Day 7 - Chamonix to Stresa, Italy

---

Well, we woke up to a beautiful morning here in Chamonix. Our plans this morning were to have breakfast, check in with the para gliding school, and for Sandy to do laundry. So, after a wonderful breakfast, we took off to find the laundromat. The first one we found only allowed you to drop off your clothes and come back later in the day, as they would do the laundry. Took off from there, and finally found another one. Although most of the machines were broken, Sandy managed to find one that worked and got started while I took off to call the school.. Hooray, they advised that the flight was on,and I left for the gondola to meet my pilot. The lines to get on the gondola were incredibly long, but we managed to sneak our way to the head of the line. After getting off at the top of the mountain, we walked a short distance down, and set up the glider near the edge of a cliff. Kevin, my pilot, gave me a briefing on what needed to be done, and strapped me in my harness. We were ready to go, so after I double checked that I was attached to him, we took a few steps forward and the canopy inflated, then we ran off the edge of the cliff an were flying. This was truly amazing, being 3000’ above the Chamonix valley. The views were incredible and the flight was way too short.

After landing, I met Sandy, John and Diane, bid my pilot goodbye , and we went to lunch, which was very good, except for Diane’s. She ordered a hot dog. What came out did not resemble any hot dog that I’ve ever seen. It was inedible.

Back to the car for our journey to Stresa. Shortly after leaving Chamonix, we arrived at the Mont Blanc tunnel. This is cut right though the mountain, with Italy on the other side. The toll to get in was $55 euro, and we drove for 15 minutes before exiting. The scenery on the other side was spectacular, as we we driving through the western portion of the Alps. We went through a total of 32 more tunnels on our way.

Arriving in Stresa, we found that the GPS would not recognize the address Of our hotel. After driving from one end of the hotel district to the other three times, I finally stopped at a hotel To get directions. I was immediately greeted by a uniformed gentleman who opened my door and welcomed us to the hotel. This place was spectacular, had to be a 10 star hotel. I told the man that I wasn’t staying, just wanted information. I went to the front desk and was greeted by three lovely young ladies. They googled the hotel and directed me on how to get there. Leaving, they said to come back and have wine and dinner. I wanted to tell them I would, as soon as I won the powerball.

So, we finally got to our hotel, which was nice, but not like the one I just left. We settled in our room, went down for a glass of wine, and took off for dinner, at a restaurant recommended by Alex, our concierge. In fact he was our bell cap, our desk person and our bar tender as well, all at 19 years old. Very nice young man and extremely competent.

The drive to the restaurant was our usual odessey. The road was narrow and windy as we made our way up a mountain. Just when we thought we were lost, we saw a sign for the restaurant encouraging us to go on.We finally got there, and parking was the usual challenge.

The food and wine were outstanding. The view would have been also, but it was raining. It’s funny the difference in serving sizes from France to Italy. In France the servings are adequate, but small. Here, we had trouble finishing our Caesar salad, let alone the entree.

Leaving the restaurant, I plugged our hotel into the GPS using just the hotel name, and it accepted it. So we took off in the heavy rain down the most narrow streets I’ve ever seen. At one point, we had to go between a parked car and a stone wall. There was literally 1 inch between us and the wall, and less than that to the car. After that, we started to climb, and realized that this wasn’t the way we came in. As there was no way to turn around, I kept going, climbing into the clouds, with the rain beating on the windshield.

Long story short, we finally made it to the hotel, but not before my three passengers bit off all their nails. Visibility was about 5 feet most of the way, with constant hair pin turns.
Arriving back, we just hit the sack, with the blog waiting till morning.

I forgot to mention that Stresa is on Lake Maggiore and is quite beautiful.

---

Comments

[Joan]

Happy to see your blog this morning got concerned when it siding arrive earlier pictures are beautiful Happy Ray was able to get his ride in These streets are giving me anxiety just reading about them enjoy your day

[Jan]

Pictures get more awesome each time I read your blog. A wonderful and experience and I am not even there, Al tho I feel I am. Safe travels and keep sending Those beautiful pics..thanks 😘you’re getting real good at all the tiny roads,

[Margaret]

Pictures are amazing....describing auto travel makes my eye water and not from laughing. Nice to have a competent driver.. Have fun..See you soon. M