For my 65th birthday and to celebrate my retirement, we rented five bikes for four hours. The…read morebikes worked fine until the last 5 kilometers when my bike's chain broke. I had to walk it the last 5 kilometers. The manager seemed find it funny when I got there. His one concession was to not charge us for getting there 30 minutes late (I walked pushing my bike for 60 minutes)... ‍ strange how that works. His explanation for my chain breaking was that my higher gear was in lowest gear and my lower gear was in the highest. I believe he needs a lesson on how gears are meant to work. An apology and waiving the cost of the one bike should have been offered as a minimum. Luckily, the chain's grease ruined my new shirt too. Pour mes 65 ans et pour fêter ma retraite, nous avons loué cinq vélos pour quatre heures. Les vélos ont bien fonctionné jusqu'aux 5 derniers kilomètres lorsque la chaîne de mon vélo s'est cassée. J'ai dû marcher les 5 derniers kilomètres. Le manager avait l'air de trouver ça drôle quand je suis arrivé. Sa seule concession était de ne pas nous facturer un retard de 30 minutes (j'ai marché en poussant mon vélo pendant 60 minutes)... ‍ c'est étrange comment ça marche. Son explication pour ma rupture de chaîne était que mon rapport supérieur était le rapport le plus bas et mon rapport inférieur était le plus élevé. Je pense qu'il a besoin d'une leçon sur la façon dont les engrenages sont censés fonctionner. Des excuses et une renonciation au coût d'un vélo auraient dû être proposées au minimum. Heureusement, la graisse de la chaîne a aussi abîmé ma nouvelle chemise.

I usually ain't a big sucker for touristic places and lakes don't really make my heart beat faster…read moreeither, but le Lac d'Annecy is a huge exception. This lake is just the most clear, pretty and awesome I've ever seen, especially with the stunning mountains in the back. There's a super romantic bridge, you can go for a walk or run next to it, sit in the grass or go swim or just read a book in the park while watching people walk by and the lake staying as pretty as it is. - Or you can also bike across the whole lake and visit the other cute villages nearby. But, an absolute recommendation is to rent a small boat (you don't need a license for that!), drive to the middle of the lake and swim. It's not the warmest lake as it's a glacier lake, but just do it.

Despite being a major skiing destination, France isn't really known for its alpine lakes, but Lake…read moreAnnecy is one of my favourite places in France. It's very accessible, and the town of Annecy is delightful: it's touristy, of course, but tourism hasn't spoiled it, and you can still eat and stay here at reasonable cost. Every turn of a street corner seems to open up a vista of the lake. The lake itself is lovely for both lakeside walks and boating (boat hire is available at several locations, as well as larger pleasure boat trips for those who don't want to row themselves) and the scenery is stunning. There are plenty of other lakeside villages to visit if you want somewhere quieter, and there are regular buses around the lakeside road.