Yvoire

It claims to be the prettiest village in France. That's possible. It's situated on the shores of Lake Geneva and has its own little harbor and quaint streets. It retains its medieval wall and gate and has a castle on the water:

There are a couple things that make me hesitate. First off, France is a pretty big place and there are lots of villages. Now Yvoire does have scads and scads of pretty flowers, but these contribute to an overall feel that suggests as much Le Tourist Trap as Prettiest Village.

Then there is the Jardin des Cinq Sens. It is promoted as a feature of the village. And it's a really nice garden. It's just...a garden, though. With a theme. The theme is The Five Senses. Pretty edgy. My wife wanted to see, so we paid about thirty bucks and enjoyed quite an experience with our senses.

The first experience was in the Woody Garden, pictured below. This "garden" struck me as a couple trees with ferns and stuff growing underneath. Some other plants, too, with nameplates but I forgot about those when I noticed the mosquitoes. Apparently they were exploring the Woody Garden, too:

We then wandered to the "cloistered" Garden of Taste. This delightful area had edible plants except for two things: We were instructed to "feast with the eyes only", like that makes sense, and some of the plants were poisonous! Garden of Taste, indeed.

It was in the Garden of Smell, or Sight, or Something, that I began to notice the bees. My wife was wandering and reading the signs. I decided to patiently wait for her by sitting on the benches. The bees made their presence known. This continued through the rest of the garden. I found it annoying. The bees did too, apparently.

We also saw The Garden of Hearing. The brochure says, "An inaccessible and symbolic space that is open to the skies. Just close your eyes..." What on earth?!?!? I closed my eyes and heard the children from the Ecole and the bells from the church. I guess that makes it profound or something. But I could close my eyes and hear those things from anyplace, even if I decide it's "symbolic". Duh.

So eventually we left. The tour took us through a room which explained how important the bees are to the garden. Also, it explained how our "contributions" helped continue the vision of the founder of the garden, Baron Francois Bouvier d'Yvoire (1834-1918). All of this was supposed to be inspirational, I guess. I was just glad to escape the bees.