Tout le monde etait a Annecy aujourd hui!
That’s how you’d say it was packed in Annecy today… everyone, or all the world was there. And that’s about right. It was way too crowded. Obviously, everyone who had gone to the fireworks show last night decided to mill around the old town and shop and check out the market… same as we did. Bill and I both dislike crowds, so today wasn’t nearly as enjoyable as yesterday.
For lunch, we tried to find a place mentioned in the Rick Steves book. I think we were looking right at it, but the address didn’t match so we thought it was the wrong place. Interested in speed at that point, we picked a pizzeria. It brought slow French service to a whole new level. The people sitting next to us sat down after us and got served before us. All of us had ordered pizza. When ours arrived, mine wasn’t what I’d meant to order. It wasn’t bad and if it had been served quickly I’d have probably not even really cared. But since it was painfully slow and wrong… I wasn’t happy. I couldn’t be sure that the mistake wasn’t mine so I just ate it. Besides, even if I was sure the mistake wasn’t mine, I didn’t want to sit there another 40 minutes waiting for a fresh pizza just to prove a point. We weren’t the only unhappy ones. The couple next to us had to order coffee three times before the waiter brought it.
It was interesting, a group sat at a table behind us and I could easily listen to their conversation. They were obviously American. It seemed that the young couple are living somewhere in the area and that the other couple was her parents and they had their younger daughter with them. (Yes, I have taken liberties filling in a few blanks) What struck me was the way the couple I think live here were trying to explain the menu to the parents… talking about what’s a regional specialty and the like… then trying their best to order in French (they sounded even newer than we are) while their relatives just pointed and ordered in English. I wonder if we sound like that to anyone listening?