Tuesday 5/7/19 – Part 1 – First off, I’m splitting my blog entries up into 3 different ones since I had so many pictures I wanted to share and I’m not sure what the entry limit is! All that church visiting and praying paid off again because it was another gorgeous day and I needed it to be clear so I could get High up in the Alps and be able to see everything. Those that were on my trip to the Austrian Alps know I LOVE to go up on those lifts. And when I first started planning this trip months ago and saw I was going to be right next to the highest Alp (Mont Blanc) I wanted to do it but it was all up to the weather being clear. As I got a few days away and it looked like it was going to be clear, I started looking for train or bus options to get there but there were none for some reason. The only option (other than renting a car which I didn’t want to do) was a ride sharing option called Blah Blah Car (I know, weird name!). I had heard about it when I was in Spain and thought about using it but didn’t. People that are driving somewhere post their route on the app and if you want to go with them you just pay thru the app and no money changes hands with the driver. Sorta like Uber. So I found this woman named Ophelia that was going from Annecy to Chamonix (where Mont Blanc is) and returning the same day so I booked it. She was so cool. She’s French but spoke very good English so we chatted the whole way there which was about 1.5 hours (and only cost 7 Euro!). She’s an Economics teacher at the high school in Chamonix. So we had a fun debate about European Socialism vs American Capitalism (I’ve got an MBA in Finance and a minor in Economics so I held my own! Lol). And of course she had tons of questions about Trump!! But first a little history…
Chamonix (pronounced shah-moh-née) is officially called Chamonix-Mont Blanc and is the largest of the five villages lining the valley at the base of Mont Blanc. Located where Switzerland, Italy and France intersect, this town has always drawn an international crowd. Today about half of its foreign visitors are British – many have stayed and found jobs in the hotels and restaurants so almost everyone speaks English.
As I said I broke my entries up into 3; this first one showing pics while walking around the town; the second one where I took a train up to 6,276 feet to see a glacier; then I saved the best for last where I took the lift up to 12,602 feet to see Mont Blanc up close and personal!
For this one I (of course) included a few churches. A statue showing Jacques Balmat, a mountaineer, and Michael-Gabriel Paccard, a doctor, who were the first to climb the 15,780 foot Mont Blanc. Some shots of the Arve River going thru the town and just other pics of this beautiful little village. I also included a pic as we drove toward Mont Blanc and one of me and my new friend Ophelia (my driver!). Enjoy!
Jeff
The Wandering Italian 