Day 11, July 16

Breakfast outside on the terrace at Les Suites du Lac.  Gorgeous views of the pool, lake, and the mountains.  I wonder if they have a view tax here?

Breakfast is self serve, although you're assigned table is already set with a basket of croissants, tartines, butter, jellies, and assorted tea bags...they must get a lot of English guests.  Although based on appearance, it looks like more of the five rooms here are occupied with Northern or Eastern Europeans ...fair skin, blond hair.

They added some new occupants to the place too.  Farm animals!  Goats and chickens are just outside our door.  The rooster greeted us this morning with a beautiful wake up call.  He sounds just like an American rooster.  

After breakfast we drove to Chamonix, which is about 125 km from Aix les Bains.  You can take the highway all the way, so we were there in about 90 minutes.

There's one section that's elevated high along the slope of the mountains which last about 3 or 4 miles.  I'm not a fan of driving on tall bridges and this one totally freaked me out...I was petrified on it.  So we returned via a different route.

The weather in Chamonix couldn't have been much better.  The sky was totally clear, although it was hazy due to the heat...it was in the 90's.  We were thrilled to be able to see so much since it was raining during our last visit.

As soon as we arrived we immediately went to station where you can take a train up to Le Montenvers, a tiny village at the end of La Mer de Glace, the largest glacier in the area.  The train ride lasts about 30 minutes and brings you to a height of nearly 2000 meters.  The views got better with every turn.  Absolutely spectacular!

Once we arrived at the end of the train ride, you then take a cable car down to glacier.  However, you still have to walk the final 430 steps to get to the caves that they have carved into the ice.  

Doing our homework paid off, we brought fleece to wear in the caves and it was really necessary, although it was welcome relief from the 90+ temps in Chamonix.  They carve new caves every year because the glacier moves so much each year.  All along the steps to the bottom they have signs showing you where the glacier was in 2010, 2003, 1990, etc.  It's incredible to see how much the glacier has receded each year, and clearly it's receding more ear year. 

The hike back to the train station was a tough one, but the views were worth the effort.  Just incredible.  There's a hotel/restaurant at the top of the train station, so we had lunch there.  Tartiflette, (a potatoes, ham, and cheese casserole) and a cold Heineken.  Great combination after a hike on a hot day.

Chamonix is a true hiking/climbing center in the summer, so there were lots of people who took the train up to  and then hiked along the many trails, some of which go to the summit of Mont Blanc.  On the train ride down there were many climbers covered in ropes, and carabiners..everyone was tired and I think half the passengers were napping for at least part of the ride.  Joni and I closed our eyes for sure.

Once back in Chamonix,  we did some shopping.  Found a store with the same photo that we bought there on our honeymoon in 1973.  Hard to believe.  We took  an ice cream break and amazingly got to watch the last 30 minutes of today's Tour de France  stage which was won by Rui Costa from the Movistar team.  While we were walking around we came upon an orchestra of American high school students from all over the country who were performing in the center of town.  I actually recorded them to.  They were really good.

We took a longer route back to Aix les Bains, skipping the terror inspiring elevated highway and driving through some of the iconic ski villages of the French Alps, Megeve. St.  Gervais, and Praz sur Arly.  The last one we had never heard of but it was the most picturesque of all; chalets everywhere...but much nicer than Mittersill. This route also took us through Annecy, where we will watch stage 20, so we checked out possible viewing spots too.

We arrived in Aix les Bains in time for dinner...we went simple tonight pizza.