Across the Border and Back

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Today we took the cable car and then the ski lift up to Col de Balme, a very green, grassy, hilly area further up the valley. A col is the saddle of a mountain. There were cows with huge cow bells where we hopped on the cable car, further up we saw a mare and her colt. There are flowers everywhere, but we don't think we saw any edelweiss - plenty of white flowers but they didn't look like the botanical drawings on the back of our map... none the less, Cathleen had a hard time not singing any tune from the Sound of Music -- the opening scene of that movie,where Maria sings "the hills are alive" is EXACTLY what the Col de Balme looks like. We hiked up the col, crossing into Switzerland and up to the Tete de Balme, and then back into France and back down to the cable car. It was beautiful, but a little cold and overcast. The snow has melted so recently that the ground is still spongy and wet (a woman we talked with yesterday said it snowed as recently as two weeks ago).

Yesterday, we had the intention of hiking to a glacial lake near the Flegere lift, but icy snow on steep terrain made us chicken out (we have two sweet little girls to come home to). We ended up taking the ski lift halfway or so back down, and then hiking along a really nice trail, winding up in the next village up the valley, Argentiere. We passed a great waterfall and didn't regret our change of plans a bit.

We really like Chamonix but we are feeling ready to come home, missing our girls a little more with each day that passes. We will try to check in one last time from France, but if not, we'll definitely send an update from home. Thanks for your comments and hello's to us!

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Photos

C & D on the Tete de Balme
Chamonix Valley far below...

Going up?
Looking down onto the town of Chamonix from the Flegere cablecar.

Col de Balme with the mountains across the Valley
Where is Maria?

On the border
One foot in France, one foot in Switzerland...

Trail across the snow
Notice the grace in her step...

Dan with the Col de Balme
Col de Balme behind Dan with the high mountains beyond.

X marks the spot
Dan getting in touch with his primal roots... can we blame the altitude?

Col de Balme again
Isn't it beautiful??

Back porch of our apartment
Cathleen from across the river... where the Tibetan prayer flags are.