Annecy

On our way from Southern France to Chamonix in the French Alps, we stopped overnight in Annecy. We didn’t know it before, but this is a popular resort city on a nice lake in the mountains.

In Chamonix we took another cable car ride with great views of Mont Blanc and Aiguille du Midi.

On the way to Interlaken, Switzerland, I planned in a 4 hour layover in Montreux, Switzerland. I don’t know much about Montreux except that it’s on Lake Geneva, and there’s a cool castle there called Chateau de Chillon. So we stored our luggage in lockers and checked out the castle. The castle is pretty big with lots of different rooms to explore. I could totally see me and my brothers as kids running around playing tag or hide and seek in this castle (or better yet, ghosts in the graveyard at night!). The castle is situated on a rock jutting out into the lake, with mountains in the background. Different parts of the castle are different ages, with the oldest tower is from the 12th century.

We spent 3 nights in the “Jungfrau” region of Switzerland (in the center near Interlaken, in the Alps). Unfortunately it was cloudy or hazy most of the time, so even though we got some good views of the mountains, the photos never really worked out. But it was obvious that this area is very beautiful. If we hadn’t just spent 5 days in the mountains in Chamonix and the weather was better, I think we would have spent a lot more time here. Maybe it’s a place we can come back to some day.

One day we went up a cable car to the Schilthorn mountain, and the other day we went “mountain” biking. That’s in quotes because basically we rented mountain bikes but spent most of the time on paved roads.  Unfortunately we haven’t found any real mountain biking in Europe yet… if anyone knows of a place with real single track dirt trails, let us know!

I’m not usually afraid of heights, but this cable car ride got my heart beating!  At the end it’s almost completely vertical.

The views from the top were amazing, and we had great weather so we could see really far.  We made our way around to a bunch of different viewing areas, and had fun watching the rock climbers and hikers.  We even saw a couple paragliders take off from a ridge at the top.

At one point, we asked a man to take a photo for us.  He had a really nice camera and a big tripod, so we thought he’d do a good job (selecting the right person is crucial).  He tried using our camera but wasn’t happy, so he asked if he could use our compact flash card in his camera instead.  He proceeded to take a bunch of professional quality photos of us.  Score!

After that, we rode the cable car half way down and got off to hike.  We basically hiked across this entire ridge (first photo below).  At the end was the Mer de Glace glacier.  Each year a cave is carved into the ice, allowing visitors to actually walk inside a glacier.  It was a little touristy, but still I thought it was pretty cool just to be that close to a glacier.  On the way down, there were signs showing the level the glacier used to be at – it’s amazing how much it’s shrunk just in 10 years.  Also, the glacier is still flowing downhill (90 meters/year) so you can see where the previous ice caves were carved.

]]> http://www.benandalonna.com/2009/09/the-top-of-the-alps/feed/ 4 http://www.benandalonna.com/2009/09/taking-it-easy-in-chamonix/ http://www.benandalonna.com/2009/09/taking-it-easy-in-chamonix/#comments Tue, 08 Sep 2009 08:04:51 +0000 Alonna http://www.benandalonna.com/?p=1154 The view from our mountain chalet in Chamonix:

Our first stop in the Alps is on the French side, in a popular resort town called Chamonix (sham-oh-nee). The tallest mountain in the alps, Mont Blanc (15,781 ft), is right outside our door. In fact I see it right now as I type this and eat breakfast:

After almost non-stop sightseeing, Ben and I were in need of a break. It turns out that backpacking is a little bit of work – just figuring out where to stay, how to take trains and metros, and finding affordable food, takes a decent amount of time and effort. Driving was a little stressful as well, so finally we both just wanted to plop down somewhere and take it easy.

Chamonix was next on our list anyway, so we booked 2 nights at a small hostel-like chalet… we’re now going on our 4th night and are considering a 5th. We couldn’t have found a better place to settle down for a few days. The chalet has 3 guest rooms, but after the first two nights, we are the only ones left. The manager, Oliver, lives downstairs and we’ve had a good time hanging out and talking with him. Did I mention the view? The living room has huge windows with a panoramic view of the mountain range. It’s spectacular. And that’s not really a word I use often.

So that’s where we are now. Yesterday we had an amazing day hiking and riding a gondola to the top of a peak next to Mont Blanc.  I’ll post photos soon…