Back on the track & "Allez Zizou, allez"

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It's not as if it were a life long dream. I only heard about this trek less than 2 months ago. But since I did I wanted to do it. Tour du Mont Blanc. A 180 km circuit around the highest mountain in Europe. It must be beautiful and it's definitely challenging. I just had to go. My friends Dana and Ron decided to join me, and so on a nice Saturday morning we met in the airport and flew to Chamonix.
Sunday was a warm up day, with a nice short hike to Lac Blanc. We debated whether to take the easy way, a cable-car to the top (L'Index) and go down, but Ron insisted on starting from the middle station (Le Flegere) which meant about 2 hours climb (500 m), in a beautiful scenery. Lac Blanc itself is absolutely rewarding. It's half covered with snow, and there's plenty of snow around it. We had picnic and then hot chocolate in the restaurant, something very rewarding by itself...

Sunday night, world cup final, France against Italy. When we booked the trip we decided we didn't want to miss the match, so we planned to watch it in Chamonix and start trekking the day after. At the time, nobody even dreamt that France will make it to the final. But they did, and we joined a big French crowd in a local sports bar to watch it together. The ambience was fantastic. "Allez les Bleus", "Allez Zizou", "oui", "non", the crowd participated in the match. The end, as you might know was disappointing. Despite having played really well, France didn't make it. With unhappy faces everybody went home. They'll try again in 2010. For me it was only half of the fantastic experience I was hoping for, but it was still fun, lots of fun.

(The post was written in real time on my pocket PC and posted in an Internet-Cafe at La Fouly, Switzerland. Pictures will be added when I get home)

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Photos

Lac Blanc
The guy beside me volunteered to join the picture, my secret admirer :-)

On the way up
I don't look as if it was easy for me.. Ron likes taking unnoticed pictures

Is she crazy???
It's a bit small but take a good look: they wear bikinis. It was cold up there and water temperature was near freezing point. What the hell?

And upper Lac Blanc, really white
A group pictures, all of us happy hikers!

I'm preparing the group photo!
Did I say Ron liked to take unnoticed pictures? Well I did notice this one :-)

Another one on the way
Here I look happier, probably just had some rest