Blogs from Chamonix, Rhône-Alpes, France, Europe - page 2

Bonjour mon amis, comment ca va? Thanks for being so patient for my next travel blog. Saturday May 21st - Last weekend myself and some friends went to Austria to visit a family. We traveled along the German Auto bond Highway east across Germany to Austria. I was surprised in a few ways traveling along the Auto bond. First, I was shocked to see that this highway stretch we traveled along only had 2 lanes going in each direction. I must have “hyped up” the lore of the Auto bond that I’m sure most Americans have. Another observation is how strictly the travelers follow the rules of passing on the left lane and once done passing moving your vehicle to the right lane on the Auto bond. It was refreshing to see this especially because I’ve ... read more

Not having been away for a while and to coincide with our 1st anniversary as a married couple (and the Bank Holiday weekend) we took advantage of the kind offer from Jo and Paul to spend a weekend in Argentiere. The sales pitch was relatively easy, skiing in sunshine, sunbathing if we didn't feel like skiing and lots of tasty food thrown in, all in the beautiful Chamonix Valley and spacious homely apartment! (click on the link below, it might be available over the coming summer/winter but gets booked up quickly) Paul's Apartment Deal done and flights booked we left work on time on Friday evening and after a few delays at the airport (not the volcano this time) we got to Geneva and picked up the hire car! Paul was really chuffed when at the ... read more

Friday, September 11, 2009 Marseille, France to Chamonix-Mont Blanc (via Lyon and St. Gervais le Bains) After class on Friday, I packed a bag for the weekend, and set out for the train station to get a ticket to Chamonix-Mont Blanc. This is a ski resort town in the winter months and a popular place in the summer for seeing the mountains and glaciers. My train reservation took me through the city of Lyon, France (2 hours from Marseille if I remember correctly) where I caught a connecting train to a town called St. Gervais les Bains. From here I caught yet another connecting train to Chamonix-Mont Blanc. The train ride from Marseille to Lyon was the TGV (high speed train ) in the first class car. The Eurail Railpass is a great money saver for ... read more

After a pretty decent French breakfast, coffee, croissants, cheese, jam, and more coffee, we decided to make more use of the cablecar passes to access some good walking. Not as high as yesterday, but yesterday we were well above the snow line and we do not have the gear for walking on ice. Equally neither of us have acclimatised to altitude so staying below 3,000 metres was probably a very good idea if we were going to be taking potentially tough exercise. Two connecting cable cars took us up to Brevent at just over 2,500 metres. A little below the snow line though there were some large patches of ice and snow in places. Initially there were some lichens on the rocks but not much else. We dropped back on foot to Planpraz (which is where ... read more

After having a quick breakfast in Dijon, we set off to Chamonix/Mont Blanc on the France/Italy border. If you think Mont-Tremblant is nice, you will simply love Chamonix. It's like tremblant only 100 times bigger and, well, its the French alps!!!! We got the and it started to drizle but nothing that would stop us from walking around. Not much was going on there since it was a Monday and not their peak season, so it was perfect for us!!! On the side of Chamonix, which the highest peak in France, there's a massive glacier which is absolutely stunning. it was a little too cold for us to go up to the peak of chamonix also, it was raining so the view would have been a little foggy so we will have to go again!!!!... read more