We arrived late in the day on Saturday after the long train ride from Paris. We had to change trains multiple times to get here but the scenery was beautiful along the route. Our journey wasn’t without a slight snafu. My brother in law thought the first train left at 11:10am so we arrived at the train station with plenty of time for that departure. Unfortunately our train left at 10:11 and we had just missed it. Martin rushed to the billetes (ticket) counter and made new arrangements for the 11:11 train which had a different route but ended up putting us on the original connection we were supposed to make and we arrived in Mont Blanc right on schedule. Martin is famous for his travel blunders so I expected we would encounter one along the way. Everyone handled it well and then we all agreed we would check all of the departure times ourselves from now on. We didn’t tell Martin that of course!! He has done an amazing job of putting this trip together, choosing all of the hotels, setting the itineraries for the day so we can see as many of the sites as possible and getting us around each town. My sister gets big kudos too because she is great at directions and speaks excellent french so we have had terrific tour guides.
Our hotel was basically a giant alpine ski lodge with cow hide covered ottomans, lots of exposed beams and a huge fireplace. The rooms were very comfortable with views of the mountains from just about every area in the hotel. We also had a view of the train tracks but luckily the last train at night was just before 10pm and the first was around 7am. We are usually just getting to bed around 10 if not later on this trip and up early to get ready for our daily adventures.
Saturday night we only had time to walk a bit through the town and then have dinner. It was lightly sprinkling when we set our for dinner. This was only the second rain event since we got to France. We had one night of rain in Paris when Abigail and I went shoe shopping. That didn’t slow us down!! Chamonix was bustling and full of brassieries (cafe/restaurant) and shops. Many of the restaurants have retractable awnings which came in handy this night because it started to pour as soon as we were seated. We were seated at the front corner of the cafe so as people were rushing to get out of the rain they tried to take a shortcut under the restaurant awning. The short ones were successful but anyone that was tall and didn’t pay attention ended up smacking their head on the awning frame. It was amusing at first but then it got annoying and stressful every time someone came running toward us wondering if they were going to duck or not.
Sunday morning we woke to overcast skies but the weather report had said it would be sunny by 10am, and it was. We headed up the mountain on the cog railway bound for the glacier cave. The train ride was amazing. Talk about steep, but the views were spectacular. Next was the gondola ride down to the level where you could then take what felt like a million stairs to the glacier cave. Along the route there were signs posted showing where the glacier was at various times, 1980, 1990, etc and how much melting had occurred. My sister and Martin were here back in 1994 and they remembered there only being a few sets of stairs to go down to get to the glacier.
The ice cave was lit up with low wattage colored lights and had music piped in through Bose outdoor speakers. It was pretty cool (literally), walking through the cave and seeing how thick it was and also seeing the effects of the weather on the glacier and imagining what it will look like 10 or more years from now. I hope to come back and see it again. After the tour of the cave came the long walk back up to the gondola which took us back up to the train. The gondola ride down was straight down and a bit scary. The ride up not so bad. Dad, Andrew and I opted to get back on the train and head back down to town so we could have lunch and explore the town a bit. Kathy, Martin and the kids decided to hike down. It took them over an hour and a half including taking a wrong path of course. I knew it would take a long time and I much preferred being able to get to see the town before we had to leave the next day. If we were spending another day here I would have enjoyed the hike. I would definitely come here with the intention of hiking if I am able to return sometime.
Mont Blanc offered lots of sporting goods stores, jewelry shops, glace (ice cream) shops and the Maison du Bon Bons, a giant candy store that Andrew was happy to visit. Fourteen euros later we had a bag of candy for the kids to share on the remainder of the trip. My bet is it will be gone in a day. It was getting late so we headed back to the hotel to meet up with the rest of the gang and found that we still had time to sit outside and enjoy an adult beverage while we waited.
Dinner out that night was at a fondue restaurant. I will post separately about that as it is an eating adventure everyone should try at least once in their life.
Croissants and Cafe au Lait 