Au revoir Chamonix

Travel days are never fun, and it's especially hard leaving a place that you really like....but we know what lays ahead, so packing the car wasn't as depressing as it could have been. Chamonix turned out to be a fantastic place with so much to see and do...we are already making a mental checklist of the things we would do the next time we are there.

Before hitting the road we decided to walk around and snap a few more pics

 

Jo wanted to hook up with some guides....these ones were about her speed

 

The first ever winter Olympic Games were held in Chamonix in 1924. We decided to swing by for a few podium shots

 

Proof that Canadians visit Chamonix....we think

And one last shot for the road....this is a small foot bridge that crosses the Arve river.

Then we hopped in the car and hit the road. Up and over the Col de Montets...tons of great places to hike, and almost more motorcycles than cars. Note to self....come back and do a bike tour of the Alps! It didn't take long and we were in Switzerland and driving through the vineyards around Martigny. Then up and over the Col de Forclaz....I love driving these roads, but I'm not so sure that Jo shares that sentiment. If you come to Europe and rent a car you need to be a pretty comfortable/confident driver to tackle to mountain passes. If you are, then you're in for a ton of fun....wait for the drive from Switzerland to Italy next week :-)

It didn't take long and we made the turn I to our favourite place on earth. The Lauterbrunnen Valley is a gem and although I've been to many interesting places, it's somewhere that I will always come back to. It just feels like you're home when you enter and the valley opens up before you.

We checked into our usual spot and went for a short walk around town. Not too many changes since we were here last, which is good because we love it the way it is. We picked up a few supplies at the local store and snapped a few pics....not many as the best is yet to come.

 

 

After unpacking a few things we headed for dinner......yum!

 

Oh and a frosty beverage to wind down after the drive

Then we went for a stroll along the river which runs the length of the valley. We managed to spot a few BASE jumpers doing their thing.....I still want to drive that some day. We got back to town just in time for the Swiss National Day festivities. We staked out a seat outside our hotel and the marching band stopped to play a song just for us, at least that's what we told ourselves. After the band, the Swiss maidens, the mountaineers, the trappers and the yodellers went by then all of the towns residents and tourists joined in behind. We all marched down towards the sport centre.....as this was happening there were bonfires being lit along the way...out in farmers fields and in the middle of the sheer rock walls of the valley.

We all reached the end of the route and there was a massive bonfire burning there. It's hard to judge scale from the picture, but the structure itself was about 40 feet tall and the flames close to twice that height

After some speeches by dignitaries, a round of yodelling, and the Swiss National Anthem, a fireworks show started. To say it was amazing is an understatement. Not only was it a great display of fireworks, but to see them light up the 300 meter tall sheer rock walls around Staubbach Falls was a real treat. Even more impressive was the sound that reverberated up and down the valley with every blast. At the same time fireworks were going off in the little towns that sit atop the high cliffs. It was a full on 360 degree sounds and light show.

In addition to the official show, all the residents are having parties and setting of fireworks. It's been over and hour and it's still going on. If you ever get the change, be in the town of Lauterbrunnen on August 1st!

And now it's off to sleep......the Swiss Alps are calling our name.

 

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Chamonix...and outdoor lovers paradise

They say that many of life's important decisions are made while sitting on the john. Well I decided that today would be another great day....cause this is the view from that very spot

 

We were both feeling a little tired from our epic hike yesterday, so we decided to checkout some of the other things to do around Chamonix. A short walk down the road from our hotel we decided to hang out for a bit

 

After Jo had reached the end of her rope we figured that another vantage point would be a good idea

 

Back on terra firma it was getting really hot so we decided to cool off.....come on Jo, would you keep up

 

Once we dried out it was time for another walkabout. The hanging flower baskets in Victoria ain't got nothing on Chamonix!

 

We strolled around town a bit, taking a few pics to give you a feel for the place

 

 

We stopped along the way to get a picture for Graysen who loves the dune buggy at Mont Tremblant

Then we hit the trails again. This time it was a much gentler trail leading north through the Chamonix Valley. We followed several rivers and were treated to some amazing views along the way

 

The great thing about hiking in the mountains is that you come across ice cold fresh mountain water all over the place...and on a hot day like this we couldn't get enough of it!

 

After going a bit further we reached the town of Les Tines where we decided it would be a good idea to take advantage of our hotel guest cards....they allow you to ride the trains all up and down the valley for free. We hopped on and went south to Servoz where we checked out a very small chapel, and some ruins of a very old chateau

 

 

Then we ride the train back to Chamonix and returned to our hotel for a little nap.......all this fun stuff is tiring! Around 7:00 we decided we should find something to eat......they can tell you're from North America if you want to eat supper that early. Most people here don't sit down until at least 8:00. We ate at a great restaurant in the Hotel Vert. Jo had a smoked salmon salad with beef bourgignon and I had some French beef topped with crumbled blue cheese....oh and wine, mmmm!

Then we went for a stroll through town again. The terraces were starting to fill up as the sun was setting on the mountains

When we hit the town square we stumbled across an outdoor concert in front of the casino. U2, Floyd, the Stones, Black Eyed Peas.....these guys were rockin it out and sounded great. It was only when we got closer that we saw that they were all under 15 years old...wow! And one of the highlights was the 75 + year old French woman who was bustin a move and showing the crown how to dance

 

All in all another fun filled day in Chamonix. If you love anything to do with the outdoors (including eating and drinking) then you would love Chamonix. And now we need some sleep.....it's off to Switzerland tomorrow to celebrate Swiss National Day!

 

Disclaimer: No Daves or Jos were injured during the making of this blog. Stunt doubles may have been used as stand ins for some of the scenes posted above.

 

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First day in the alpine

As promised yesterday it was time for a serious hike. Aujourdui nous sommes

 

We started with a healthy breakfast at the hotel

 

Then we checked out the view from our room again while gearing up......ho hum

 

Then we set off on our adventure. We picked up a few supplies in town then headed towards one of the many trailheads right in Chamonix village. We wanted to see Lac Blanc as it's considered to be one of the classic hikes in the area. Most people take a gondola then a chairlift to get up to the start of the Lac Blanc trail....but we're not most people. We started at the valley floor and hiked the whole way.

To say that it was a steep trail would be an understatement. It just kept going up and up and up. But we were rewarded with a lot of nice sights along the way.

First mountain hut along the path where you could get food and drink

 

 

From there we continued to climb until we hit the sub-alpine with some great wildflowers

 

 

We hiked up above the gondola station

 

And then higher into the alpine region

 

Eventually we ran into snow

 

And finally we arrived at Lac Blanc, a gorgeous little alpine lake. We took a few pics, and stopped by the mountain hut for a cool drink and the pie of the day ;-)

 

A few more pics and it was time to hit the trail again

 

 

We made our way back down to the gondola station and figured that we could live with taking the lazy route the rest of the way back down. It wasn't long and we were back in town trying to track down Jo's ancestors

 

We picked up some much needed fluids and headed back to the hotel for a well deserved shower. We decided to try the restaurant for supper, and we were glad we did. Just what we needed after a really long hike.....did I mention a total elevation gain of 1,766 meters....ouch!

 

 

 

And now we are back in our room, sipping on some wine and watching the sun set over Mont Blanc from our balcony. Le sigh!

 

Bonnie nuit toute le monde. Nous souhaitons que vous pourriez être ici!

 

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First day in Chamonix

The storm hadn't let up when we got up but that wasn't going to slow us down. First stop was breakfast in the hotel restaurant, and it was awesome. Lots of fresh fruit, meats and cheeses, croissants, muslix and yogurt....and really strong coffee! Will get some pics of the spread and the view tomorrow.

After breakfast we got geared up in our gore-tex and wandered around town for a bit. Even when the weather isn't great it's a happening town and all kinds of people were headed up to the mountains.

Small hotel on the Arve river

One of the many colourful buildings

Murals, very similar to Old Quebec City

Then we hit some of the local outdoors shops and Jo scored a great deal. 35 Euros for a pair of nice waterproof hiking boots. We headed back to the hotel so she could swap shoes, then after a wee nap we geared up and headed out for a hike. We had picked up a trail map from the Tourism office and we decided to explore part of the Petit Balcon Sud. It was a great little warmup hike and the sun popped out for a while.

Jo striking a pose

Some ruins along the way

Where's Waldo?

Dave enjoying the view

Looking down over Chamonix on the way back down

We made our way back to town and explored a bit more. Here is the train station with some peaks in the background

We grabbed a bite to eat, then stopped to get some wine and cheese to enjoy on the balcony later. Yesterday we wondered if it was ok the have a frankfurter in Frankfurt....today we want to know if it's ok to Whack a Frog in France, hmm!

 

Then after some yummy gelato we headed back for the night........tomorrow we go to the alpine, that's right....way up there!

 

 

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And so it begins

Europe 2013 has begun!

We decided to fly out in the evening so we would arrive at a decent hour. The flight from Ottawa to Frankfurt wasn't bad at all. We had a nice meal once we were up to cruising altitude and then we both settled in to watch a movie. Sony headphones with intelligent noise cancelling technology were amazing. I picked up a few sets from Dell when they had one of their Dell Days events. First I put them on without turning them on. The sound was great, but when I switched them on they became awesome. It was like someone turned off the jet engines. After the movie I settled in to sleep. Jo did the spastic worm all the way to Frankfurt. Frankfurt airport is huge and you can buy almost anything you can imagine there. We thought it was a little funny that you could have a frankfurter in Frankfurt. We managed to find our next gate and then Jo had a little nap before the short flight to Lyon.

Lyon is a great little airport to fly into. You can rent a car or hop on the train and get anywhere you want to in no time flat. We picked up our rental car and hit the road. I had plugged all the routes into my GPS before leaving home, but we decided to take a more scenic route to Chamonix instead of taking the toll highways. A quick change of the GPS settings and it recalculated a route to avoid toll highways. This added about an hour to the drive but it was so worth it! We drove through some really scenic little villages along the way and spotted some of the roads that we had watched the Tour de France riders on a few weeks before. The Gorge d'Arly was especially spectacular and it was a blast to drive with a sporty car.

We arrived in Chamonix around 7:00 and had no problem finding our hotel at all. It's a great little hotel that caters to mountaineers. We have a balcony and we look right at the glacier on Mont Blanc from our room. We unpacked them wandered around town and got a baguette with cheese and meat for a snack before calling it a night. Just after we got back to our room the skies opened up and we were treated to a spectacular mountain storm. The thunder echoed down the valley and it sounded like a cannon. Lightning storms in the mountains are our fav....as long as you're in a nice warm room and not up on the mountain.

Leaving Ottawa at night makes for a really long travel day, but by the time you're ready to settle in it's already the next night so you adjust to the new time zone pretty quickly. Well that's day 1 in the books. Time to drift off as the storm echoes up and down the valley. Bonne nuit Chamonix.

Pics and adventures starting tomorrow :-)

Europe 2013

The countdown is on. Gear lists are being checked, routes are being planned. Europe, here we come!