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    • TravelerSwitzerland 2023
      Day 3

      Chamonix

      January 28, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ -3 °C

      We woke up early on 1/28/23 to take a one hour bus to Chamonix for skiing. Ethan and I fell asleep, and when we woke up we were in the Alps at Chamonix and we were intimidated by the slopes. We found an all you can eat breakfast for $18 each, and then we were able to rent skis and boots there as well. Then, we had to walk to rent ski jackets and snow pants and pick up our $75 pass for the slopes. We took the wrong bus, so we were delayed for a while, but eventually we made it on the lift and we overlooked the entire valley of Mont-Blanc. I was nervous and flew down the first hill, but eventually I figured it out and I wasn’t that bad, I only fell twice. Ethan started falling all over the place once it got icy, but neither of us got hurt. We stopped at a little restaurant on the mountain, and I got chicken wrapped in bacon and ethan got cheesy potatoes gratin, both were yummy. We finished the hill, and decided to go back up to play around, and I was starting to get better, so I was sad to leave. Then, we went down, extremely sore, to return all of our equipment, and then decided to go get the famous Guafres waffles, which were so good. We decided to do Apres Ski, and made friends at a bunch of the bars and definitely had fun! Then, we took the bus ride home and slept the entire way from complete exhaustion.Read more

    • Bags are packed
      Day 36

      Day trip to Chamonix

      June 25, 2022 in France ⋅ ⛅ 21 °C

      Today we woke up early to catch an hour and a half bus to Chamonix in the French Alps. We got there and were planning on going for a hike up the mountain but saw that people were paragliding and so we asked around about that and the only time they had was 2pm so it wasn’t enough time to do a hike but we walked around the town, went into a farmers market, had cheese fondue and then went to the gondola to meet up with our guide. We took the gondola up and the guys got our stuff ready on the side of the mountain in a grassy area, he hooked me in and asked if I was ready. Then we said start walking and then start running and we were off! It was so peaceful and easy, we were up there for about 20-30 minutes, he left me steer a bit and then he did some tricks and turns! Then we went to a beer garden to chill for a bit before our bus back. We got back to the hostel to chill before meeting Allison Rice at the music festival that was going on outside around town which was so fun!Read more

    • TravelerItalie/Chamonix 2022
      Day 11

      Jour 10 - Milan -> Chamonix

      August 22, 2022 in France ⋅ ⛅ 12 °C

      Journée plutôt calme. Nous avons profité de la matinée pour nous reposer et dormir un peu plus tard.

      Nous avons quitté notre condo à 11h, direction station d'autobus. Notre départ était à 14h05 avec une arrivée prévue à Chamonix à 17h40. Malheureusement, un embouteillage monstre au tunnel du Mont Blanc nous aura retardé de plus d'une heure.

      Souper chez Paradisio Pizza, la meilleure Pizz à Cham et petit marche sur la rue principale pour acheter notre déjeuner de demain chez la boulangerie Richard. Petit détour aussi pour aller voir l'arche de l'UTMB question de se mettre dans l'ambiance!

      Coup de coeur: définitivement pas les toilettes de la station de bus (Antoine, Élodie, Nadia et Mathieu)      Read more

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    • TravelerItalie/Chamonix 2022
      Day 14

      Jour 13 - Pieds dans le vide/Dossard

      August 25, 2022 in France ⋅ ⛅ 18 °C

      La journée d'aujourd'hui s'annonçait plutôt relaxe en fait d'activité. Mathieu voulait commencer à relaxer et monter à Plan Praz pour regarder les parapentes décoller tandis qu'Élodie a convaincu le reste de la famille pour remonter à l'Aiguille du midi pour faire les pieds dans le vide, un cube vitré suspendu au-dessus du vide sur lequel on peut embarquer.

      Pour l'après-midi, Mathieu devait aller chercher son dossard de course et Nadia, Antoine et Élo leur passe de transport pour l'événement.

      Le tout s'est terminé avec un bon souper sur notre terrasse et quelques parties de cartes.

      Demain, c'est l'UTMB!

      Coup de coeur: croisé un bébé Samoyède (Élodie), passer du temps dans les montagne (Nadia), Pieds dans le vide (Antoine), aller chercher le dossard de course (Mathieu)      Read more

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    • TravelerTMB, France & Spain
      Day 13

      Pick up French hire car Thu 14 Sep 2023

      September 14, 2023 in France ⋅ ☀️ 16 °C

      Up at 6.45am. Breakfast at 7.10am. Packed and left the Hotel Vallee Blanch in Chamonix and caught the bus at 10am that Karen had previously booked to Geneva airport. There was impressive road engineering after Chamonix as we descended from the mountains. The bus dropped us at the Swiss side of Geneva airport. We planned to walk to the French side of the airport to pick up our hire car, but could not as we did not have a boarding pass for a plane trip. Airport staff advised to get an Uber however, we did not think to walk to the arrivals exit of Geneva airport. Uber charged us for a no show as we were outside airport departures and the car was at arrivals. We then tried to use a French taxi whose driver informed us we were required to use a Swiss taxi as we were in Switzerland. Then we walked to Genva Airport arrivals and packed into a Swiss taxi Prius which drove on a torturous route around the airport, then under the airport to the French hire car garage which was under an airport runway. This cost 50 euros. We were then able to pick up the hire car. Richard drove the Hybrid Ford Kuga to Annecy where we had lunch and walked down to the lake. More motorway tollway driving after lunch at 110 to 130 kilometres per hour. We had 3 GPS navigation systems to guide us. Karen’s phone and Google Maps, the Tom Tom I brought and the car GPS. Passed a nuclear power station as well as a truck carrying radioactive material. 2 nights at the Hotel West at Le Pont just north of Avignon. Dinner at a local pub in Le Pont with wine and excellent hamburgers with staff who spoke little or no English. The French menus were a challenge. Back at the Face West Hotel before 9pm for a shower and bed.Read more

    • Abshire’s Abroad
      Day 5

      Travel Day to Chamonix, France

      March 18, 2023 in France ⋅ ⛅ 5 °C

      Today we traveled from Como to Chamonix France. The drive took approximately 3 hours. The drive was easy, all highways and several tolls. Round trip this excursion will cost approx $200 in tolls. We stopped at our first Auto Grill. Its supposed to have great convenience store food. A smaller gourmet Buckeys. There is a tunnel through the mountain that connects Italy to France. It was over 7.3 miles long. It took 19 years to dig! We were talking about Oceans 13 and wonder if that’s the same “digger” they are referring to. We found our way to our apartment. It was a little smaller than expected and the location was not what Gabe was wanting. We have decided to stay here for 1 night and then we are moving locations. We went into downtown Chamonix and walked around. We decided on a place for dinner after looking at several menus. I of course wanted Onion Soup. We decided on a place and had our first cheese Fondue. The area of France is known for their Racellete cheese. We decided to wait to have that at another place. I got soup and mussels. Everything was ehh…checked the google rating and its a 3.3. We don’t really like to follow those rankings but probably going to have to rely on them more during our trip. So if you’re keeping track that 2 restaurants that were a HANGRY choice. The kids got gelato again but I got my first Crepe. Sugar and Lemon. It was amazing. Better than my dinner.

      I was very excited because this apartment had a washer / dryer como unit. Dryers are a luxury in Europe. The cycle options were in French, as expected. I translated them with Google Lens on the Google translate app. So handy. I know I only have 1 college degree and its not as Masters but I think I should be able to operate a washer in another country. WHY!!! Does it have to be so difficult ??? Yes, I looked up the manual. There was not an English version. Yes, I looked for YouTube videos. The dryer setting is for 2 hours and 20 minutes. I wanted to stop the cycle and check the clothes. Not possible. The auto lock won’t release for 3 hours according to you tube, if you stop the cycle before it’s finished. This morning I fought with the machine for 45 minutes trying to get the auto lock to disengage before I just yanked the door open. ERRRRRR….The saga will continue.

      *Editors Note- On the drive to Chamonix, we were very excited to stop at McDonald’s. For some reason European McDonald’s are better than the US. The kids were very excited.      Read more

    • Abshire’s Abroad
      Day 6

      Chamonix

      March 19, 2023 in France ⋅ 🌧 5 °C

      We got packed up and moved into our 2nd apartment. This one is in the center of Chamonix. It’s perfect. It even has a washer and dryer combo unit. I’m still suffering from PTSD from my last experience. So I’m going to skip the washing at this place. I will have help from Vitto at our next location. I’m going to record her directions because the rest of the trip will most likely be in Italian.
      We went to get our skis at the ski rental around the corner. All of the boots were so broken in. Mine didn’t fit great. We all tried on multiple pairs. When we came out of the store it was raining. We drove up to base of the mountain were were planning to ski that day and everyone was leaving. No skiing today. It ended up raining all day / night. We decided to go play basketball (yes, in the rain) and go ice skating. When we arrived at the ice staking / hockey arena there was an ice skating competition going on. So we stayed and watched. It was just like taking your kids to a swim meet or dance competition over the weekend. Andrew got some basketball in and we walked around town with our rain coats on.
      Gabe and I decided to have a date night. We found a Michelin “ranked” not starred restaurant. It was really good.

      **European apartment / rental differences from the US - The square footage of the apartment isn’t the real issue. It’s the amenities. They only give you 1 body towel per person. Maybe 1 hand towel. No dish towels for drying dishes. Maybe 1 roll of paper towels. Most of the kitchen supplies are bare minimum. We have bought our own supplies of salt, pepper, Evoo, paper towels. To take with us from place to place. I’m going to get some dish towels next. The other big thing are the beds and pillows. Our Como apartment was good. There were multiple pillows and they had toppers on the mattresses. The Chamonix apartment is not great. Only 1 pillow per person and its square shaped. The mattress is marginal. Sleeping aids are a must.      Read more

    • TravelerFrance/Switzerland 23
      1
      Day 11

      Chamonix walking

      July 3, 2023 in France ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

      I’ve been researching this trip with Mount Blanc peeking through lively dancing clouds. Just got word last night that there is a landslide on one part so I will have to take an alternative route. This is the famous ladder section. Climbs straight up- now I will have to climb boulders up a mountain. Should be interesting. I’m the meantime- relaxing and trying to shed weight. Tough when you are preparing for snow!Read more

    • TravelerSchienenkreuzfahrt Schweiz
      Day 3

      Martigny, Chamonix, Mont Blanc

      August 11, 2022 in France ⋅ ⛅ 17 °C

      Es ist mal was Anderes, wenn man sich ausgeschlafen an den Tisch setzt und am Frühstücksbuffet bedient - auch nicht schlecht!
      Unser Bus brachte uns nach Martigny, von wo aus wir mit dem Mont Blanc-Express unseren ersten Zügele-Trip starteten. Ziel war Le Chatelard und die Strecke war atemberaubend. Auf den steilen Teilstrecken erhielt das Bähnle Verstärkung von der Zahnstange zwischen den Gleisen und rechts und links gab es keine Böschungen, das waren alles durchweg WÄNDE, ob nach oben oder nach unten! Unser Busfahrer erwartete uns schon und fuhr die letzten 20 km nach Chamonix.
      Dort gab es zwei Möglichkeiten, sich dem Mont Blanc-Gipfel zu nähern: mit der großen Seilbahn auf über 3.800 m, die mussten wir verwerfen, weil auf Stunden im Voraus ausgebucht einschließlich festgelegter Talfahrt. Also ging es gegenüber mit der eindeutig effektiveren Ski-Gondelbahn ohne Anstehen auf den Le Brévent mit seinen 2.525 m Höhe und einem Panoramablick auf das gesamte Mont Blanc-Massiv incl. des 4.807 m hohen Gipfels.
      Das Wetter meinte es gut mit uns - Sonne, gute Sicht und selbst auf dem Berg kurzärmelig bei 22°C ohne Wind. Die Kehrseite dieses Wohlfühlerlebnisses sahen wir aber auch: der Rückgang der Gletscher war selbst für uns Laien erschreckend sichtbar.
      Im Ort führten wir uns noch einen Eisbecher zu Gemüte und dann ging es in 2-stündiger Busfahrt wieder ins Hotel zurück.      Read more

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    • TravelerOur European Adventure 2018
      2
      Day 148

      Chamonix and Mont Blanc, France

      September 26, 2018 in France ⋅ ☀️ 46 °F

      Chamonix is famous for its location at the foot of Mont Blanc (White Mountain), the highest mountain in Europe, at 4808 meters, or 15,777 feet. The first Winter Olympics was held here in 1924. River Lyret flows rapidly through town, and consists of meltwater from the glaciers. The church is pretty from all angles, since mountains surround the town.Read more

    You might also know this place by the following names:

    Chamonix-Mont-Blanc, Chamonix, Chamônix, シャモニー＝モン＝ブラン, 샤모니, 74400, Шамони, Шамони Мон Блан, 霞慕尼

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