we could find open was a pizza restaurant, which was just fine. We took our pizza to a park and ate while the sun started to go down.
By the time we reached our B&B at the top of the hill (always a hill), it was getting dark. Our hosts were absolutely wonderful. Astrid spoke English quite well, and took the time to translate for Guy. They stored our bikes in their garage, and Astrid showed us their home and garden, prepared a bottle of cold water and glasses for us to take to the room, and made us feel completely welcome and at home. They have a lovely four-bedroom family home where they raised their son and daughter, who are now grown with daughters of their own, and they have rented out two rooms for the past eight years. Astrid has a world map on the wall with markers from all the people who have stayed there. She truly is a gem of a person.
Glad to be together again, glad to be in such a nice home with such nice people, glad to be back on the bikes, glad to have been able to spend some time back home. Many things to be grateful for.
