Chamonix
Days 8 & 9
When we arrived in Chamonix, it was a bit rainy and pretty chilly. But none of that mattered when we looked up and took in the breath-taking scenery. We were in the snow-covered French Alps on the borders of Switzerland and Italy and it was so much better than I had even imagined. We wandered around the town and took it all in. Picture a perfect mountain town full of great views in every direction, pine trees and Alpine chalets and this was it. It was May and colorful flowers were in full bloom everywhere. For the foodies, we had some good meals here. Fondue at one place and I finally got around to trying duck at another. We had a great lunch at Pointe Isabelle, duck leg with BBQ sauce, potatoes and salad. Delicious!
Our hotel room at Hotel L'Arve had a perfect view of the mountains and our balcony was right above the Arve River. Mont Blanc was the first thing we saw when we opened our eyes in the morning. Unreal! Bonus...the hotel had a foosball table, which I love, although hadn't played much since college. Fun!)
Dinner at Le Monchu was another first for me, cheese fondue with bread and potatoes, meats and pickles. Dessert was a blueberry tart.
Mont Blanc
This was another one of my favorite days, as one of the biggest thrills of the trip for me was going to the top of Mont Blanc. It's the tallest mountain in the Alps at nearly 16,000 feet. We were there in May and there was plenty of snow, which I loved, having grown up with snow. It was cloudy in the morning and whether you go up the mountain or not depends heavily on the weather. Lucky for us, the clouds broke and we crammed like sardines into the gondola and up we went. Going up took two gondola rides. The first stopped at about 7,500 feet at Plan de L'Aigulle. You could stay there or take the second gondola to the top to Aguille du Midi at 12,000+ feet. That's what we did. We were told this is the highest vertical ascent cable car in the world. Spectacular views from the top!
