On the road from Annecy ...

Picking up the thread from earlier in June ... from Annecy, we continued to our ultimate destination (at least for this trip) - Champagny-en-Vanoise.  It is a tiny Alpine ski resort in the French Alps of Savoie, a bit further south than those in Haute-Savoie, very close to the border with Italy and about a 2.5 hour drive from Geneva.

Champagny-en-Vanoise is also situated next to a beautiful Alpine setting known as the Parc National de la Vanoise.  We were travelling to Champagny to visit a French friend, Sweet V, whom Friend G had met ten years ago when Sweet V was a young exchange student at Friend G's school in a small South Carolina town.   As happens when the years roll around, Sweet V is now a lovely young woman, complete with husband D and an exquisite daughter, Princess I.  Like my own Princess Butterfly, Princess I was a literal whirlwind of movement - usually difficult to capture in photo ops - and happy in the way that a very self-confident child can be. 

We discovered that our hosts had arranged for us to have our own apartment in their building.

The apartment also provided us each with a separate bedroom, with plenty of blankets for the cool mountain air.  I now remember that cool mountain air with great nostalgia.

Because that evening had been set aside for the birthday celebration of a friend, they invited us along for a lively evening of good food, wine and friendship.

We certainly enjoyed ourselves before tumbling sleepily into bed to dream of adventures planned for the next day.