Chamonix, France

What an absolutely BEAUTIFUL place Caroline and I found ourselves in last Wednesday! 

So how did we wind up in the French Alps? After much discussion we eventually decided to pick a destination based on the price of the flights.  With the Olympics starting in London, flights were not cheap but we found a good price on Geneva, Switzerland so we booked it!  However cheap the flight, Geneva is not a cheap city so we got a recommendation for Chamonix from Mike Leslie and couldn't pass up the thought of seeing Mont Blanc so we reserved a van at the airport and were in Chamonix by noon (although my ability to count backward from flight time to necessary check-in time, to Oxford departure time nearly costs us the flight but everything worked perfectly! London Luton has the fastest security screening system I have ever seen.  And passport control in Switzerland was practically non-existent; it was, in fact, non-existent in France!). 

Our first stop after dropping our bags was lunch.  (Check out the pictures of our hotel here and here - it was a beautiful 1970s Chalet Chic).  Chamonix is a nice, small town about twice the size of Gatlinburg filled with outdoor cafes and shopping but all the shops are for outdoor sporting equipment. 

Church in Chamonix with Aiguilles Rouges massif in background

Main Street

After getting our fill of delicious ham and local cheese sandwiches we headed to our top destination - the top of Aiguille du Midi (3777m high).

Ticket and entrance to Cable Car

The first stopping point to our destination - Plan de l'Agiuille

To get there, you take 2 Cable Cars.  The first takes you to Plan de l’Aiguille (2317m).  You can also walk up to this point. 

And then you are off to Aiguille du Midi!  It was simply breathtaking!

We were not able to see Mont Blanc because of all the clouds but we watch several groups prepare and start out on Alpining adventures:

We walked through a glacier:

But mostly we just thanked God for creating such beauty and for allowing us to enjoy it!