It’s spring in the Alps. The water is perfectly clean, perfectly clear. There’s a tiny dock with a gazebo decorated with hanging pots of fresh colorful multi-color flowers. There’s hardly a soul around. It’s very quiet. There are no cars, no buses, no crowds of tourists. It’s a good time to just sit a while and relax and take it all in, almost like my own personal heaven. If I’m going to have some kind of a personal epiphany or life-altering experience, then let it happen here.

Talloires is a tiny French village located on the southeastern end of Lake Annecy in the Savoie region of southeastern France, along the western edge of the Alps. There’s not a lot to do here, but there are a number of high-end hotels and restaurants. The scenery is quite sublime: The clear and peaceful lake, centuries old stone and wood houses and church, a picturesque little bay with little fishing boats, and the ever present mountain peaks. Off to one side of the bay is the beginning of a winding wooded path which leads high up on a mountainside to a flat rock outcropping that affords awe inspiring views to the village and lake below as well as to the surrounding mountains. Another blissful event to add to my book of European delights.