Saturday in Chamonix

 It is hard to believe that today is the last official day of the tour. We will have one more day on our own after that.

View from my window of the sunrise on the mountains.

We had to move along this morning.  Our reservation for going up on the Aiguille du Midi cable car was for 7:25 am.  We had number 11.  Luckily, we did not have to walk far.  But we started off in the wrong direction, so I was worried that we would miss our turn.  I am not good at running.  But I walked as fast as I could.  Nathan ran ahead.  They were running a little late, so we ended out being ok.  Also, they were not rigid like things were in Germany. This was the cable car that would take us up the Mont Blanc.  It took 2 cable car rides to get there.

From the halfway point, we just continued on.  We planned to stop there on our way back down.  

Once at the top, we bought tickets to go across the glacier to Pointe Helbronner, Italy.  It was a 40-minute 4-person  gondola ride.  They were letting people go in their own groups so Nathan and I could be in one gondola.  

It was 40 minutes of constant photography.  Gorgeous scenery.  

Hikers galore

They did the gondolas in sets of 3.

We ended out taking pictures of the woman in the gondola in front of us and she took pictures of us.  We exchanged pictures once we got to Italy.

This is the one she took of us.

We took pictures from all sides of the station.

People had their dogs, and dogs get dehydrated too.

Ahh, a little relaxation.  I was feeling a little weird with the high altitude (11,371 feet). Then we headed back to the France side, with another 40-minute ride.  

Believe it or not, there were climbers on this wall.

We headed down the first leg.

Once we got to the halfway point we went for a sit-down. The Bar Plan de l'Aiguille was open.

It was good to sit down, I was feeling some effects from the high altitude.  We had gotten up to 11,371 feet!!

After our rest break, we hiked down to a place for lunch that Rick Steves had recommended, the Refuge du Plan de l'Aiguille. 

Chamonix down below.

Nice "easy" trail.

We saw these huge water bladders filled with water.  I am not sure what they were for.  

It was a cute place and the food was good.  We thought that we were ordering a side salad and bread and cheese gratin.  Apparently, the bread and cheese gratin came with a side salad and then they also brought bread.  Too much.  We shared the gratin and we gave the bread to the guys who ended out sharing our table.

It was very good.

The WC was a little odd.  The urinal was right by the hand-washing sink.  Very exposed.  But there was one stall.  

Of course, then we had to hike back up after lunch.  

These flowers are Alpenroses. They are in the rhododendron family.  Stopping to take pictures is my way to catch my breath.

Once we got back to the midway point again, we headed down in a cable car to Chamonix. 

We were down by about 1 pm.  So we headed off to our next thing.   We walked to a different station and got the cogwheel train to go to the Mer de Glace or glacier. So we finally did get a cogwheel train ride.  The ice caves are manmade in the glacier.

Note the teeth in the tracks; this is for the cogs to grip onto.

We ended out sitting with Bob and Suzanne, who are part of our group.  They live in Beaverton.

It was a half-hour train ride. We had to do a bunch of stairs and another cable car to go down to the glacier. 

They showed pictures of how the glacier has shrunk.  It used to fill this valley even 30 years ago.

Going into the ice cave.

They did something with the lighting so all of our pictures in one area were blue.

They have a covering over the glacier to help reduce the melting.  

In a way, this was a full circle, since we had gone to the ice caves in Salzburg.  Nice bookends.  Though this one was much easier to do.  This was man-made, and the one in Salzburg was natural.

Once we got back up to the top, we had a sit-down.  Lemonade and a cookie at le Panoramique Mer de Glace

We went on a short walk since we had to wait for the train anyway.

Here comes the train.  

We got back to our hotel in Chamonix about 5 pm.

After being so cool up on the mountain, it seemed pretty hot in Chamonix.  Luckily, it cools off nicely in the evening.

We were having a goodbye happy hour with Laurel at 5:30 pm.  Most everyone came down for that.  Some didn't stay long because they are leaving early tomorrow. We had one free drink (I had a Hugo) and the hotel provided some cheese, veggies, hummus, and a meat tray.  We brought our Gruyere cheese to share.  That was fun.  I found that I had gotten to know this group much better than any other previous Rick Steves groups.  

With all of the snacks, Nathan and I decided that we did not need dinner.  I have been eating too much.  We went back to our rooms.  I had a chance to work on my blog.  Nathan went on an evening walk.

Today was a 6.8 mile day.  I was in shorts even when we went up to the mountains.  I did put on a sweater, and I did change from my sandals to my tennies. Nathan was nice enough to carry my shoes around when I wasn't using them.  I have been wearing my sandals almost all of the time.  They are more comfortable.

I did not pack correctly for this trip.  I was anticipating more cold weather in the mountain areas.  I brought several layers that I did not need. I could have used another pair of shorts. Oh well.  You never know about the weather. I definitely should have brought my travel tea kettle. But I also should have packed lighter.  It was tiring to drag my suitcase and bag around between the bus and the hotels.