Our first houseguest - Ad!!!

How happy were we when we got an email from my brother, Ad, saying he'd be in the area and would come for a short visit if we would have him. We immediately booked some time off work to be able to properly entertain our first guest. We also finally got around to clearing out the final boxes that were lingering in the guest room. I'm sure that if Ad hadn't come they'd be there still!

Ad arrived the Tuesday after our weekend in Lyon, and stayed until Friday. Day one we headed up the Saleve. We managed to catch the end of the telepherique season so were able to take the 'flying car'. It was a cool but fairly clear day so we had a nice view of Geneva. We didn't hike. Not only was Ad sockless (no surprise there for anyone who knows him) but he managed to give himself a nasty calf-cramp chasing Sam around and so was a bit gimpy the rest of the visit. I didn't mind ;) We then took in some of the sights (or non sights, really) of Geneva on our way to lunch at the Creux de Genthod, near our house. As usual, the food was glorious. I had the best Veloute de Chataignes EVER...I don't know if I can ever order it again for fear of always coming up short. We managed to keep Sam from having a melt-down (it was well past nap time) with Smarties and fries. Afterwards, we headed home for an easy dinner of pesto - which we had brought home from our Italy trip (the parmesan too!).

Ad and Sam on top of the Saleve with view of Geneva

Next day, rather than rushing off to explore the countryside as I had originally planned, we decided to lay low and explore Geneva a bit, particularly as we were going to head to Annecy, France the next day. Happily for me, Ad was game to check out the Red Cross Museum (a disappointment) and the Philippe Patek watch museum (lots of cool new and antique bling) - the kinds of things I want to do but never want to give a Saturday over too. In between the two, we headed to the Jardins Botaniques for a picnic. I had been here before as it was right near work, and it was the perfect place to let Sam do his 2 year old 'thing', with a carousel (yes...but only the coolest carousel I've ever seen) and a little park. Sam found a willing minstrel in Ad, and had a blast on the climbing apparatus and even learned how to use a pulley to lift up a bucket full of sand (which he did over, and over again).

On the slide

Happy boy

That night we had a babysitter booked for Sam, and for us a dinner at the Auberge in Collex for some local gastronomie. It was 'chasse' season, but I went for the bison which comes from the farm around the corner (we drive past them every day on the way to work). The food was simply delicious, even if we did have trouble getting through all 5 courses. Ad and I shared bison chateaubriand - perfect - with risotto and a 'forgotten vegetable tart' (forgotten vegetables = root vegetables I've figured out). Aaron dug into pheasant ravioli, duck terrine and bison steak. We all left very happy (although no one really loooooved the bison tartare). Any future visitors can look forward to a trip to the Auberge that's for sure.

Day 3 was Ad's last day, and Aaron had the day off as well so we all piled into the car and headed to Annecy, France, which is billed as the Venice of France. Although on a much smaller scale, Annecy did not disappoint (once we found it - lesson learned: 'old town' is not always the preferred destination). Annecy is an absolutely gorgeous town with canals, a lake butting up against mountains, parks and pedestrian shopping (yay!). I can see why they are in the running to host the 2018 Winter Olympics.

Annecy canals - beautiful

Thanks to some advice from a colleague, we hit up a yummy creperie, where Ad braved the tripe crepe. Personally, I found it horrid but he ate the whole thing - not sure if that was pride or what but I have to hand it to him. We managed to convince Sam to try the nutella crepe (what is WRONG with this kid?). We then wandered about the canals, through the park (where Sam twisted his ankle falling out of a tree I put him in - nice), past the lake and across the scenic bridges.

We lingered so that Sam could hit the swings and the play structure - with a limp (here's how you know your 2 yr old has twisted their ankle: every time they try to run, they just drop to the ground - ankle gives out. try not to laugh). We investigated the alleys and then sat down at a bistro to grab a bite before Ad took the train back to Paris.

Ad and Sam checking out the chocolates

All in all it was a fabulous visit, lots of wine was consumed (unfortunately not by me) and cheese sampled. We hope to have Ad and Sue back as well as any one else out there who may be reading this blog and thinking of a European vacation.