More Chamonix - More Mountains - More Pics...

August 16, 2013 - More Chamonix


So we're on our way back to Chamonix. We were quite taken with the town, and we thought that, since we're on the back end of our trip (we leave on the 18th to go back home), it would be nice to putter around the town. 

Art in the Square

Hubby thought it would be a great idea to get a day-pass so that we could take in some of the mountains, perhaps ride the tramways and gondolas and generally get up in the air. For you wags and wits: The caption of the first picture is "Art in the Square" and NO, I don't think this man is not to my knowledge named Art...

1:15 p.m. -- I'm half-way up to the top of one of the highest peaks. I'm stopping and waiting for Hubby, who has decided to go higher. 

In true disclosure, I meant to get more fit for this trip. Really, I did. I lost a lot of weight, and that was good. But I didn't really exercise as much as I should have. Hubby tried to encourage me, but in all honesty: it didn't happen. My stamina wasn't where it should have been and it's my own darned fault. 

However, we're here. I just refuse to berate myself for it. It is what it is. I have to acknowledge that I didn't do what I thought I should have, and also -- I have to listen to my own body. I tell my yoga students that all the time: Honor what your body is telling you.

Square

And mine, today, was telling me to wait for Hubby; I have had some trouble with stairs and the thin air. It was just more comfortable for me to perch myself on the handy boulder next to the steps and acknowledge that my legs were shaking. I'm sitting here watching clouds float by my face. There's glacier training and crevasse training going on below me. This stop was our alternate because the lot at Aiguille du Midi was packed. This is approximately the spot from which Hubby did his Leap. 

Walking down the street

Interesting: the sun is quite bright, but the breeze is very chilly. I can see a peak where, at the very top, it's split into 3 borders. Will have to ask Hubby what it is; Caroline, his pilot, told him. I forgot what he told me.

These people are all over the glacier like ants! It's so bright that I don't even feel like I'm wearing my sunglasses. The snow reflects the light and the thinner air just makes it all feel more "crisp" and shiny. 

Head in the clouds...

BIG cloud passing through where I'm perched. Now, I suppose, I can say that "my head was in the clouds!" and mean it. I asked the person in one of the tourist info booths what our altitude was. He said we were about 10,800 feet up at this point. 

4:05 p.m. -- Hubby is higher up on Aiguille du Midi -- I'm about as far as I'm comfortable with. I'm at the mouth of a small tunnel which you can go through to grab yet another lift to the ultimate destination: Pointe Helbronner - and the Italian border is right there. Women are coming out of the gondola area in ballet flats and mini-skirts! I'm freezing. They're walking alongside climbers (or "Alpiners" as the guide calls them) who are bundled up like crazy. I got some video on my camera and we'll head back down to Chamonix and the long walk to Mildred at about 5:30 p.m. When you get up on this part of the mountain, they give you a ticket and you get called to come down to the departure area at a certain time. 

Aiguille du Midi

When we were in the staging area down on the ground, we ran into an entirely OBNOXIOUS family. The matriarch of this family asked us to move so that her family could all be in one place. Fine; no problem. But then a couple of the teenage boys were lagging. She kept giving us kind of a stink-eye and acting as if we were cutting in. No, we weren't. Then she got into a pretty loud confrontation with their tour guide. I have no idea what she was asking for, but apparently they solved their differences. But it was just uncomfortable because they were very pushy and I don't mean just verbally. Take a number, people. We all had to do the same thing.

So we are far above the clouds and I can see the tops of the thunderheads. My pen is either seizing up because of the altitude or freezing up because of the temperature! Hubby checks on his GPS app for our altitude and info. We went up even more steps, at this point, and I'm ensconced on a bench in the inevitable souvenir shop. Hubby went higher...  I am not afraid of heights, but I'm feeling wiped out and slightly dizzy. He says that's not uncommon. Good. I'm not a wimp.

4:40 p.m. -- Twenty more steps, Hubby convincing me to come sit in the cafe. Even HE is winded and feeling the altitude. Now, according to the information posted, we are at 12,605 FEET UP IN THE AIR. The air is so thin, I'm having trouble keeping my bearings. He was trying to text, and had a hard time hitting the right keys. I have my usual knitting with me, and I'm just staring at it. He asked me what was wrong, and I said, "I can't remember how to purl." Seriously... 

Busy street

We'll be going down to the cable area to catch the gondola back to the bottom. Frankly, I'm kind of happy we are BOTH feeling weird. There's a tight band around my head (not my hat) and my ears are plugged. I have finally managed to knit 2 rows of the scarf but it was like I was 7 years old and had only barely started to knit. 

7:05 p.m. -- Getting back off the mountain was a huge cattle-call. Some folks didn't have their tickets; there were Alpiners coming off the slope; people were ignoring the fact that the guy in charge was calling "Ticket 35" and were shoving and trying to get on the cars. I admire him - he didn't threaten to shove someone off the mountain! They were letting the Alpiners on the gondolas, but only a few at a time - the equipment they had, ice axes, etc. and the fact that they were packing the cars to their limit - it was a way to get everyone down safely. 

Hanging out at the take-off spot

We're back down in Chamonix and at Bar Brasserie Pizzeria -- not uncommon to see a dozen pizza places. Then we find Mildred and head to the hotel.

Totals for today: 6 lifts - 3 of them doubles. Three different mountains: Brevent (8,284 feet), Grand Montets (this one is at 10,700 feet) and the grand-daddy (aside from Mt. Blanc, but it's right next to it) Aiguille du Midi (at 12, 605 feet) -- and strangely, we tackled them "small, medium, large" in order. Rick Steves said that Midi should be the first, but truly, I'm glad we did it our own way. 

As we descended, we felt our brains getting back to normal. I wish I would have taken a picture of my water bottle! It was a little squished.

And our dog count rose by 2: a little rat terrier on Brevent who allowed me to scratch his head, and a Great Pyr as we got to the pizza place. 

Soooooooooo - pizza place was a dud. Our waitress must've been on her first day. I had a 4-cheese pizza and Hubby had a Hawaiian. Two tables who came later than we did got served before we did. My pizza sat in the window a good 10 minutes - she had to have the cook stick it under the broiler again... She also set down a Spaghetti Carbonara at the table next to us - and the person wasn't even seated. Spaghetti Carbonara is basically "eggs and bacon with spaghetti." Quite good, actually, and they serve the egg still in the shell, so you stir it directly into the (when you do it right) hot spaghetti. This sat. And sat. And sat. The guy finally showed up (it was a large group) and he just ate it. Ick. The egg wasn't going to scramble properly in nearly-cold pasta. I wouldn't have eaten it.

Chapel in Chamonix

At least 3 tables came, sat and then left when they weren't served. One of the servers was running her butt off, but ours? Not so much. 

Ok, so the pizza was pretty good, but we had to flag her down to get the check. She took our money, and disappeared. Hubby had to go find her. 

You know you've been in one place too long when you start recognizing the landmarks! We retrieved Mildred and started back.

Tomorrow will be a very laid-back day. We leave on Sunday, and honestly, while this has been a fantastic trip, I'll be glad to get back home. 

Tragedy of massive proportions... This morning, Hubby's laptop died. Well, it wouldn't re-start, but we figured he'd deal with it when we got back tonight. Dead. As. A. Doornail. 

Arches on the highway

I asked him if, please by the grace of God, he had kept all the pictures ON the memory cards! He said that he had "briefly" considered wiping them after each day, but remember - we brought lots of them. So he didn't clear any of them off, even though he downloaded them to the computer each day. Whew. Just -- WHEW. I'd have cried. 

We discussed our day and figured yeah, we probably could have gone on a few more lifts, but at the first stop (Brevent) we hung around and got lots of nice pictures of the paragliding folks and just took our time. 

As I'm finishing this up back in the hotel, I figure it was the altitude that got to my pen. I see by the ink marks, the ink is now flowing normally. There you go...

PARAGLIDING = when you're sitting in a harness. PARASAILING = when your legs are stretched back of you and the frame is more fixed. So we were actually GLIDING. 

Tomorrow, we decided, would be Annecy. It's close and the weather is still forecasted to be a little dicey. 

The Leap of Faith - With Pics...

August 15, 2013 - Chamonix

Today, we head to Chamonix, while keeping our base here in Geneva. Breakfast, then "on the road again." (Go ahead, have the earworm for a while.)

I'm very, very nervous about my Leap...

Street in Chamonix

1:20 p.m. -- Well, I just saw Hubby off on his Leap. AND I SURVIVED MY OWN!! My pilot was Aaron (I think Caroline said that - I heard "Erin" but I don't know the actual spelling) and he is not only quite a dishy French guy, but very calm and capable. The entire journey lasted about an hour, and we walked off a 7,000 foot ledge. Soared up to somewhere near 10,000 feet and then landed in an athletic field. 

It was very scary. We took a gondola ride to the area where I was to jump, and as we're going up in the gondola, I'm sitting there with this pilot I just met. All the equipment is in the gondola with us. I looked down, and thought, "Holy Crap." 

Gondolas up to jump site

I had a 20-lb. backpack with my harness and seat. He had the rest of the gear. I got caught in the turnstile of the gondola, because I hadn't known to tuck the "seat" part up under the strap. But we got me loose and off we went. We hiked about 75 feet from the gondola (going up, of course) to the launch area. There were about 15 other parasailing folks up there in various stages of "going." Some of them were singles, but most of them were tandem.

Our sail was yellow, trimmed in orange. Caroline, the woman who runs the company, told Hubby what to watch for (wait, it gets good...). I got my instructions from Aaron, which were thus (imagine this with a lovely French accent and really quite good English): "Walk until I tell you to sit and keep looking forward. You will have a lovely surprise." He then straps me into the contraption, straps himself onto my back, and works the sail. 

The sail fills immediately - there's a great whack of updraft, so we've got the thing inflated before we even start walking. You walk forward (he's speaking softly into my ear: walk, walk, walk, walk) and you feel a slight tug. Then "sit back" and you're aloft. We dipped slightly before we caught another updraft and then flew up. He told me "it might be a little bumpy" but seriously - there was more turbulence in the airplane. We went off the ledge to the right, along a rocky ridge studded with trees. 

My pilot

It was quiet. The noise of the wind and the sail were just about all we heard. There were a number of others sailing that day, but in spite of the traffic, it all felt very safe. 

Aaron pointed out Mont Blanc, and I fulfilled Kid #2's request of a photo. Took quite a few shots of the other gliders and the fantastic views. He was very good about warning me as to turbulence and didn't chat overly-much. He'd been paragliding since he was 13 and was in his 30s. He told me the best place in the US to do it was Utah, and that nobody does it in the Rockies in Montana because "it's too wild - not enough places to launch or land." That makes sense. 

My shot of Mt. Blanc

(NOTE: I wrote this journal entry sitting at a small sidewalk cafe, and I have in my notes: "I wonder how long I can hold my breath - the second-hand smoke is killing me!")

Hubby took a look at my shots afterward and there were a few klunkers, but that's when we caught a bobble or skewed in another direction. We circled the Mt. Blanc side for most of the trip, then the town, and then headed to the landing area. 

Part of my route

I didn't get to steer, which was fine with me. And we didn't opt for the GoPro shots, which was also fine. I like what I did and I'm happy with it. Aaron says, as we're preparing to land, "We either land on our feet or on the butt." And apparently, we have no control over that... It's all up to how the wind acts. We got VERY lucky, and I did a standing stop. 

He said, "Raise your legs" as we went down, and then he said, "Step down" and within 4 steps, I was down. The sail was down behind us. 

Bird's eye view of Chamonix - my flight

Unfortunately, I couldn't share this bliss with Hubby, because he was apparently directed to the wrong landing site... So he missed it. Crud. I ended up going back to the gondola area, told Aaron that he was flying with Caroline, and since I hadn't a franc on me, Hubby would take care of BOTH flights in the afternoon, then Aaron left to get his next passenger. 

I took a side trip to where I thought we left Mildred. She wasn't there...it was a VW. Was getting a little more than annoyed, and then spotted Hubby on the steps by the gondola. The "farmer's whistle" came in handy and we were able to meet up. 

He subsequently met up with Caroline, and I told him I'd go to the little cafe next to the gondolas for a bite to eat and he could meet me there. 

Hubby's pilot in pink jacket

It's a wonder that half of these people here aren't dead of lung cancer...Bleagh!!! And why, in one of the best culinary climates in the world, do you get canned Lipton PEACH iced tea?? Hey, I was thirsty, so I drank it anyway. I sat at the Cafe Kimbo, right by the lift/gondola area, just a block over. I was shooting for the little hotel lunchroom, but they were closed. I tried to get upwind of the smoke, but I was foiled by new customers coming in. 

Hubby's flight path

I ate salad cheve chaud and had the iced tea. I was sooooooooooo nervous that morning that I could barely gag down some hot tea and yogurt. The cafe is on top of the street - as in you have to cross the street to get to it and it is completely next to the street; no sidewalk. Hubby got all turned around downtown looking for me, so we figured this little spot was the best place for me to be while I waited for him. Again, a nice leisurely lunch. Not rushed, not glared at. Lunch came in a large-ish red melamine bowl, consists of the following: butter lettuce, red onion (I picked it off), fresh tomato. Of course, basket of crunchy bread. On top of the salad was a sliced baguette (about 4" long) with a total of 4 very generous rounds of fresh goat cheese - this had herbs on it and was slid under a broiler just for a tiny moment to crisp up the bread and warm the cheese. After removing the offensive onions (sorry, don't like 'em), the salad was lovely; light and refreshing - and filling. And the cheese-bread combo? Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh. It was nice to just sit and people-watch for a while. Looks like lots of locals gather here. I'm at a high-top table under the awning with a pink and white geranium in an ancient clay pot for a centerpiece. 

Close to the rocks...

I'm watching cars go up and down this extremely narrow street. They park tight to the buildings, but still have to "pull their ears in" (move the mirrors close to the doors of the cars) to keep from obstructing traffic. Drivers barely leave 2 coats of paint as they go past! 

So I actually went back to the gondola area; the smoke got to me. I briefly thought about a short walk into town, till I took about a dozen steps down a very steep sidewalk. "Down" would mean a walk "UP" and it was warming up quickly! It's so steep! So I have my knitting, my Kindle and the journal. A bottle of water is handy. Time to find a seat. 

There are small-ish wisps of clouds crossing Mt. Blanc now. And I don't see as many gliders, though I'm sitting in a niche next to the ticket counter, so I'm not facing the mountain we jumped from this morning. I did get the keys to Mildred and Hubby showed me where she was parked, so if it gets terribly warm, I'll go hang out with her. The breeze is great right now and the sun is strong; glad I'm in the shade. I've got on jeans, hiking boots, my hand-knit wool hiking socks and a light jacket (which got shed quickly). 

Clouds - Hubby's flight

A number of people have come to the gondolas to ride up for a hike down. I see an elderly gent with his family. One cane and 1 walking stick. He's got his hat and backpack and looks ready to go. The paths are little goat-width ruts. You'd have to train for a year (in altitude, not on the flatlands here in IL) to attempt the 8-hour hike up to the top of Le Brevent, 2,525 m up. The stop where I jumped off was 2,000 m up - the updraft got us to 3,000 m up... 

Hubby's Leap is a lot higher and involves quite a hike. He takes off from a glacier. Caroline, the pilot for his flight, is about 100 lbs. soaking wet. She's very no-nonsense and direct as to whether she thinks you'll be ok on the flight. He could, though - he's been training for a while and is quite fit. I know, however, that I wouldn't be able to do the flight he chose. I'm quite happy with what I did, and glad that I ignored a very strong inclination to just not go. 

Chamonix street

2:41 p.m. -- Just saw some gliders in the area Hubby said he would be jumping. I wonder if one of them is him? I heard someone say that you could take the gondola to the first jump point "and walk down - about an hour." Now, DOWN I could do, but probably not UP. I had considered bringing my walking poles, since it looks like they're standard equipment here, but I didn't and that's fine. Maybe if we come back! 

3:10 p.m. -- Glad I had the 11 a.m. flight. That wisp of cloud got bigger and bigger, and looks to obscure Mt. Blanc soon. It clouded over a bit, but there's still lots of blue in the sky. The spot where Hubby jumped (I think it's that spot - not sure) does have more clouds. Not sure I'm happy with that, but we're in the mountains...conditions change at the drop of a hat. The gondola stopped a couple of times while I was writing this and the silence was a blessing. I had tuned out the constant motor noise, but I realized when it was stopped that it was quite peaceful! There are houses packed right up next to the gondolas, and I'm sure these folks are happy to go to work, since I doubt they run at night. 

We were sitting and talking about his trip, and he's saying how "safe" parasailing is, and we see a guy go horizontal and start spinning down. As I recover my breath, I see a few more doing that, and we realize that these single flyers are probably practicing emergency moves. Whew... The spirals look particularly scary, but I know we did a few - they were just gradual on my flight so it's not as bad when you're actually up there. 

Just saw a large bird riding the same thermals we took. There are at least 2 gliders ABOVE the bird. Hubby's video will be awesome, but I'm still glad I didn't take the GoPro. Hubby's top altitude was about 12,000 feet up. 

7:40 p.m. -- Walked around Chamonix and did a tiny bit of shopping (some beautiful posters of the mountain ranges). We stopped for ice cream and gave a belly rub to a beautiful female Siberian Husky. She didn't understand a word of English, but she knew from "belly rub." 

Signs

We drove back to the Holiday In Express - and I'm sorry, the driving still freaks me out here. But before we left, we stopped at a little sandwich shop and picked up a "hotel room dinner." 

My hand-knit socks kept my feet nicely warm up in the chilly air, but being wool - they are a little heavy and now that we're at the hotel, off they come! Not bad for hand-knitted socks! Must remember to NOT wash them in the washing machine at home. 

We'll be "round-about" geniuses by the time we get home. Here, it's all about the round-about. And for the most part, drivers are observant and mostly courteous (except in Italy...). The highways constantly monitor speed via radar and they can change speed signs on the fly. They tell you to keep space between vehicles (especially in the tunnels) and 90% of the drivers do that. When they merge into the right lane onto the highway, they don't try to automatically whip over to the far lane. They stay there for a bit. Refreshing, even though my brain is having a hard time translating m.p.h. from km/hr...On exit ramps, they give you a speed, then they slow you down, then they do it again: THREE speed changes. Lots of toll roads, though. I used the "Holy Crap" handle liberally today as we took a mountain-side road and there were a few newbies to driving on those curves...Good thing Hubby knows how to do it. 

And I also observed that in this part of the country, graffiti is apparently an art form... As well, with the public art? The kids are climbing all over it! There was a very tall statue of the man who "found" Mt. Blanc with his guide pointing to it -- and kids were on top of that, next to the 2 figures. About 6 - 8' off the ground, and nobody was having a heart attack. The other thing I noticed while waiting for Hubby were the number of people who came off the mountain clutching handfuls of either Linden or wild Chammomile. I'm very used to the US system where you don't remove anything from a park. But perhaps they allow foraging here, as long as they're not stripping the area bare. 

The sandwich was great (ham and cheese on fresh baguette) and Hubby is reviewing his video (he took our GoPro and had theirs, too). Almost makes me wish I had done it, but nonetheless, I'm proud of "doing one thing each day that scares me."  

Only 6 tunnels today. Lightweight!