This large spread was a collection of transport vehicles and military planes, a bit of a surprise.

Joëlle and Marc’s vacation starts now. While Brian and Clare have been able to relax and enjoy their hospitality, they were still at home taking care of everything and everyone. Eleven people one night! Now, for the next four days, the four of us travel to special sites, some of which Marc and Joëlle have not yet explored.

First, we visited the Hospices de Beaune, a 15th century hospital dedicated to healing the less fortunate.

The building surrounded a large courtyard. The part of the building with the lower ceiling was for the people who could pay for their treatment and included some single rooms. The huge room with 28 beds along the sides and a chapel at one end was where the poor were cared for.

An ornate, glass tile is only visible from the courtyard. WOW!

We toured inside both parts of the old hospital, with entertaining lectures (on audio tour device) from actors depicting the couple who created the hospital. The hospital itself was run by nuns, who believed that they were taking care of both the bodies and souls of their patients.

A mailman found a particularly beautiful rock, which inspired him to build a temple to life, an ideal palace. Over 33 years, he collected more rocks and other objects along his postal route, made drawings from his dreams and created a beautiful place.

Brian found out about this palace from a book, Atlas Obscura. Marc and Joelle heard of it but had never gone. But before we went to the palace, on Simon’s recommendation, we found Cheval’s tomb (which he created in a similar style about 10 years before his death).

The palace itself is large, ornate, and asymmetrical. Each side presents a different theme. Some of the original art is no longer visible, but the palace is still worth a visit.

It was fun discovering the details of the palace, though we had to watch our heads going up or down stairs.

Often, a different artist is invited to show their work for a month or so, as long as they preserve the dignity of the palace itself. When we were there, the artist specialized in glass. They put pieces into the pots where the original artist showed plants.

We drove with Marc and Joëlle to Annecy and met up with Josy, Chantal, and Christian at their rented condo. Then we walked, mostly along the river, into the old town adjacent to a big lake.

The main reason we went to Annecy is that Joelle’s cousin was getting married nearby, which we attended in the evening. All three sisters were lovingly welcomed by both bride and groom and all the wedding party, obviously not only family but friends. This post is about our time in Annecy before that.

The town is a tourist destination for skiers in the winter, because it resides in the foothills of the Alps. And, like many places in France, the people like to have a lot of plants around their buildings.

People made rock art in the river. Later, Christian walked across at this section, adding his own rock to one of the stacks as a toll.

Some of the buildings go right into the river, which made Josy (who lives in Italy) comment that it is like Venice there.

The lake is a large outwash from glaciers in the Alps. Many people were enjoying the day with boats on the water.

A small park presented wooden sculptures.

We enjoyed our beer and wine …