Aug 26 2026 - Weds - Toulouse, France to Hotel la Cour du 6, Annecy, France

Our train leaves at 7:30 so we had to get up a little early to catch the Metro to the train station. We packed up last night so a few last minute things like cleaning out the refrigerator. And pack the last few things. We used the last punch on the Metro card last night so we had to tap our credit cards to get on the Metro. One stop and we were at the train station. We were early enough to get coffee and tea and watch the big board. They put all the trains on a big jumbo-tron but you have to wait for them to post the track number, which is about 20 minutes before the train leaves. Our train turned up on track 10 and a big bunch of people headed down the escalators and followed the signs to track 10. Deb reserved seats for the first four hours to Lyon since they are required for this train. The nice train lady scanned our reserved seat tickets and off we went.

This train had a bar car and I got the last cappuccino before the machine broke so poor Deb went without even though she went to get our drinks.

In Lyon we had a 15 minute transfer but it turned out we got off one track from the next train to Annecy. This train did not have reserved seats so it was just to get on and find two seats. Our suitcases got dropped in the racks by the doors. This was an older train but very clean and well kept. We had our lunch of crackers and cheese and a couple apricots from our refrigerator cleanout earlier this morning.

After another two hours we arrived in Annecy and Google Maps got us to the hotel, by way of a stop at a cafe for wine and beer. We were an hour early but our (air conditioned!) room was ready so we dropped our luggage off and decided to walk around the city to get our bearings. Annecy is beautiful but swarmed with lots of tourists. We stopped in the tourist info place, picked up a bunch of information and wandered around town and by the lake. We’d asked the employee at the tourist info office for a recommendation for good burgers (we’d had enough bread and cheese for a bit) and he suggested Pebble, which opened at 6:30 p.m. 

After checking out the large and lovely park on the waterfront and some of the canals we walked to Pebble, got our delicious burgers and then walked back to the hotel to call it a night.