CHAMONIX, FRANCE

Friday, February 13th

Nick took some time off so we could take a snowboarding trip to Chamonix, France for Valentine's weekend. I've heard about Chamonix since Nick and I first met more than 10 years ago. He had taken trips there with his family when he was about 10 years old. We were both so excited to see this magical place!

We left early Friday morning for our 6.5 hour drive. The drive went fairly quickly because we listened to the podcast Serial the whole way. (You have to listen to it, if you haven't yet!)

We checked into our hotel, Aiguille du Midi, in Les Bossons, and jumped back in the car to make the last train up to Montenvers. It's a cogwheel train that leads to the Mer du Glace glacier.

Montenvers train

...right before Nick cracked up.

I jumped out of my seat on the train to take this photo. I had about 3 seconds to take it before we entered another tunnel. That's the charming town of Chamonix below us.

We hopped out of the train and onto a very steep gondola that led us to a staircase. There were about 400 steps down to the glacier after that.

Some pretty breathtaking views! (Literally!)

We made it to the glacier!

An ancient frozen bug in the Mer du Glace!

 The glacier moves at about 20 feet each year, so they have to make a new cave each year.

Inside the glacier!

Glacier entrance/exit.

This is about where the glacier was when Nick first visited.

It's hard to see, but there were people skiing down the glacier. They looked like ants!

After riding back down from the mountain, we bought tickets for a luge ride next to the train station. It was us and about 3 other families in line. Nick and I rode together on one car. Nick was in control of the brakes. Boy, did we go fast! 

We strolled through Chamonix; it was such a cute, quaint town. These explorers are pointing to Mont Blanc.

We were both starving and cold. We stopped at Les Sports and waited there for an hour before they would start serving food at 7. It was worth the wait! Our fondue was delicious!

Saturday, February 14th - Valentines' Day!

We got a delicious breakfast at our hotel before starting our snowboarding at Le Tour. 

Le Tour was one of my favorite snowboarding spots I've ever been. They had amazing blue (easy) runs. I got to race down the mountain! It was so fun despite being really cold and windy.

We stopped to get lunch and later a coffee. The food was good (and pricey), but the coffee in Chamonix was awful! I've had better instant coffee! We were both surprised. 

Before dinner, we walked around Les Bossons. It was much quieter than Chamonix. 

Nick making some angels. :)

Someone had made some snow art, so we decided to try too...

Nick actually put his face in the snow to get this photo. :)

That night we had an amazing meal at our hotel. The restaurant was ranked #2 on trip advisor of restaurants in Chamonix! It didn't disappoint! 

Sunday, February 15th

The next morning, Nick wanted to really hit the slopes. We found a ski resort, Argentiere, that had a good amount of black (hard) runs, and blue (easy) runs. 

For the first 2 hours, we split up and did our own runs. He ran into a friend from high school! What are the odds of that happening?!

We grabbed lunch, and then Nick joined me. The easy runs at this resort were really steep! I ended up having a better time playing in the fun parks. 

After playing on the slopes, we changed and went back into Chamonix to try some raclette at Calici restaurant. It was a touristy location, but they still had delicious food! 

Monday, February 16th

Nick and I packed up after having another delicious breakfast of croissants and pan chocolate. 

We walked from our hotel to a glacier hike trail head. From there we hiked 1.5 miles up toward a glacier. 

Words cannot express how tired I was here. :)

I'm always amazed at how sweaty a person can get even when it's 32 degrees outside. :)

We found the glacier! Nick wanted to keep hiking, but I was so hungry!

Eskimo Joey = Eskiomoey

I was a little intimidated hiking downhill in my new snowshoes for about 5 minutes. Then I practically ran downhill. It took us 1.5 hours to hike up, and 30 minutes to hike down. 

Nick learned the hard way that if you misstep in snow shoes you will eat ...snow. :)

This was one of the steeper sections. 

Nick had the genius idea of going back into Chamonix to get a burger for lunch. 

Here's our last look at Mont Blanc. We'd hoped to get a better view of Mont Blanc while we were in Chamonix. There was a 60 Euro/person gondola ride up to Augille du Midi mountain right next to Mont Blanc. We never got to do it while we were there. The first couple days were too cloudy. Our last day we had clear weather, but it was too windy on top of the mountain. Next time!

We ate at a tiny, hole-in-the-wall place called Poco Loco. We waited outside to be seated because the restaurant was so small. 

While we were waiting outside, a huge chunk of ice landed 5 feet from us. It had fallen off one of the 3-story buildings. It was so loud that tourists screamed when it happened. We grabbed our things, and walked inside. :)

Nick's burger came with fries on it! Mine had a hash brown patty on it. They were SO good! 

We had a great time in Chamonix for Valentines' weekend. I hope we get to come back someday! Nick talked about places that he might have been when he was younger. Every restaurant and glacier we saw, he debated if he had seen it. Haha!