The Road Scholar trip is called Hiking Below and Beyond Mont Blanc: Switzerland, Italy, and France. I signed up for the trip almost a year in advance. I wanted the “spirited” type of trip Road Scholar has to offer. I feel the amount of walking fits me perfectly. I didn’t peruse the suggested readings. For almost a year, I had a hard time remembering which three countries I would visit. The lack of research and knowledge in the past had not prevented me from enjoying and learning while traveling. This trip was no exception.
Thursday 6/20
We had to fly to New York before boarding a non-stop flight from there to Geneva, Switzerland. Our son-in-law dropped us off at our home airport. My mom and sister went along for a ride and to say goodbye. The first leg was uneventful. It was on time. At JFK, I got myself a smoothie and took off my contact lenses. Tom got us chicken sandwiches. Delta changed the gate on us. We boarded an hour late. We sat on the airplane for two hours while waiting for a mechanic to come to fix something and sign off the permit to fly. Delta said if we left the airplane, we wouldn’t be able to come back. I wondered if Delta followed the law, but I had no complaints. I had no desire to walk off and I was happy that the flight was not cancelled on us. I texted Marta, our trip leader, when the plane finally took off. I ordered a glass of red wine with dinner, thus breaking my one-week abstinence from alcohol, my resolve after having a terrible headache at drinking prosecco laden with vodka given to me by my daughter (the vodka part was unbeknownst to me at the time).
Friday 6/21
I got Marta’s response after we landed. She had arranged for a van transportation for the two of us and Duane, someone I had met at the first gate in JFK when I asked if I could use the USB outlet next to his seat. The first part of the ride was not pretty, just highways and industrial buildings. It became prettier as we drew nearer to our destination of Villars-sur-Ollon. We could see the beautiful Lae Léman (Lake Geneva) on our right. We got to Victoria Hotel & Residence as Marta and the rest of the group were standing at the hotel entrance. They were about to embark on a walking tour of the town. We arrived just in time. We left our luggage in the hotel lobby and joined the group. I had my rain jacket on as it was raining lightly.
After the walk, we had some time to relax before a welcome meeting and dinner. The three-course dinner was well-presented and tasty. We sat with Allison and her father Phil W. We talked about Washington and Oregon, the two states Tom is familiar with and Phil has been to.
Saturday 6/22
On the first day of hiking, we walked to the bus station to catch a bus to Solalex (4,820 ft), described as “a beautiful mountain pasture under breathtaking cliff, Miroir d’Argentine.” Mireille was our local guide for our stay in Villars. She told me the cliff is smooth like a mirror and its color is silver, thus the name.
She brought props to give us a lecture on geology of the area - as we sipped coffee, tea, or hot chocolate under the roof of a café, protected from the rain. A few of us wandered around to take pictures of cows gazing in the pastures, each wearing a huge bell. They were brought here by trucks from elsewhere to graze where the grass is plentiful. They will move up in altitude where the grass is more plentiful in late summer, and will return to the lower altitudes where the grass has a chance to regrow in the fall.
We walked through “pine forests and alpine meadows to Barboleuse (3,973 ft)" via Les Ernets. The wildflowers were in bloom and beautiful. People decorate their houses with bells. I snapped pictures of a lawn with a statue of a small house cat and a sign that says “Attention au Chat,” which I interpreted as “Beware of Cat.”
We stopped for lunch at a restaurant in Barboleuse. While we were eating lunch, it started to rain hard. We passed the time waiting for the train by watching a band playing American country music. Two people in our group danced.
Instead of walking, we took the train to Gryon, Mireille’s hometown. She showed us the house she grew up in and showed us pictures of life past. It had stopped raining, but the clouds came and went quickly, showing and hiding views of mountains and valleys. I took a picture of Mireille at her own current house.
We took the train back to Barboleuse and then a bus back to our hotel in Villars. Tom and I enjoyed the sauna and steam room before a buffet dinner. We sat with Phil G and Cheri. Cheri told Phil she probably would call him Tom the next day because she was bad with names. It was funny that two days later, it was Marlies who called him Tom.
Sunday 6/23
On the second day of hiking, we sat with Deb and Linda at breakfast. We walked to the train station and took the cog train to Bretaye (5,922 ft). We were supposed to walk across “alpine meadows with the stunning Swiss and French Alps at every turn,” but it was cloudy. Marta proved to us that Mont Blanc was in front of us, using the app on her phone that detects the mountain peaks even when your eyes do not. We stopped at Bretaye Lake to admire its view.
We hiked on to Col de La Croix farm. On the way, Mireille gave us a lesson on local flora. When we got near the farm, I asked Allison to take pictures of me spinning on the field as in the Sound of Music, at the fun suggestion of a member of my neighborhood pickleball group. We visited the cheese dairy where Mireille told us about cheese making.
We enjoyed lunch of bread and fondue (Etiraz cheese) at Alpage du Col de la Croix. Tom and I borrowed Swiss francs from Phil (via Allison) to pay for our wine and tea because the credit card machine did not work. We split into two groups. Tom and I opted to be with the walking group. We walked downhill for about 1.5 miles to the bus stop to take the bus back to our hotel.Tom and I quickly fell asleep for 1.5 hours. We went to the sauna before dinner. Christian and Haiman sat with us at dinner and joined us to visit Villars Palace, the fancy hotel nearby, that used to belong to Club Med. It is indeed a very beautiful hotel. Its large terrace gives a great view of the mountains. Each floor of the hotel exhibits art depicting people, geography, and history of certain parts of the world. We looked at a few of them.
Tonight was our last night in Villars.
Monday 6/24
The following day was a travel day between Villars, Switzerland and Cogne, Italy. We sat with Darshu and Phil G at breakfast. Darshu said she likes to travel solo and prefers hiking in Europe where she can easily walk or take public transportation. Allison gave me a pair of hiking shoes that were too tight on her. I gladly accepted. They were light and gave me a break from my heavier hiking boots.
After checking out of Victoria Hotel & Residence, we rode the bus down the Rhone Valley and up St Bernard Pass (8,114 ft), “an ancient Roman transalpine route and more recently the path of Napoleon’s army into Italy in 1800.”
We visited the St Bernard Hospice museum and church. The hospice was founded in 1049 to provide a resting place and rescue services to travelers and bore the name of its founder, Saint Bernard of Menton. The St Bernard dog breed was created by the monks at the hospice to be guard dogs, and later became mountain rescue dogs. A plaque in the hospice says "Come, pilgrims, let us give life to what our eyes have seen."
Although we didn’t get to see the St Bernard dogs at the museum (They hadn’t been brought there because there was still snow on the ground), we saw a lady walking her St Bernard dog on the road.
Tom and I took a walk along a Roman road that was cut off by snow. Marta thought it’d be fun to cross the border by foot and that’s what we did. We had lunch at Restaurant du Lac on the Italy side. We had salad and pasta, and panna cotta for dessert.
Our bus continued “on the winding road down from the French and Italian speaking Valle d’Aosta in Italy, and on to Cogne (5032 feet), the main gateway to the Parco Nazionale del Gran Paradiso, founded in 1922.”
Our final destination of the bus route was Hotel du Grand Paradis. Tom and I collapsed. We took a nap before meeting with our group at 5:30pm. A local guide took us to Mason Gérard Dayné, an ethnographical museum which shows us examples of Aosta Valley traditional architecture and lifestyle in the 19th century. We learned that people baked bread using community ovens only once a year, in November. They baked enough to last the whole year. A family of four would eat three loaves of bread per day. That means they’d bake 365x3 loaves of bread in November. Mind boggling. They stored the bread in the attic where it is airy. The men put flowers on their hats if they were looking for a wife.
It was a rainy day today. We had dinner at Hotel Sant’Orso, which is Hotel du Grand Paradis’ sister hotel. I had salad, fish (anchovy and tuna), and ice cream. We sat with Susan, Linda, and Deb. We talked about biking, pickleball, and taking care of demented mothers among other things.
Of the four hotels we stayed at, I think Hotel du Grand Paradis is the most charming. It features hanging flowers on the balconies and has a little garden. The lobby area is inviting. It looks like a library with museum pieces and old photos. The spa has wood panels, soft lighting, a cozy warm sitting area, a sauna, a steam room, a loft, a whirlpool (Turkish bath), tea, and iced water. As Marta says, the rooms are small but they have everything! The furniture is made of natural wood from the Aosta Valley. Our room has a balcony which looks out to the square in the center of town. It helps that Cogne is a charming little town at the edge of the Gran Paradiso National Park. I got up early one morning and saw two dogs sleeping at the door of the hotel. So quaint. Not pretentious. The downside of our stay was the noise made by children on the square late in the evenings when we wanted to rest and sleep.
The hotel set out coffee early for our group. We sipped the early coffee in our room balcony, enjoying the moment, until breakfast time. After breakfast, we walked to the bus station, stopping en route to check the view of Mont Blanc. It was cloudy. We took the bus to the hamlet of Valnontey. We met with our local guide Dominico. We walked along a “gentle one-way trail along the Valnontey River, passing through forests of coniferous and larch trees to the Alpe Vermiana (5800 feet).”
We saw what might be a helicopter rescue.
The group saw a baby chamois but I missed it. I saw an adult chamois in the same general area after the group already was into something else. We walked back to Cogne after the river hike. We had lunch at Hotel Sant’Orso. We signed cards for Cheri’s birthday. We sat at a long table with Allison, Phil W, Marlies, Marina, Marta, Sandra, Phil G, Ron, and Nancy. While Tom was napping after lunch, I walked around checking out our hotel garden and exploring the town.
Our hiking day wasn’t over. Later in the afternoon, we took the bus to Lillaz (5,304 ft) and hiked to the Lillaz and the Biolet waterfalls. We were told that the Biolet waterfalls was not in the itinerary, but Dominico added it because we were a good walking group. I’m glad we got to see it.
We walked back to Lillaz and took the bus back to the hotel.
We were on our own for dinner tonight. Tom and I walked the town to search for a place to eat early, but all restaurants were not open for dinner until 7pm. We tried to find Trattoria Sonveulla but I think their signs misdirected us and we couldn’t find the restaurant. We ended up at Pizzeria Licone. Shortly after we arrived, Allison, Barb, Duane, Darshu, and Cheri showed up. We moved to a table closer to them. Tom and I shared a pizza with ham, mushroom, artichoke, and olive (We ordered a saporita but somehow they brought out a stagioni) and a tiramisu. I had vin brulé, a warm mulled wine, which reminded me of the time at Lake Bled when I had mulled wine and cream cake. It was so good I had a second glass. This was one of the meals I very much enjoyed during the trip.
It was clear in the morning and we got to see Mont Blanc from the square on the way to the bus stop.
We rode the bus to Aosta (1,912 ft) today and had a city tour with Claudia, our local guide. The city was built by the Romans in 25 BC as a military camp, at the confluence of two rivers the Buthier and the Dora Baltea, and at the junction of the Great and Little St Bernard routes. We walked around and entered the ruined walls. People had taken bricks from the walls. They look sad. We didn’t get to see the ruins of the amphitheater due to construction.
We visited the Cathedral which was built in the 4th century and the Roman Forum and Cryptoporticus, which was the religious and commercial center of the city. I wanted to take the earliest bus back to Cogne at first, but lunch took longer than expected. We had lunch at Café Anfiteatro. We both agreed that our meals were nothing extraordinary. Tom ordered a local beer and wasn’t impressed with it. I liked the light and fresh taste. I started to like lighter beer now. It happened that Marlies, Martina, Allison, Nancy, and Ron were at another table at the same restaurant. Allison teased us that we were anti-social again. This time we sat sufficiently far apart that we didn’t interact with each other at all during the meal.
We walked around after lunch and bought a bottle of génépy aperitif at Saveurs de Cogne. Our guide Claudia had mentioned génépy and I wanted something local to bring home. Génépy is an alpine herb flower, a variety of mountain sage found in high mountains of the Savoy, that is protected in the National Park.
Tom and I split after a while. I happened upon the Regional Archaeological Museum and since we had tickets to the museum, I went in. But all the descriptions were in Italian. I was running out of time anyway, so I didn’t stay in the museum for long. Tom and I met up and spotted Allison on our way to the bus stop. She was looking for one more craft shop. We went with her and then we all went to the bus stop together. We took the bus back to Cogne. We rested in our room for a while before going to the spa. The Turkish bath was taken by two people who talked loudly the whole time we were there. Tom and I used the sauna. The steam room wasn’t very steamy. I saw wooden stairs and asked someone what they led to. He told me that there were two beds up above. Later I read the description of the spa in the elevator. It boasts having a “romantic loft.” A day later, I walked up the stairs and saw two mattresses on the loft which opens to the floor below.
In the evening, we had a demonstration of polenta cooking at the patio of Hotel Sant’Orso. We got to taste the polenta with two different kinds of cheese and a choice of white or red wine. Each of us got to bring a bag of polenta home.
After the polenta, we had dinner at Cave di Cogne. I had a ratatouille of the garden with Fontina cheese fondue and walnuts for appetizer and ricotta cheese baked with oregano and grilled vegetables for entrée. Tom had grilled trout. We sat with Christian, Haiman, Cheri, Marlies, and Martina. We shared our first jobs and our hobbies with each other. The restaurant gave each of us a wine bottle opener with Cave de Cogne imprinted on it.
After dinner, Tom and I took a walk. Tom took pictures of me twirling on the field with higher mountains in the background, but I think I like the ones Allison took better.
We walked to
the edge of the Sant’Orso Meadow and found the iron fountain which was built in
1816 as a monument to honor the mining activities of the village. The cast-iron
plates that make up the tub were produced by 11 tons of iron and the tub lining
and pipes required an additional 154 lbs. of iron. The total weight was over 18.7
tons.
Thursday 6/27
On the third day in Cogne, I got up early and walked out to the square. Today was another clear day to see Mont Blanc. I took pictures with my phone and shared them with the family. This was the day I saw the dogs sleeping at our hotel door.
We were supposed to take the 9:40am bus to a little village of Gimillan (5,900 ft), but this bus never stopped in Cogne. We had to wait an hour for the next bus, which affected the schedules of a few in our group who didn’t want to hike the whole way but wanted to see the mountain view from Gimillan. Tom walked around. I walked some and then went back to the hotel. I took pictures of the lobby and explored the basement to find the table where you could sit and play cards. I didn’t find it, but there are interesting things.
Dominico was our hiking guide again. He took the 10:40am bus with us. In Gimillan, we saw banners welcoming the marathoners. The view of Mont Blanc was obscured by clouds. We started hiking uphill. The trail was steep. It was hot. We gained 400m in elevation (1,312 ft) before we stopped to have a picnic lunch. I had packed warm clothes, expecting windy and cold weather up high, but the weather stayed warm. We took a group picture before descending on another route.
We reached Gimillan in time to take the bus back to Cogne at the original scheduled time. We had made up for the lost hour. When we got back to our hotel, Tom went out to explore more trails in Cogne, I opted to rest and spend time at the spa. I wanted to join Marlies and Martina at the Turkish bath, but I was tired and took a nap first. When I came back up, my friends were gone and there were other people using it. I was at the sauna until the Turkish bath was available. I had it all to myself. I turned the jets on and imagined having a massage. It was wonderful. Allison came out from her massage room, saying she shouldn’t be in the bath because of the oil on her skin. Tom came back from his walk right when I was done with the spa. He went up there later and said he wished he had more time.
We had dinner at Hotel Sant’Orso. I had eggplant parmigiana with cheese, tomato, and basil coulis for appetizer and grilled vegetables, grilled cheese, and red onion jam for entrée. We had tarts for dessert. Music on the patio was still being played after our dinner. We sat in the beautiful mountain setting and listened to the musicians playing American songs. It was a great day.
Friday 6/28
After four nights in Cogne, we checked out and took the private bus along the Aosta Valley. We were leaving Italy for France. But not so fast. Before entering France, we stopped in Courtmayeur, a resort at the foot of Mont Blanc, for a stroll. We walked around and bought candies for the children and my mom at Gourmandises.
After Courtmayeur, we went through the 7.2-mile Mont Blanc Tunnel which links Chamonix, France with Courtmayeur, Italy. Although France-Italy border is in the tunnel, the border patrol is on the outside. However, for the entire trip, our passports were never checked. We arrived at the Chalet Hôtel Le Prieuré & Spa too early to have our rooms. We left our luggage at the hotel and took a tour of Chamonix (3,395 ft) with our local guide Claire who is from England, but has lived in Chamonix for a long time. We walked on the pedestrian streets. Claire pointed out a few of her favorites: Hôtel Richemond and Shoukâ Coffee shop. Tom and I visited both later. She talked at length about the mountain rescue operations and the pioneers of mountain climbing.
After the tour, we came back to the hotel and checked in. Cheri’s room across from ours was not ready and the maid didn’t speak English. I was able to use French to learn that the room would be ready in 30 minutes. All rooms of our group have a balcony with the mountain view but it was cloudy today.
Tom napped. I went to the spa which opens onto a terrace facing Mont Blanc. I experienced an outdoor wooden sauna for the first time. I met two women who said they could not buy tickets to go up Aiguille du Midi. I felt glad that I was with Road Scholar and didn’t have to worry about getting tickets.
The spa at this hotel is the most luxurious and the most spacious of all. It can be opened to the outside, but even when the door is closed, the glass walls and door allow you a wonderful view of the field and the mountains. It has an outdoor wooden sauna, a whirlpool under a glass roof, a small indoor swimming pool, a steam room which is called a hamman, showers with fancy water streams and aromatic shower gel, and large thick soft cotton towels. I got the whirlpool to myself when it became available. It is similar to the Turkish bath in Cogne. The water was lukewarm. The jets were strong and made me feel like I was having a massage.
We had a buffet for dinner at the hotel. Seeing Phil W at the bar when we were done with dinner, I told him I’d come down later to join him. He’d told me to take him out for a drink as payment for what we owed him at the cheese farm. Tom went to sleep early. I joined Phil and ordered a Moscow mule. When he asked me how it was, I said it was weak. He mentioned it to the young lady who made me the drink by following a written recipe (The bartender was away). She told me she used the exact amount of vodka from the recipe and showed me the recipe to prove it. I told her not to worry about it. But she apparently went and told the bartender. He came back to the bar and poured more vodka onto my drink. I left after one drink, but Phil stayed longer. I was totally ready for bed.
Saturday 6/29
We were supposed to go to Aiguille du Midi for a panorama view of Mont Blanc and the surrounding peaks on Sunday, but the weather forecast was for rain on Sunday. Even before we got to Chamonix, Marta already made plans to switch the trip to Aiguille du Midi to be on Saturday. That was today! We woke up with a clear beautiful view of Mont Blanc from our room balcony. I kept taking pictures. It turned out this would be the only time we could see Mont Blanc clearly from our hotel room.
We sat with Susan at breakfast. After breakfast, our group walked to the valley station to ride two cable cars, the first one would take us to Plan de l’Aiguille (7,600 ft) and the second one would take us to Aiguille du Midi (12,604 ft). When we got to the station, we learned that the wind was too fierce and the second cable car wasn’t operating. Marta consulted with our local guide Valerie. They decided to take us on the first cable car to Plan de l’Aiguille and then have us walk to Le Lac Bleu. They hoped that the second cable car would be opened at 10:30am when the wind condition is reassessed. So up we went.
We took a half mile hike to the lake. There were a lot of people there, but I managed to have Valerie take a picture of Tom and me, and later I took a group picture. The second cable car remained closed at 10:30am. Our guides decided to go down to the market for lunch, and then go to the Ice Cave which was originally scheduled for Monday morning. We’d try Aiguille du Midi on Monday morning before leaving for Geneva. We took the cable car back down and walked to the market. It became cloudy and we couldn’t see anything out of the cable car.
Tom and I ordered a Mediterranean sandwich and an éclair at La Paniere Chamo to share. Our group ate our lunch at a picnic table. Then we walked to the Montenvers station to take the train to Mer de Glace (6,279 ft). The train runs on a “rack-and-pinion” railway which allows it to operate on steep slopes of above 9%. Mer de Glace is France’s largest glacier (4 miles long, 656 feet thick). The idea was to take the cable car from Mer de Glace to the Ice Cave, but we learned that the cable car to the Ice Cave was also closed due to windy weather. While on the train, Valerie shared with us English lyrics for the French song Les Sardines because we were packed on the train, and she sang the French version. She managed to have our group all in the same car. We stayed at Mer de Glace a while and watched movies about glaciers and refuges before taking the train back to Chamonix.
Marta suggested that we could take the Brévent cable car on the other side of the valley on our own because she saw it was running. Haiman joined Tom and me. We walked uphill from our hotel to the Brévent cable station. When we got there, they were bringing people back down and they said the cable cars were closed for the day due to the windy conditions. On our walk back to the hotel, we encountered Deb and Linda walking towards the station. We told them the cable cars were not operating. Linda said “Time for a glass of wine.” Tom said they’d have to walk up the hill to earn the glass of wine and they did that.
When we got back, Tom and I spent 1.5 hours at the spa. Susan and Nancy invited us to join them for dinner. Ron (Nancy’s husband) was having dinner with Phil G who had read a book Ron wrote. The four of us went to La Ferme Miriol, a crêpe place. We wanted to sit outside but it started to rain, so we changed tables, sitting next to Deb and Linda who had come before us. Each of us had a crêpe. I went with la périgourdine which has brie cheese, smoked duck, apples, and honey. The smoked duck was cut very thin like prosciutto. After dinner, we walked around and found an ice cream stand. Each of us ordered a scoop. Nancy accidentally paid for Tom’s and my ice cream. Tom told her he’d make a donation to the charity she’s a treasurer for as a pay back. The four of us visited Hôtel Richemond but I didn’t find it as charming as Claire suggested. Marta sent us information on the 21km race “DUO Étolíe team spirit” which started at 7:30pm. The maximum time to complete the race is 6.5 hours. The runners would come down the slope with lanterns. Tom and I went to bed and did not watch for this.
Sunday 6/30
We followed the original Saturday schedule of going to the France-Swiss border. Because of the marathon that started today, Marta worried we would not have seats on the train. We walked to the train station closer to our hotel and took the train towards Montroc. We had to wait at the Central station until the train leaves for Montroc. While on the train, Haiman, Barb, Duane, Tom, and I played the game I suggested where each of us stated three “facts” about ourselves, except one is not true. The listeners had to decipher which one is not true. Valerie and Marta joined us later. We learned a little about each other and that was fun. Valerie shared with me that once she and Marta talked so much during a tour that they missed their stop. They told the group they were guiding that it rained at the original destination. We had a good laugh about that. After we got off the train at Montroc, we walked to the village of Le Tours. Traffic was heavy on the way to Le Tours. Valerie said that was unusual because of the marathon. On the way, we passed by a memorial for twelve people who died during an avalanche in February of 1999.
From Le Tours, we took the gondola to Charmillon (1,130 ft) and took the chair lift from there to Les Autannes (7,200 ft). Marlies and Martina were on the chair lift with us. It was Martina’s first chair lift. It became foggier the higher we went. For a while we couldn’t see the chair lift in front of us and I started to wonder if we’d see where we’d get off. The chair lift was a long one, about 8 minutes. It must be fun to ski here.
We took a walk in the Col de Balme area to the Swiss border. There were cows with huge bells on as we saw in Switzerland.
It was raining so we didn’t stay long and we didn’t go to Refuge de Col de Balme as mentioned in the brochure, or have a picnic lunch here as planned.
Tom and I sat by ourselves on the chairlift down. The strong wind blew rain on our faces. My left hand held the hood of my rain jacket up to shield me from the rain the whole way down. We lost sight of the chairlift in front of us at times. This chairlift experience left a strong impression on Phil W who was happily cold and miserable. He thought it was an experience not to be missed.
After we got off the chair lifts, we walked to Argentière but didn’t see the Argentière glacier due to rain and fog. We saw enchanting views and beautiful flowers.
Our guides found a place where there were some stone walls we could sit on to have a picnic lunch. We enjoyed the spread of cheese, bread, sausage, vegetables, olives, cherries, and wine. It was divine.
We walked on after lunch. We stopped at a memorial for the mountain guides who had died. We were supposed to pay for the bus back to Montroc but our guides told the driver of our woes and he allowed us on. We took the train from Montroc back to Chamonix. From here, we met with some in our group who did not go with us on the hike but wanted to see the Ice Cave. We took the Montenvers train back to Mer de Glace and this time we took the gondolas to the Ice Cave. The Ice Cave is actually carved by hands every summer, under the living glacier. The tunnel is created with a drill while shapes are carved with ice picks and shovels. It takes four months to finish. The carving has been done by the same family (Claret) since 1946. Inside the cave is a museum about glaciology.
After getting back to Chamonix, Tom and I had time to use the sauna before meeting the group in the hotel lobby for a farewell drink. Then we walked to Le Carrousel restaurant for dinner. It was a fixed menu of medium rare steak and mashed potatoes.
Monday 7/1
Today was the last day we’d be in Chamonix. We were going to go to Aiguille du Midi, despite the cloudy sky. The weather wasn’t promising. Allison showed us the webcam at Aiguille du Midi: a grey blank. But this was our last chance to see Mont Blanc up close. We checked out of the hotel and left our luggage there. We walked to the station and took two cable cars to get to Aiguille du Midi, the closest you can get to Mont Blanc on a lift system. The Aiguille du Midi cable car holds the world record for the highest vertical ascent of 9,209 ft. We were broken up into several groups because the gondola could hold only eight people at a time and there were other tourists. Somehow Tom and I got separated after we got off. This is supposed to be an ideal starting point of the Three Monts route to ascend Mont Blanc. After a while, I ran into Cheri and we took pictures of each other standing in the skywalk “Step into the Void” (12,605 ft). We unfortunately couldn’t see and experience much with the thick clouds outside.
As we left the skywalk, I was glad to see Marta. I walked out to the terrace and briefly saw the clouds lift and Mont Blanc appear. There were many Chinese tourists around. I decided to stay put and inch my way to a good spot to wait for the clouds to clear again. I was glad to see Tom and Marta come out. Marta took a few pictures of Tom and me.
The clouds had not lifted for a long time, but Tom wanted to wait and I was willing, even though both of us felt the effect of the high altitude. I was a bit lightheaded. Lo and behold, we at last were rewarded with a beautiful clear view of Mont Blanc. How precious. We took our time enjoying the view before watching a movie on Mont Blanc and taking the cable car back down.
Tom and I said goodbye to others of our group at the station in Chamonix and started walking back to the hotel. We were not sure of the way, so we followed Marlies and Martina. Then we were blocked by marathon runners and a wall of well wishers. I’d cheered the marathon runners on before, but I didn’t want to linger this time. We walked around to find a walkable through path. We were back on our familiar pedestrian street. We wanted to try a cup of coffee at Shoukâ Coffee, but the line was long. I got a little purple cup and hot chocolate for my sister instead. We stopped briefly at a sports store and ran into Marta there.
We still had some time before leaving Chamonix, so we decided to try the Brévent cable car again. On the way, we saw paragliers above us.
We caught the cable car with no line and went up to Planpraz (1,999m or 6,558 ft).
From there we didn’t see any more cable cars so we didn’t go further. We took the furnicular up. A paraglider from North Bend, WA was in the furnicular with us. He was looking for a place to launch. We walked up a little hill to the restaurant Altitude 2000. We decided to have lunch there, sitting on the patio. We ordered a beef tartare and it wasn’t great, but their crème brulée was heavenly.
We watched the paragliders take off from the launching pad below in wonder and awe. More and more paragliders came, including our friend from North Bend.
We walked down there after lunch, hoping to take pictures, but it started to rain and the clouds came in. We chatted with our friend from North Bend who was ready to launch but now had to wait. We’d love to wait with him, but we had a bus to catch.
From the cable car, we could see marathon runners running on the zig-zag trail below. Tom was crazy. He was thinking of taking the trail down instead of taking the cable car. The sign says it would take two hours to do that, and we certainly did not have two hours to spare.We walked by Hotel de Ville and Eglise St Michel on our way back to our hotel.
Soon we settled in for our last bus ride with Road Scholar. Marta pointed out a few castles on the way to Geneva. We stayed at Crowne Plaza in Geneva tonight. The Road Scholar program ended here, but Marta offered to take us around Geneva. She tried to get us to experience all kinds of public transportation. We took the bus, train, and boat. We walked to the Flower Clock, saw the Jet d’Eau which is one of the city’s famous landmarks, visited St. Peter’s Cathedral which is a cathedral of the Reformation, saw the city hall, and walked through the Reformation Wall. We had a group picture taken at the world’s longest wooden bench, the Banc de la Treille, which is 394 ft long. We walked by a park where people play chess games standing up because the board and chess pieces are huge.Tom and I had dinner at Restaurant La Gioconda, a pizzeria down the street from our hotel, with Duane and Barb. Tom and I shared a funghi pizza, and it’s not nearly as good as the funghi pizza at Fiume in San Antonio.
Sometime today we learned that Cogne was cut off after torrential rain, flooding, and mudslides hit the region. Hundreds of tourists were evacuated by helicopter as regional highway to Val d’Aosta town on slopes of Gran Paradiso mountain was blocked at three points due to mudslides. Clearing of the road could take weeks. The following Road Scholar group on the same trip as ours could not enter Cogne and were stuck in St Bernard Pass.
Last Travel Day
In retrospect, we probably should have taken an earlier shuttle to the airport, just for our comfort level. We took the 9:20am shuttle with Marlies, Martina, and Darshu. We said goodbye to Marta in the lobby. Two other people were taking the shuttle with us to the airport. Their United flight was cancelled the day before. One of them missed a day of work. It was a good thing we had allowed ourselves three hours at the airport. The lines at the Delta counter, security, and passport check were all too long. It took us two hours to finally get through security and we were not done. The Delta agent told us our gate number. He had an accent and I wasn’t sure. The gate information was not on our printed boarding pass. It wasn’t on the monitor or available to us before we got to the gate. We had to go through the passport check first. The passport check area was confusing because we didn’t expect it. It looks like a passport control at arrival. We already had to show our passports at checking in, at security, and now at the passport check, and we'd have to do it again the fourth time at boarding. It was a good thing we could communicate with Allison who was taking the same flight. I don’t know what time she took the shuttle but she was already at the gate after we got through security. She confirmed the gate information with us and assured us we were on the right track.
I watched two movies on the first leg. At JFK, I made sure to get myself some snacks because I felt a little queasy. Tom also got himself a sandwich. I slept on and off the entire second leg. Both of our flights were on time, which was nice. Delta did not lose our luggage. George was ready to pick us up at our home airport.
Despite the rain and the fog and the flight delay and the long lines at Geneva airport, we had a fabulous trip. Marta and the other seventeen people in our group added positively to our experience. I am looking forward to our next adventure, wherever that may be.
