Chamonix - Sun+Mon

Sunday 7 July
This day of rest was used as intended.
We did not get up too early and after having dressed in our best clothes, we listened to a sermon of rev Anderson.
It was about Exodus and we were well fed by the Word he brought us.
In the afternoon we relaxed and later on went for a drive. We found a nice zig zag road right down into a valley. Scary and interesting!
After an evening meal we retired on time.


Monday 8 July
After the day of rest we had planned for busy Monday again.
After all, we did not come to Mont Blanc for nothing!
Some of us did not have a good sleep and myself, I woke up a umber of times.
Due to that the alarm clock was beaten by a fair margin. After forcing a lay-in till 6.15am, enough was enough.
But crawling out of a creacky bed over the top of your wife is quite a feat when in a groggy state that time of the day, more intent on reaching the WC then on being very quiet.
So I admit failure to make the trip from bedside to toilet unnoticed.
My white t-shirt, doubling as pj top, combined with the lack of matching boxers, may well have meant an early grave for the weak hearted but the girls and Steven handled my early morning appearance fairly well. Mum of course is more desensytised to this phenomena.
Since we were all in varying states of awakedness we decided to move onto breakfast and the ritual cleansing + dressing.
Much to the others relief, my appearance was now in a more acceptable format.
Our appartment has magnificent views of the mountais so a quick look was to establish the state of the weather at the top.
There was much cloud but during breakfast the visibility was changing by the minute.
By the time we were walking to the bus stop for a free ride to the base camp (sounds pro doesn't it?) it all looked much more positive.
We were not the only ones catching worms and the bus filled up rather rapidly.
Human beings of all ages seemed to want to make us look like silly amateur tourists: you should see the gear they had on and the pro picks and walking sticks! Boots and designer
shirts shone all around, well except on us. The only thing in our favour were the jumpers and coats with wich we tried to indicate that at least we knew it was cold up top...

Anyhow, after paying our fares we lined up for the gondola ride to the top, roughly 2.5KM higher.
We narrowly beat a large group of tourists who appeared to have been practising for the very bright conditions on the snowy mountain top.
The main gondola packs up to 72 people and travels at a speed of 10 m/sec we were told. That equates to about 36km/hr
Most of the people inside gave relief to their tension when the gondola went past 2 main-stay masts because this caused the gondola to rock and jump violently.
This relief could have been mistaken for a bunch of people expecting to die very soon....
But there we were, on the halfway point, alive and well.
The seond gondola took us up to the top.
The coats and jumpers came in handy although some alpha males seemed to be more intent on gathering an admiring crowd then to care for the cold.
The views were stunning!!!!!!!!!
We took many pictures and even entertained each other with a treat of icy-cold-snow-down-the- back-of-our-jumpers. It is amazing how agile an over 50yo can be when confronted with such a cool treat.
After spending much time there and enjoying ourselves greatly, standing in awe of our Creator's power, we descended and came down to earth again.
Our tickets apparently included a free train ride and visit to the Mer-du-Glace, a hollowed out area in a glacier. So after our customary supermarket visit for bread and the stuff to go on it, we found the train.
It was one of those mountain trains with a large cog which drives the train on. It climbed steeply and took us to a great height again. From memory about 3km above sea level.
After a short walk we came to the small cable carts that took us lower.
BUT... There awaited us a frightening array of steel stairs all the way down to the glacier. The way down would have been more pleasant if we did not continue to come across people who had already been below and now forced every fiber in their bodies to make the journey back up again. Some would have been confirmed to have suffered minor heart and respiratory problems if a doctor had been available. Fortunately such a professional was not around so red faced and gasping for air many managed to make it to the top on their own steam (literally)
It made those descending very busy with the impending return trip....
What looked like a rocky valley turned out to be a glacier in which they had made a tunnel. Inside one could observe some simple carvings of structures and animals. Not an awful lot to see really. What was striking on the way down was the indicators markings of where the glacier used to top in past years. The current level is way way lower then some 20 years ago. That explained why the gondola stopped so high and a long walk was needed.
After making the appropriate stops on the way back up, in order to get the body a chance to get back to some form of normality, We enjoyed the ride down again in the train.
We were all drained of energy and mum found us a nice train ride back to the apartment. We crashed for a while, got shoppings and fuel for the next day together with some stamps.
Mum made us dinner and we relaxed for the evening and went through the details for tomorrow.
Geneva comes first and then we travel to Beaune in France as a half-way mark to Versaille.
Signing off for the Amoraals in Europe.
dad