COW FEST WHAT?

Well, I'm starting to feel all settled in here in the Haute Savoie. Lauren arrived last Thursday night and since then we've moved into our new apartment. We had been living in another apt in the same building but for some reason unbeknownst to me, we had to move into the apartment on the next floor up. We spent all day moving all of our furniture (which wasn't much but still quite a hassle) upstairs to the 2nd etage.

Anywho, it has been a good past couple of days. Friday Lauren and I explored St. Julien together and hopped over to Annemasse for the afternoon just to check it out and look for a used bike to buy. We decided that we were very happy to be living in quaint St. Julien as opposed to the rather grungy Annemasse. We didn't really get to do much bike searching as we had to make it back to town to do dinner with some friends. Our neighbors just so happen to be two French girls who are English teachers at my middle school and are great fun. We ate with them and one of their friends Friday night and then woke up early Saturday morning for the famous Retour de l'Alpinage Festival in beautiful Annecy. Annecy is probably one of the prettiest cities in all of Europe. There are canals that go through the old town and a huge lake surrounded by mountains right smack in the middle of town. It's really incredibly beautiful. The festival was celebrated the traditional Savoie region food and traditions but mostly the cows coming down the mountain for winter. There was a rather bizarre yet entertaining parade full of cows and horses.