Chamonix-Mont-Blanc France
Oh, Chamonix. I had high expectations and they were exceeded. We went with a group of friends including, Kenric, Beth, Evelyn, Audrey, Holly, Mike, and Regina. It was a Thursday and we flew into Geneva, Switzerland and had two vans waiting for us to drive us to Chamonix. It was a 75 minute drive from the airport, so it was 1am when we arrived to Chalet Les Tissourds. The Chalet is gorgeous and they had a welcome snack of bread and cheese waiting for us. We enjoyed the snack by the fire before bed.
On the street in front of our Chalet
The next day we met our concierge, Loretta, and she was gracious enough to make us scrambled eggs along with croissants, cereal, etc. Loretta was our concierge/driver and she’s a Chamonix native, which made her a very good resource. Everyone went skiing and snowboarding while Regina and I stayed at the Chalet with the nannies. Since this was a short four day trip I didn’t take cross country ski lessons this time. I was going to meet everyone for lunch, but it was way too late when they got a table. Later, Andrew, Regina, Kai and I went for a walk to get an aperitivo at a dim sum restaurant before the evening. We saw some of the beautiful town. When we arrived back to the chalet, the chef, Phil, was there preparing our meal. It was a great experience to have a chef prepare meals every night because we could put Kai to sleep and then join everyone downstairs.
Dinner at the Chalet
On Saturday, I had reservations to go to the new QC Terme, which is a high end Italian spa. It was amazing with views of Mont Blanc from the pool. I had a great time and our concierge picked me up on the way back from picking up everyone who hit the slopes. We went out walking around in the center and it was such a cool ski town. It had a great area of restaurants and shopping. What I also like is that you can see the mountains all around you while you’re in the center, which reminded me of Innsbruck, Austria. We took the bus back home and I’d like to note they do have a free bus system since all of the resorts and apartments are spread out. We had another nice dinner at the chalet afterwards.
The following day was Sunday and we went to the Aiguille du Midi (or Midi for short) to take the cable car up to the top. Our lift tickets allowed us a free ride up to the mountain top at 3,842 m (12,605 ft) and when we got to the front the attendant questioned Kai’s age. He was too young to go and so was Evelyn. Audrey who is 5 went and still became hypoxic. Beth, Evelyn, Holly, Mike and I went to a coffee shop while we waited for everyone else to go up first. Beth and I were so fortunate to get to go up together and when you arrive to the first stopping point I could already tell I was getting hypoxic. It was actually a cloudy day and literally we popped up above the clouds to see the sun and mountain peaks. A beautiful view! It took me a few minutes to acclimate to the altitude. The clear box with the clear bottom allowing you to see down the mountain was closed, so we missed our chance to take a picture. Nonetheless, it was an amazing experience. Beth and I even went to lunch on our own afterwards, which was a really nice treat. We had a relaxing day the rest of the time.
The next day was a Monday and the day we left. We had breakfast and our concierge took us to the airport. I won’t ever forget the jaw-dropping beauty of Chamonix-Mont-Blanc.
