My Switzerland Adventures: Innsbruck, Austria and Annecy, France

Ok everyone, so I have been slacking a bit on keeping up with my blog...I'm sorry! I have just kept pushing it aside for quite awhile, and now I have so much catching up to do. Well, I've done a lot since Christmas time (my last blog entry), that I don't even know where to begin. I will start with celebrating New Years in Innsbruck, Austria. I have a friend that I played club volleyball with in high school who now plays in Innsbruck, and she also happens to be close friends with our setter, Taylor. So, after all of the Americans returned from our Christmas vacations, we practiced for a few days and then packed up the cars to drive about 5-6 hours to Innsbruck, Austria. The drive was absolutely beautiful and when we arrived in Innsbruck, we saw that the town was nestled in between some enormous mountains. We all stayed in my friend Emilie's apartment and had a blast all weekend. Another friend, Becca, who I also played club volleyball with in high school, came down to Innsbruck from Finland (where she currently plays volleyball). We spent time walking around the old town area and saw some really neat buildings and scenery, while enjoying some gluvine (hot spiced wine). When it came to time celebrate the New Year, we all went out and joined the huge party in the streets of old town. It was freezing, but there were so many people, so it wasn't too bad. After midnight, we then headed to a big club where we hung out the rest of the night and had a great time. The next day we had to make the long drive home again, but spending that short time in Innsbruck was well worth the drive.

Em and I walking around Innsbruck

The streets of Innsbruck still had some holiday decorations

Some cool buildings in the old town

The 7 Americans from my team, VFM

Emilie, Becca, and I (we played together in high school)

After Innsbruck, we had to 'get back into the daily grind' of playing volleyball again. It was a nice two weeks away from volleyball that we all definitely needed. In mid January, we had a Saturday match, so some of us decided to make a short trip to Annecy, France. We drove about 2.5 hours away to Annecy, which is about 30 minutes past Geneva. We stayed there for just one night, but did plenty of walking around the neat little town. Unfortunately, we didn't have the best of weather, so the sightseeing wasn't as picturesque as it could have been. It was very rainy and cloudy, so we couldn't see much of the lake or the surrounding mountains. But, we knew how beautiful it really was because we had all researched it before deciding to travel there. Annecy is also known for having several canals that run throughout the old town. There is a really neat old prison called the Palais de l'Isle, which is built on an island in one of the canals. We walked up and down all the old streets, stopped at patisseries along the way for cafe au laits and baked treats, had a nice dinner, and went out for a few drinks after. The next morning, we had breakfast at a creperie where we had galettes (breakfast crepes), and then walked up to the Chateau d'Annecy and walked along the lake. Despite the weather, Annecy was a nice and quick getaway for us and I'm happy we had to opportunity to explore the old French town.