Day 15&16 – Chamonix (Alps)

Pete wanted to see the Alps, so we took what wound up being a 5 hour car ride to Chamonix, an extreme sport resort as you will see.

PEAGE signs are a common sight along the express autoroutes in France.  These toll roads provide the ability to avoid roundabouts and travel at 130 kph (81 mph). Tolls are collected at automated booths such as the one pictured above. The card symbol at the left stall applies if you have the right credit card. Regrettably we didn’t have much luck with our American credit cards and didn’t risk using them. The green arrow stalls accept Euro coins and bills. The machines will make change in coins from bills as large as 50 Euro. The autoroutes are segmented, and we sometimes would pay tolls up to 4 times between cities. Tolls ranged from 2 Euro to 18 Euro per segment. Dealing with tolls was intimidating at first, but by now we are seasoned experts.

Unfortunately, the shortest road to Chamonix from Avignon was blocked, so we had to make a detour through some knuckle-biting mountain passes.  We feared we were lost in the wilderness because we had a hard time finding the “deviation” signs, which were placed very far apart and did not appear at critical places, like at forks in the road.

Voilà!  We made it and were rewarded with our first 5 star hotel.  On our trip so far we had been in 3 and 4 star hotels.  The 5 star pampers its guests more, almost obsequiously, and usually has extensive spa treatment facilities and a fine dining restaurant of note.

We stayed here 2 nights and were thankful that the place had a ascenseur (elevator) big enough to take all our luggage in one fell swoop.  The stairway was a challenge, but a beautiful one nonetheless.

Our high-tech chamber had bedside cubbies adjacent to outlets for all our electronics.

Our salle de bain was huge, and the shower head was enormous.  For some reason, many French showers have no doors, so after 2 showers, the room became lakeside.

Oh, yeah!!!!!

The view from our window

Welcome munchies courtesy of the hotel

This evening was Pete’s 50th high school reunion back in San Pedro, so Jill took his picture to send to his high school buddies at the reunion.  We then had dinner at the hotel restaurant, noted for its haute cuisine.  Above is a shot of the amuse bouche and below, a shot of . . .

. . .  the pate with mystery foam and . . .

. . . the risotto with truffles and asparagus and . . .

. . . lamb & veggies and  . . .

. . . Pete’s dessert and . . .

. . . Jill’s soufflé. . . and, oh no, . . .

. . . a plank of assorted chocolate goodies.  URP!  We did not include a shot the cheese course, which came before the dessert.

This meal, and others we had on the road, reminded Jill of the French movie she saw with her Big Sur buddies years ago, La Grande Bouffe, the story of a group of Frenchmen who become bored with their decadent lifestyles and decide to end their lives by eating themselves to death with rich food.  Each man dies by wallowing in utmost pleasure.  We wondered whether the spa offered stomach massage.

Lilacs in front of Chamonix’s Bosson Glacier, the largest icefall in Europe

We strolled through Chamonix village in the morning and . . .

. . . saw some unique gifts, such as this cat with eyes of mice, and . . .

. . . . saw in a Chanel shop . . .

. . . a “make fashion not war” bag made especially for Chamonix.

Well, we were half way through our journey, so it was  time to do the laundry.

No better place to find a lavarie (Laundromat) than in a ski resort.  What a great feeling to have freshly washed clothes.

In the afternoon we took the Aiguille du Midi gondola up to the top of Chamonix to see Mount Blanc.

Here we go, up . . .

. . . and up and . . . .

. . . .up and up 4 flights of stairs.

Because ski season is officially over, these diehard skiers hiked up to the top in order to ski down.  More power to them.  Even in our best day of skiing, we would have never considered this type of grunt sport.

Because we ascended to the top of the mountain so quickly, both of us were suffering from vertigo and shortness of breath. This terrace altitude is 3842m (12,605ft).

We finally stabilized to take in the beauty of Mount Blanc.

The rocky terrain was stunning.

Ah, the French, a bit of wine and cheese on top of the world.

The top of France

Oh, to be young and fearless again

One of several ice caves

After returning to the hotel, we, sporting a twin terrycloth ensemble, made use of the spa.

Jill, reclining below the glacier, gets her daily dose of vitamin D.

The snow above, the water below, makes for an exhilarating day.

In the evening we wandered back to the village to have dinner.  Two classical violinists provided the soundtrack for the evening.

We passed a colorful macaroon shop as . . .

. . . we explored Chamonix’s village streets.

Many shops specialize in cheese, sausage and wine.

We passed a sports bar with an “interesting” playoff.  The second game featured some strangely named teams.

A river runs through the village.

Our dinner spot, La Caleche.  Because Chamonix is so close to Switzerland, Swiss cuisine is popular.

The restaurant provides sheepskin seats to accommodate chilled customers.

Inside the place was a museum of old cookware.

Oh, boy, so much food —  Swiss fondue  — great cheese

The restaurant had a virtual archive of cow bells.

The town eglise (church) glowing at night.  The bells sounded for at least 15 minutes.  We were so glad we made the effort to see Chamonix.  NEXT STOP: Beaune.

À toute à l’heure,

P & J