Day 55 - Thursday 27 June - Chamonix

Thursday 27 June

The ticket I printed for today said 7:45, so we were up early, walked 20min to the bus station, and were there on time.  When the lady came to check us in, and no-one else was there, I asked about the time - 8:30 departure.  So we waited and gradually people came, and by 8:30 the bus was pretty full, but we still had a double seat each.  (and I'm still cheesed off about Sofia)

The border to France comes up pretty quickly, but you wouldn't realise that you were in a new country.  There were towns and farms and industry and mountains.  But then we were on a super viaduct, with the old road running beside, and after about an hour's travelling we were in Chamonix, where the first winter Olympics were held in 1924. 

 

It was a bit like Zermatt, but bigger, and with lots of cars.  The tour and the guide were very organised, and we all had printed maps with times and places marked, so the first place we went past was the pick-up stop.

We were dropped at the bottom of the cablecar to Aiguille du Midi, given tickets and the first of us rushed through to catch the next gondola in about 1min.  It was a big, standing only box, that went to the first change, then another similar to the top.  The second section holds the record for the highest vertical ascent (2807m), and at the end it is almost vertical against the rock face.

We got out, and went up to the lookout, taking the required photos.

 

Then we went down again, and across a bridge to the next pinnacle, which has a lift bored inside it which goes up even higher.  There you can join a queue (45mins when we were there), to walk out into a glass box suspended on the cliff face, so you think you have nothing holding you up.  We didn't bother, but looked through the legs of people in the queue at a spot where there was a glass floor.

That was enough for us.  There were lookout points all around, with rock climbers, cross county people and para-gliders doing their things.  We were plagued with shortness of breath and woozy head again because of the altitude, so once we'd been everywhere, came back down fairly soon.

We walked around to the station, where we were booked in for lunch, self-serve salads, duck and rice, choc mousse (part of the tour, though only one other couple were doing the same).  After that, we got the cog railway to Montenvers, which is 1913m up.

Here is the Mer de Glace glacier, the largest in France, or should I say 'was'.  Since 1980s the glacier has been shrinking fast, and whereas in 1910 it was at the station level, now you go down a gondola, then walk down about 560 steps (which of course you have to go up again). 

 

They carve an ice cave into the glacier which is all pretty and blue, and it isn't really cold as the cave was at Zermatt.  The current ice cave is altitude 1646m, which means it is 267m lower than in 1910.  That's a tremendous volume if ice that is no longer there.

 The train line opened in 1908, and this pic was taken in 1910, with the glacier up to the station.

In 1988 the ice cave was cut at the bottom of the gondola.  By 2000 there were 118 steps, and by 2015 there were 370.  Now there are 560.  Soon the ice cave will have to be dug 1km up the valley.

 

  
Then we climbed up, trained down, bussed back, walked home and collapsed.  Then we went downstairs to a local cafe for dinner.

Day 54 - Wednesday 26 June - Geneva

Wednesday 26 June

First we walked for about 15mins to a local park, where 3 days a week they have a fruit/veg market and on 2 days a 'flea market'. We wandered along though it was getting hot, and I didn't buy any fleas, but did get some sheep, a cow, a donkey etc.

 

They don't have a hop-on-hop-off bus here, but they do have 3 sightseeing routes that intersect, and are cheaper if you do all 3, so that's what we did. The first was a little train that went through the old town, but I hadn't aided my hearing, so I had some trouble with the background noise and the speaker system in the open carriages. It is a shame that they don't let you off to catch the next train coming, because I would have liked to see in the cathedral and some of the other buildings in the area.
 

 The Armory, near the Town Hall.  I would have liked to see the mosaics at least.







Second was an open-top bus, which was very hot. It had headphones, but again I had trouble. It toured the United Nations area, where many of the agencies have their headquarters.
 

 Rose gardens in the Parc des Eaux Vives (living waters?)

This is the Brunswick monument.  German Duke B willed that if Geneva gave him a good monument, he would give them his money.  Our tour said that with what was left over they bought land for a public park.

 Red Cross HQ

 Water fountains opposite the UN building.  Kids and adults getting wet.

 The UN building.  It would look good when the wind is blowing, more like this.

After lunch beside the lake we did the 2nd train trip, that went through the local gardens.

 There are some very grand ex-houses, now offices or something else.

A cute little harbour on the lake

 
While having lunch, we could see the little ferries zooming about, so after our train, we got a ticket and did 2 return trips across the lake and 1 single, which took us back to our side of the river.
 

 Swans by the ferry ramp

 Locals at the swimming enclosure

 A mother duck sitting on eggs right beside the wharf.

 Heading under the bridge.

At a couple of places we have seen pianos left for passers-by to play a bit, and this morning while we were waiting for our bus a girl was playing.   This afternoon a bunch of schoolkids were there, and one was doing an excellent job playing Scott Joplin, then the hymn "Who would true valour see", and we joined in with the kids as they sang.  

Then we walked home with our daily icecream.  Although not quite as hot as yesterday, is was still over 30deg, so I jumped straight into the shower, and have felt much better.

Day 53 - Tuesday 25 June - Zermatt to Geneva

Tuesday 25 June

We packed up, and were at the station ready for our 10:38 departure.
 

At Visp we changed trains, to our well-deserved 1st class. and zoomed along through neat and tidy vineyards, then orchards, until we came to Lake Geneva. 

 Then it was mostly built-up areas around the edge of the water all the way to Geneva.

I had asked about trains at Zermatt, but asked again here, and it seems all the TGV are booked, so we will have to go slow local.  We reached our bnb about 14:20, and were shown in.  It must be the smallest we have had so far, and it is a squeeze to find space to open out our 3 bags.  We think that it might be home for our host and her little boy, because there are many personal effects still here, and the wardrobe is locked.

So we sorted ourselves out, then took some of our stuff to the local Post Office.  Unlike Napes, they were very calm and helpful, and we got the box packed, sticky-taped and labelled with a minimum of fuss.  Opposite was the supermarket, so we were all done in one trip.
Now 10pm, and it is still very hot.