Chamonix
I had a friend (who I met in Lesotho) in the French Alps region of France near the ski city of Chamonix, so we decided to take advantage of her hospitality and visit her. There was a gondola to go to the very highest point accessible without gear,Aguille du Midi, to see the highest peak in Europe, Mont Blanc.
The Gondola took about 15 minutes to go up to half way, and then we had to switch to another one to get to the top - another ~15 min.
It's hard to believe that people hike up to the top of Mont Blanc and ski down to Chamonix! My friend says she used to do that, taking about 2 hours. But because of too high risk and knowing too many people passing away, she stopped.
You can stand in a glass box and be on top of Europe
Later on, we found that because this day was high avalanch warning day, a couple of people died on that day when we went up from avalanches. :(
Afterwards, we took a train from Chamonix to go to the Mer de Glace glacier ("Sea of Ice")
One of my favorite things that we did was going grocerty shopping and learning to cook some traditional food and just hanging out with my friend and her family.
Couldn't believe how many kinds of cheese there are! Apparently, the cheeses can only be from certain regions of France because the cows have to eat a certain kind of grass or food specifically grown in that region.
My cooking lesson: fish and veggies
On our cloudy day, we went to visit one of the popular and most well guarded castles in Switzerland, Chateau Chillon:
The dungeonc where Lord Byron's name is found. Lord Byron also wrote a poem about the Prisoner of Chillon.
The toilet! Look how deep it goes!
We also walked around Geneva a bit:
Did some snowshoeing at Plaine-Joux (Passy) -wish we did some skiiing too! This place is supposed to have the best view of the Alps, but sadly, it was cloudy...
We had so much fun during this trip! Even though winter was very cold, it was so beautiful and pristine!
I had a friend (who I met in Lesotho) in the French Alps region of France near the ski city of Chamonix, so we decided to take advantage of her hospitality and visit her. There was a gondola to go to the very highest point accessible without gear,Aguille du Midi, to see the highest peak in Europe, Mont Blanc.
The Gondola took about 15 minutes to go up to half way, and then we had to switch to another one to get to the top - another ~15 min.
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| Getting ready to go up the gondola |
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| Town of Chamonix, one of the first Winter Olympic locations |
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| Up first Gondola, watching some skiiers go down |
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| Made it to the top of Aguille du Midi!!! Mont Blanc on left |
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| Mont Blanc on right |
It's hard to believe that people hike up to the top of Mont Blanc and ski down to Chamonix! My friend says she used to do that, taking about 2 hours. But because of too high risk and knowing too many people passing away, she stopped.
You can stand in a glass box and be on top of Europe
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| View of Chamonix below, and Europe |
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| Snow cave! Museum on top showing how they built it! |
Later on, we found that because this day was high avalanch warning day, a couple of people died on that day when we went up from avalanches. :(
Afterwards, we took a train from Chamonix to go to the Mer de Glace glacier ("Sea of Ice")
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| Traditional sweet at Chamonix, like nuggat |
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| Chamonix town |
One of my favorite things that we did was going grocerty shopping and learning to cook some traditional food and just hanging out with my friend and her family.
Couldn't believe how many kinds of cheese there are! Apparently, the cheeses can only be from certain regions of France because the cows have to eat a certain kind of grass or food specifically grown in that region.
My cooking lesson: fish and veggies
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| Delicious cheese, jam, and bread for breakfast. Mmmm...Roque forte cheese! |
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| Look at this cool fondue machine! |
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| Awesome hosts! |
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| So many flavors of ice cream! |
On our cloudy day, we went to visit one of the popular and most well guarded castles in Switzerland, Chateau Chillon:
The dungeonc where Lord Byron's name is found. Lord Byron also wrote a poem about the Prisoner of Chillon.
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| Lord Byron carved name here |
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| Dining room |
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| Room of the coat of arms |
The toilet! Look how deep it goes!
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| Different card games played at the time |
We also walked around Geneva a bit:
Did some snowshoeing at Plaine-Joux (Passy) -wish we did some skiiing too! This place is supposed to have the best view of the Alps, but sadly, it was cloudy...
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| Small lake |
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| Didint realize till the way back that we were wearing the shoes incorrectly -- no wonder we were so tired! |
We had so much fun during this trip! Even though winter was very cold, it was so beautiful and pristine!