Chamonix (Sept 30-Oct 4) - Euro Adventure 2023

Departing Lake Garda, we returned to Roveretto by bus, then boarded a train through Milan, Verona, Switzerland and into France. The landscape was beautiful as we traveled from the lake's region to wine country, through tiny villages and country churches, and began our ascent into the Alps.

I think Chamonix was my favorite location visited. I had no pre-conceived notions or expectations and the natural splendor took me by surprise. Unlike Colorado’s mountains, which slowly swell from Kansas farmland to Denver’s front range of older, lower mountains into the Rocky Mountains with multiple 14-ers (peaks exceeding 14,000 feet), the Alps are sheer, sharp, pointy peaks in every direction with deep valleys below. Plus, we’d spent the prior six weeks immersed in art, history, the birth of modern civilization, and the ruins of ancient cultures. The mountain streams of melting snow, the sheer drop offs, flowers everywhere, beautiful architecture and the history of mountaineering were a great change of scenery.

We arrived on a Saturday night and Sunday was busy with weekend tourists so we walked around town, popped into specialty boutiques, cafes and coffee shops. We did a lot of people watching and I became obsessed with the many paragliders sailing overhead. We watched as they descended, then ran to find their landing fields so we could get up close and see them hit the ground, running, kite flapping behind. We found a nearby tour guide offering lessons and inquired about how one goes about paragliding. Clearly without lessons, we would each be limited to a tandem glide with a professional. This outfitter was booked for the week, so not this trip, but I did commit that I would absolutely paraglide, perhaps on my upcoming 60th birthday!

AIGUILLE DU MIDI

The following day we started out early to catch the gondola to Aiguille du Midi. The first leg of the journey was with as many as 50 other people, all jammed together standing, watching as the valley grew smaller. We stopped at Plan de Aiguille du Midi and switched into cable cars for the final ascent to the top of the visitor center, “the needle.”

The first level had beautiful views, but was a bit chilly with the wind. There were multiple terraces to view the valleys below. We walked through a tunnel, over to the ice cave, where die-hard mountaineers exit the building into the brilliant white snow, either planning to climb Mont Blanc or some other mountain, or jump off with their kite.

To reach the upper terraces, we waited in line for an elevator. At the top, clear views of Mont Blanc and the melting glaciers were visible in the full-on sunshine. We stood in yet another line to access, “Stepping into the Void.” A clear plexiglass box that extends from the building about 4-feet over the chasm between the mountains, allowing for a perfect view straight down, as if you were a bird flying over the mountains. To maintain the pristine condition of the box, all guests are required to wear “slippers” over their shoes, no coats, or anything on your body that could scratch the surface. Yes, it’s an engineering marvel, and also somewhat surreal to stand in a box with nothing blocking your view to the valley thousands of feet below.

We spent close to 3 hours absorbing the views in every direction, enjoying the intense sunshine and soaking up the fresh mountain air. Because we visited in the shoulder season (early Oct), the other cable cars strung from peak to peak into Switzerland and Italy were closed, as was the train to the Mer de Glace (another glacier). We still found plenty to read about, visit and explore just wandering around the town. We spent one day in Chamonix on personal care, haircuts and pedicures, all part of the travel experience. Sadly, we departed nearly as quickly as we arrived, on to the next adventure.

Montalbano Shrine, built in 1556, overlooking the town of Mori, between Lake Garda and Roveretto.

Our bus ride to Roveretto

Beginning our climb into the Alps, after riding the train most of the day.

Climbing higher you can see above the tree line in the distance.

Lucky cows to graze in the shadow of such beauty every day!

Extensive train system. Chamonix, France is near the bump out in the far right where Switzerland, Italy and France converge.

As we switch to local trains covering a single mountain or valley you begin to see small villages.

Looks like a scene from "The Sound of Music."

Breathtaking beauty.

No picture can prepare you for the magnificence of the Alps.

Final leg of train ride into Chamonix.

Chamonix train station.

Walking the block from the train to our hotel Pointe Isabella.

Exploring Chamonix's glacial Arve River, milky green from a heavy suspension of finely ground rock particles.

Flowers overhang everywhere.

I was mesmerized by the paragliders on approach to land.

Looking toward Saint-Michael Church in Chamonix.

View of the Le Musee Alpin (Alpine Museum), occupies first two floors of the luxury Chamonix Palace, built in 1914.

When the sun hits the peaks over the town.

Sunsets from our balcony.

Moonrise from balcony over Chamonix.

Clouds rolling down the mountains.

Saint Michel Church and Priory Chamonix-Mont-Blanc.

Arve Mont-Blanc Reformed Church and cemetary.

Arve River in Chamonix.

Grand Hotel des Alps.

Office de Tourisme in Chamonix.

Paragliders sail through the skies in Chamonix.

A paraglider sailing down the valley.

France's Téléphérique de l'Aiguille du Midi transports visitors from the village of Chamonix, half-way to Aiguille du Midi peak (the needle).

Gondola ride half way up to Aiguille du Midi.

Le Brevent is the highest cable car in France and takes you to Aiguille du Midi (needle).

Cable cars complete the ascent to the "needle."

Aiguille du Midi (3,842-metre mountain in France's Mont Blanc massif) tourist center accessed by Le Brevent.

Lower terraces looking up toward "the needle."

"The needle" on Aiguille du Midi, with "the void" window box extending from the side of the structure.

Upper level of Aiguille du Midi (accessed via elevator) and "the void" experience.

Lower level lookout from the upper terraces of "the needle."

Looking toward the valley from the terraces of "the needle."

Zooming in on Chamonix from nearly 14,000 feet above the valley.

Chamonix from "the needle."

Picture references to some of the more than 4,000 peaks in the Alps.

The French Alps looking toward the Italian, or maybe the Swiss Alps - they all look similar to this uneducated eye.

More Alps.

"The void," from a nearby terrace.

Waiting our turn to "step into the void."

"Stepping into the void."

Slippers protect the clear surface allowing visitors to look down into the valley when "in the void."

Looking straight down in "the void."

The melting Mont Blanc glacier (Glacier des Bossons) as seen from Aiguille du Midi.

More melting glacier.

The tunnel (dark metal tube) connecting to the ice cave - carved entrance into the mountain where mountaineers depart to climb Mont Blanc.

Looking out the ice cave.

Mountaineers descending from the ice cave.

Mountaineers trekking after departing from the ice cave. Paragliders laying out kites in the distance, preparing to glide to the valley floor.

Headed back to Chamonix. Stopping mid-way before boarding the Gondola to explore.

Half-way between Aiguille du Midi and Chamonix.

Half-way between Aiguille du Midi and Chamonix.

Half-way between Aiguille du Midi and Chamonix.