Chamonix and Mont Blanc--France

Friday, September 6, 2013

Robin was up early this morning and opened the curtains and one of the windows; when I woke up much later, the first thing I saw as I opened my eyes was the scene below.
 

 

Needless to say, this is a good place to be! Everybody should save their money and come to Grindelwald!

Eiger - one of the highest peaks in the Alps

Monck - the peak next to Eiger

We explored the area a little more and reluctantly left and headed to Chamonix, France.
 

This trip over the Alps was a little easier than previous trips or else we’ve just gotten used to pretending we’re in the Grand Prix. We were on the autobahn for about 100 of the 140 miles.

 

We crossed the Rhone River

 

 

and vast lakes, and the mountains were never out of sight. The last 40 miles were the usual interesting curves up and down the mountains. It got to the point that when Samantha on the GPS told us to drive 1.2 miles and make a right, we knew that a hairpin curve was coming. As soon as we crossed into France, the road became narrower and rougher. Switzerland definitely has better mountain roads.

Chamonix is a lovely village—a ski resort—directly below Mont Blanc. We easily found our hotel; we were careful to pick hotels that had internet service. When we arrived, we learned that the hotel's server was down and would be all weekend, and that we should go to McDonald’s if we needed to access wi-fi. What a disappointment—so that’s why we haven’t posted a blog yet today or haven’t been in touch with anyone back home. There is also no cell phone service here. McDonald’s is several blocks away, and we’ll head there after breakfast tomorrow. In addition, we use the internet to research the area and determine what we will be doing. Most of the tourist materials are written in other languages.

We went out in search of a light meal tonight, preferably one at a café on the street. We walked a few blocks and Robin kept saying he heard a trumpet playing. I just wanted to have some dinner, but he was trying to follow the sound of that music. We arrived in a square in the midst of all the shops and restaurants and guess what? A German band—kind of like an um-pah band! We sat at an outdoor restaurant and listened as we ate. The music was better than the dinner! While there, we felt raindrops. The restaurant rolled an awning out over us; however, we had to speed walk about 10 blocks through the soft rain to get back to the hotel.

Just before we left Switzerland, we pulled over at a “parking” area where there were a gas station, restaurant, bathrooms, etc. The Europeans call their restrooms “W.C.s”—water closets. Robin went in his and I went in mine, only to discover that I needed a coin in order to use it. The sign on the stall lock read that a 20 coin piece was needed—so I went back out to find Robin who had the coins. He came out of the men’s room, and I asked if he had to pay. He didn’t. I was very annoyed to learn that women had to pay to use the restroom, but men didn’t. Anyway, he gave me a 20 euros coin, which would not fit in the slot. I went back and got a 20 francs coin, which is smaller and fit.

We have been unable to find a laundromat anywhere, and the hotels have laundry service but no washers and dryers. Robin inquired about the laundry service here and learned that to get a pair of socks laundered, it would cost $5 and a shirt, $10. So he bought some new socks, and we’ll wash some shirts out in the sink and hang them to dry since we’ll be here two days. Mont Blanc is right behind us, so I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s adventure.