Day 13 - Chamonix to Randa

Jeff grabbed breakfast early to be ready for the 8:20am shuttle to Geneva. There was a special edition Lamborghini in our parking lot that turned out to be the most exotic car we saw on the trip (total of 3 Lambos, 1 McLaren, and a few Maseratis).

There was a fellow named Chris from London on the bus whose conversation made the 90-minute trip go quickly. He was over to do some of the TMB on bike, and we connected via Strava to share our routes.

Collecting the car and driving back to Chamonix went without a hitch. Jeff picked up Kate and Sarah before 11:30am, and we were on our way to Randa.

Beautiful scenery (some of which we had seen already this trip) went by as we wound our way around the alps. A few snacks in the car (and the girls' pre-trip patisserie) kept us all the way to Randa.

The manager of our accommodation (Klein Matterhorn) showed us our parking and our room and the many details. By the time he was done, he suggested it was too late to visit the world's longest suspension bridge, but Kate and I went anyway.

The climb up was arduous, even without the heavy packs ... but it was well worth it to see the bridge. It was quiet enough that people were crossing it in both directions, although "counter-clockwise" is suggested.

We decided against the final ascent to the refuge that promised food and more viewpoints. We encountered a light shower as we returned to the village of Randa.

It may have been my dead (from car  navigating) phone battery, or some other reason, but we missed connecting with Michael until we returned from our walk. We immediately arranged to meet at our hotel and find dinner together.

Sarah had already scoped out "a pasta place", so we headed there (about 1km walk). This was no regular pasta place: this was a once-in-a-lifetime find of an authentic Italian place with a real Italian chef (and the bill reflected that).

Stupendous salad, wondrous pasta (lasagne / canneloni), and delectable Tiramisu. The inside was booked (Harley Davidson convention, believe it or not), so we are outside. It was chilly, but that just added to the already-unforgettable meal.

I don't know if the staff were all related, but our servers each had memorable personalities ... But nothing could match papa's ... Our chef whom I called Luigi ... Complete with hat, scarf, jacket, apron, and little beard (picture coming).

We said "good night" to Michael and arranged for a taxi to pick us (and then Michael) up in the morning and take us to Zermatt.

This was posted out of order because the pictures prevented it from posting. I will update it with pictures later.

Day 15 - Geneva to Home

We needed to get up early (4:20am) to get to our flight: shower, check out, hop into car, drive 15 minutes, drop off car, walk to terminal, and check in.

As soon as we got to the terminal, we noticed our first flight (for all 3 of us) was delayed: it was supposed to depart at 7:25am, but the board said there would be more information at 8:00am.

Sarah's next flight (Zurich to Montreal) was so tight that this would not do, so she rebooked via Brussels. Our next flight (Zurich to Vancouver) was also tight, but there was still a chance we could make it.

Our flight arrived, took us to Zurich, where we speed-walked across the massive airport (including a 5-minute train and waiting through customs), and right onto our flight.

Again, one of our seatback monitors didn't work, but (after 2 empty promises) they rebooted it to get it working. Nothing much on it anyway, so we read, blogged, and napped.

Got into Vancouver on time, and got to our gate for our connection to Victoria before noon, but there was no chance to get on an earlier flight than our 3:10pm (all full, and they wouldn't anyway since our bags are checked through). So I guess we're stuck here for a few hours.

It sounds like Sarah got home OK, after her flight changes.

The weather looks good here ... And my office has things under control ... so we'll just enjoy our last few days off before going back to work on Monday.

Update: our checked bags didn't arrive with us in Victoria, so we headed home without them. After a quick visit in Sidney, we headed into Victoria for some groceries. Wouldn't ya know it ... a 40 minute delay at Tanner Road due to an accident. We eventually got our groceries, picked up Tiggin, and arrived home just after 7PM ... 23 hours after leaving our hotel in Geneva.

Day 14 - Thonon to Geneva

This was our last full day in Europe. We got up, got breakfast, checked out, and wandered the town. This time, we walked all the way to the waterfront pool on Thonon's waterfront. On our way back to the car, we stopped at a patisserie.

The drive to Geneva was quick; we only stopped for gas at the edge of town. We checked into Hotel Monbrilliant and then waited as they finished preparing our room.

We had a long walk down to Geneva's waterfront, across the bridge, and up to the very large Ferris wheel in the harbour. It was there that we got lunch: a burger for Jeff and salad for the girls.

From there, we walked right up to the fountain (close enough to get wet). We walked back, nearly the same route, to the room when we realized that our free (with the room) transit tickets were in the room. With those in hand we walked back to the waterfront where we got a boat that took us under the bridge to a "high-end" part of town, just downstream from the lake.

We wandered through rush hour, picking up gifts along the way for all the people back home that made our trip possible.

Back at the hotel, it was one last G+T and one last bottle of wine, before retiring for an early night.

Day 12 - Another Free Day in Chamonix

After breakfast, all three of us wandered down to the laundromat that is near the Aguille du Midi (the cable car up Mont Blanc that we were told was completely booked for Thu/Fri). We decided to ask a person with an "info" shirt in front of the lift building about it being booked. Apparently, it is not--it never is--except for advanced booking. I mentioned that they should tell their Tourist Office this; all three of us understood that we could not get up the Aguille du Midi Thu or Fri.

So we decided there and then to go up today, but first things first: Kate and Sarah went for coffee and macaroons while Jeff did the laundry. After that, we met up and went back to the room before going up to Aguille du Midi.

It is expensive, 61.50€ = CAD$95 each, but we all agreed it was worth it. First you get a ride up in an incredibly high/long/fast (8 vertical metres per second!) cable car with astounding views. We could see some of the terrain we had covered over the past 10 days. There is also much to explore at the top, including many different vantage points, "Step Into the Void", seeing many climbers in action, and information on climbing, altitude effects, Mont Blanc, and the cable car itself.

We got many pictures and videos of the experience. We got 28 pictures of our "Step Into the Void" alone (you pass your smartphone to an attendant who takes your pictures with your phone).

We felt a little rushed, but we were OK with that since there was no place to stop and eat, so we were both cold and hungry by the time it was our turn to go back down. When we reached the bottom, we chomped down our lunch and then picked up a few groceries for dinner.

We had a restful evening of reading and watching shows in the room.

Day 11 - Free day in Chamonix

Day 11 was supposed to be the hike down from Lac Blanc, but we had to stay in Chamonix because that refuge wasn't opening this season. So this is a "free day".

What do you do with a free day in a beautiful French town in the alps? Well, you start with a good breakfast. The one put on by our hotel (Hotel L'Arve) is the best one we've seen on this trip, with a little of everything you could imagine. And it was included with our stay.

So, after a healthy breakfast, we walked down to the tourist office to see about going up Aguille du Midi. This was an excursion I was planning since the day I planned the Tour du Mont Blanc. One tidbit I didn't know was that it can get booked up. And guess what? It is booked up for the next 2 days.

My next logical thought was to get as close as possible to Mont Blanc, so we asked about the Tramway du Mont Blanc. It sounded wonderful in print, and it wasn't booked up. So we walked to the train station, bought tickets, and headed to St Gervais / Le Fayet. From there, we got on the rack and pinion train that takes us up 1900m to the Bionnassay Glacier. 

The people on the train were enthralled by the view from nearly 2400m, but we had just spent the past week doing that. I'm embarrassed to say I made a bad choice. My travel companions always make the best of it, so I did as well. I did appreciate the 70-year-old technology of the tram that runs on electricity and carries so many, up so far, up so fast.

By the time we got back to Chamonix, we had used up the whole day. We had a very late lunch of panini and wandered the mostly-pedestrian area back to the hotel for happy hour. We had a good rest (reading and writing in the room, along with some napping), and now we're headed out for a wander and maybe a light dinner.

Day 10 - Tre Le Champ to Chamonix

We got in with the 7AM breakfast, so we got an earlier start. It was a steep climb ... so steep that it took us 2.5 hours to climb the 6km to Lac Blanc. So steep that there were several ladders.

We took a good long rest at Lac Blanc. It is unfortunate that this refuge is closed this season, because it is in a very unique location.

The downside of Lac Blanc is that tons of people hike up from La Flegere the top of a cable car that runs up from Chamonix ... and some are not the kind of people you want in a beautiful wilderness area. Oh well, what can you do?

The hike between Lac Blanc and La Flegere isn't an easy one ... not as steep, but there are tons of rocks to negotiate. That 3.5km of downhill took us over an hour. We bumped into a couple of other hikers at the top of the lift: Christine (Engineer) and a woman from South London we had met that morning.

Kate and I didn't want to end our difficult hike on a luxurious cable car ride down into Chamonix, so we chose to hike down. That too was challenging, due to the sheer size of the downhill: the 790m of vertical over 6.4km took us another 1hr 40min. When we got into town, it was approaching 30 degrees C, so it was a hot one.

Anyway, we got to our hotel well after Sarah, and we were in need of a shower and fresh clothes. We just missed "social hour" from 4:00-5:30, and we were a bit early for dinner ... but we waited for the fancy pizza place next to the hotel to begin business at 7:00pm. Three drinks, three personal pizzas, and one litre of wine later, we were done for the day. (Jeff sauntered around the block once before turning in.)

Day 9 - Trient to Tre la Champ

Breakfast at 7. Everyone left at 8. Kate and I wandered off just after 8:30, and Sarah waited for the bus.

The 900m climb up to Col de Balme was tough, but we could see Trient get smaller and smaller as we gained altitude. We had our lunch at the top ... right over the border to France. The tops of the lifts were right there. We wandered down the the bottom of the lifts and had a drink/popcicle. We then went down along the lower lift to the parking lot.

We saw many hikers take the lifts down, then hop the bus to their destination ... but not us. Only a few kilometers of trail, and we arrived at our accommodation: Auberge la Bourne. It is a very old building, renovated for guests. The rooms end up being a rabbit warren of odd shapes and sizes ... you have to see the 360 video I took of it.

Sarah arrived before us and was reading in the garden as we arrived.

I typed the past 5 days of blog here ... smelling the sweet wafts of dinner ... watching the rainclouds come and go ... watching the different nationalities of people attempt to communicate ... sipping a glass of Saint Maurice Reserve, Les Abymes.