You Don't Need Snow For Thrills on The Slopes


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August 6th 2013
Published: August 6th 2013
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The Alpine LugeThe Alpine LugeThe Alpine Luge

The roller-coaster on the ski slopes near Chamonix
Since we're in France, it would be rude not to have croissants for breakfast, so I went to the local pastry shop first thing to get some. As you would expect they were a lot nicer than what we are used to from Tesco back in England.

Whilst the others went for a swim, I went for a walk on one of the paths up the side of the hill / mountain near the edge of the town. It was really hard going, probably due to the air being thinner than I am used to and nothing to do with the croissants that I have been eating. Anyway, there were some excellent views, although mostly the path was surrounded by trees and where there was a gap in the trees, the cable-car cables spoilt any potential photograph opportunities.

According to our official itinerary, which we compiled yesterday, we were going to the Alpine Luge today, which is basically a roller coaster built on what is almost certainly the bottom of a ski-run. It's very, very similar to the one that we found in Kaprun two years ago (Why Ski Down The Slopes When You Can Coast Down?).

We got tickets for the kids to have six goes and then my wife and I could sit and chill, and read our books, whilst they enjoyed that. Unfortunately for them, they couldn't take the six goes straight after each other. They had to get off each time and then go back to the end of the queue and wait. It meant that it took them easily a couple of hours to have their goes. Also unfortunately, there was a thunderstorm, which meant that the ride had to close for a while, for obvious reasons, and we all had to shelter from the rain until it was all over and the ride could be opened-up again.

The only curry house in Chamonix is very close to where we are staying so it was the collective decision that we all wanted to go for a curry in the evening. It was an excellent curry, so French food is exceptional even when it comes to a curry. We chose to sit outside, which was cool and very civilised. You don't get to sit outside enjoying stunning views of snow-capped mountains at the curry houses in Hemel Hempstead Old Town.

It was also, however, easily the most expensive curry we have ever had, by quite a considerable margin. We didn't even have much to drink and it still came to €99. Nice as it was, we won't be going back there again unfortunately.

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