SuperDave's Adventures in Eastern France's Wine Country COMPLETE!! 6/13 - Page 19 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
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Great pictures from Chamonix! What a beautiful area!
Glad you're enjoying the photos of Chamonix. The scenery is amazing! The photos will even get better, so stay tuned!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Beautiful pictures of Chamonix and Mount Blanc! I couldn't help thinking of Frankenstein during this update. While trying to clear his mind Victor travels to Chamonix and climbs Mount Blanc only to discover his monster has found refuge in a cave in the mountains. I had a powerpoint that I used to give my students a concept of this area. Your pictures would have made a good addition to this if I were still teaching.
Beautiful pictures of Chamonix and Mount Blanc! I couldn't help thinking of Frankenstein during this update. While trying to clear his mind Victor travels to Chamonix and climbs Mount Blanc only to discover his monster has found refuge in a cave in the mountains. I had a powerpoint that I used to give my students a concept of this area. Your pictures would have made a good addition to this if I were still teaching.
Didn't know that about Frankenstein. Been a long time, since I've seen the original movie!
As much as you like the pictures now....well....enough said!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Great day in a small town! I believe the reason for British bartenders is that the Brits are the largest group of tourists for the area!
It's a great small town but it's the French Alps that make it as you'll see shortly! I think that is true regarding the Brits!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
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I think you would know as you're a great direct source for this!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Our group left for dinner in town at around 7 pm. It was just a couple minutes walk at most. I wish I hadn't left my camera back in my hotel room as this would have been a good dinner to have plenty of photos of. The name of the restaurant is La Caleche and when you walk inside, there are numerous mementos of Chamonix and ski related artifacts hanging on the walls. Other items included old ski lift and cable car parts, dolls etc. Tough to describe unless you see for yourself.
The restaurant is most known for Fondue and Raclette, which we had. Started off the meal with a mixed green salad, rolls cornichons and various meats. Ordered some white wine from the Maconnais area of Burgundy.
After this it was time for the main course and the fun to begin! There was a couple of Fondue pots on the table in which you'd dip pieces of French bread with a long fork into the Fondue and twist the fork a bit to gather the excess stringy cheese. It was quite good, but the Raclette was even more enjoyable. One slices pieces of Raclette cheese and cooks them on a Raclette grill. The cheese is put in a small spatula and then you heat the cheese until it becomes gooey and scrape it on to your plate. It was very good and lots of fun! The raclette and fondue was also accompanied by small potatoes, which went well with this. They would remind you of the fingerling variety. Below is a Raclette Grill, courtesy of Wikipedia.
I personally ate more than my fair share of the Fondue and Raclette and couldn't get enough of this. Never felt bloated, which was good! Next came the dessert which was a strawberry parfait tart with vanilla ice cream. I enjoyed this as well! Overall, a great experience as I'd never had Fondue or Raclette before. Will have to find one of these places back in the states. Just hope it's as good as this was!
After dinner, I went across the street to a cafe and had an espresso. It was pretty quiet in town for the most part as today marks the end of the official ski season here.
I returned to my hotel after a while and enjoyed some of the Savoie Red Wine I picked up in town earlier today, while enjoying the view and sounds of the River Arve below my room. Officially, called it a night around 11 p.m. or so as tomorrow would be quite an active day for me!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Last edited by SuperDave; 10-27-2013 at 04:19 PM..
I'm jealous - I want to try Raclette one day, but never got a chance in Switzerland. It sounds
Considering how much I know you enjoy your cheese, you'd definitely be in heaven here. The experience is half the fun!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Dinner sounds both delicious and fun! I took several German classes in college with a professor from Germany. At the end of our courses, she had us all over to her apartment and served fondue German style.
Dinner sounds both delicious and fun! I took several German classes in college with a professor from Germany. At the end of our courses, she had us all over to her apartment and served fondue German style.
I had a great time at dinner! Our whole group did! That must have been a lot of fun having German Fondue!
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October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Got up around 7 a.m. and got ready for a long day, that would have lots of fun, be tiring at times and plenty to see and do within the course of today. I was really looking forward to this day as I would be taking the trip up into the French Alps and Mount Blanc.
Although, it was in the 50's in the morning, down here in Chamonix at about 2,000 feet above sea level, the temperature, climate and conditions may be completely different high up into the alps. So, last night I prepared several layers of clothing to be worn up there, to make it as comfortable for me as possible. Is this the way to dress for France in May? Well, it is when ascending to around two miles above sea level! Made sure I had my camera fully charged and everything else I would need, including a full bottle of water. Quite important to stay hydrated, especially when heading into these altitudes.
Before heading out, I went downstairs to grab some breakfast. Had the usual boring orange juice, coffee , peach yogurt and two small croissants. While I was having breakfast, a couple from my group came in and had just tried to get their tickets for the trip up to Mount Blanc. They were turned away as no one was being allowed up at the time as there was too much cloud cover, which would pose a safety hazard at that altitude. This is not what I wanted to hear! I was looking so enthusiastically for this trip, that this was a big let down. The couple told me once the clouds began to clear that you could make the trip.
After breakfast, I went outside to look up at Mount Blanc and could see there was still quite a bit of cloud cover on the second half of the mountain. It did appear that the clouds were beginning to clear a bit. So, I waited around a bit and around 10 a.m. I headed into town to hopefully be able to make the trip. I ran into another couple on the way down there and they said the cable cars were still not operating up to Mount Blanc, but should be fairly soon. This couple, were not making the trip there, but decided to take a walk down there with some others who were.
I walked for a couple more minutes and I knew I was close to where I would take the cable car up to Mount Blanc, when I came across this:
Walked another minute or so and came to the building in which the cable cars head up to and from Mount Blanc. It was quite a large and modern looking building. I had a photo of it, but it didn't turn out well. Outside was the ticket window, so I was hoping tickets were being sold! I saw others coming from the ticket window and heading inside. I thought, that was a pretty good sign that the cable cars, were now probably operating!
I went to the window and asked to buy the combo ticket, which would also include another activity later in the day as well. I will get to that later here. The costs were listed above the window and it was 54 Euros or about 70 U.S. Dollars. Not a bad deal for a full days worth! I told the woman at the window, what I wanted, but she was warning me that I may not get to the upper level because of the cloud cover. I thought about it and walked away. Not encouraging news, but she didn't want me to spend my money and be disappointed! I thought, about it again and decided, well I'm on vacation and need to take this chance! So I bought my combo ticket and walked inside and find where to get the cable car.!
Before going any further, I'll give you a bit of background on these alps. My trip into the alps would be going to Aiguille du Midi, which is part of the Mount Blanc Massif. It is a mountain range, which is part of the Graian Alps. Mount Blanc has the highest summit of these alps at 4,810 meters or 15,781 feet. It is the highest summit in Western Europe and third highest in all of Europe. The two highest being in Georgia and Russia.
When I got inside, there was quite a line for the cable car, but was told the wait would be no more than ten minutes. I saw a few people from my group in front of me. They got on the cable car that just arrived. I would be departing on the next one as I was one of the first people in line now. Out of the 14 people in my tour group, there were nine of us who would make the trip up to Aiguille du Midi. There was quite a good view up the mountain from here and you could see the cable cars ascending and descending from here. After a few minutes more another one arrived.
There are two sections to this trip. The first being from Chamonix to Plan du Midi at 2,317 meters or 7,602 feet. The second section is from Plan du Midi to the upper section at 3,842 meters or 12,605 feet. Not quite the summit of Mount Blanc, but quite a ways up there! This is as far as the cable cars go. Actually, this does take you to the summit of Aiguille du Midi at 3,842 meters. There are trails up here, that will take you to the summit of Mount Blanc and be at the top of Western Europe!
I was one of the first in the cable car and grabbed a great viewing area in the rear as I wanted to see the view of Chamonix get smaller during the ascent. It was quite packed in here, so it was quite difficult to take a photo. The trip to 2,317 meters and Plan du Midi took about fifteen minutes. It was a great ride and was amazed at how small the tramway station below got as we ascended higher into Aiguille du Midi. Many great views of the alps and mountain ranges from here, which are all still snow covered as well as the surrounding area of Chamonix, valleys and villages. It was quite amazing to see!
When I got off, I immediately found my way to go outside and check out the views from here. It was a large area that surrounded nearly most of the building in which you could walk around and see the alps and Chamonix below. The ground was all snow covered, which made it more fun.
Looking up towards the cloud covered summit of Aiguille du Midi. Much more clear in the previous view and some to follow.
That is Chamonix down below between the alps.
Love these views of the villages nestled in between the alps.
More looking up at the summit
The views were quite amazing from here and for the most part fairly clear, with the exception of near the summit. It seemed that the conditions were continuing to improve. I was quite happy with what I was able to see and the conditions didn't seem to impair this in any way! I spent about twenty minutes or so here with photos and just wandering around outside and taking in the views. It was definitely a lot cooler here at about 40 degrees with thin air, but didn't seem to bother me.
Next, it would be time for the second phase of the ascent up Aiguille du Midi! .........
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Last edited by SuperDave; 11-03-2013 at 04:12 PM..
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What a beautiful area! 
The photos will even get better, so stay tuned! 
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I couldn't help thinking of Frankenstein during this update. While trying to clear his mind Victor travels to Chamonix and climbs Mount Blanc only to discover his monster has found refuge in a cave in the mountains. I had a powerpoint that I used to give my students a concept of this area. Your pictures would have made a good addition to this if I were still teaching. 
Been a long time, since I've seen the original movie! 
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The name of the restaurant is La Caleche and when you walk inside, there are numerous mementos of Chamonix and ski related artifacts hanging on the walls. Other items included old ski lift and cable car parts, dolls etc. Tough to describe unless you see for yourself.
Will have to find one of these places back in the states. Just hope it's as good as this was! 
I took several German classes in college with a professor from Germany. At the end of our courses, she had us all over to her apartment and served fondue German style. 
, peach yogurt and two small croissants. While I was having breakfast, a couple from my group came in and had just tried to get their tickets for the trip up to Mount Blanc. They were turned away as no one was being allowed up at the time as there was too much cloud cover, which would pose a safety hazard at that altitude. 
This is not what I wanted to hear! 
I was looking so enthusiastically for this trip, that this was a big let down. 
The couple told me once the clouds began to clear that you could make the trip. 
This is as far as the cable cars go. Actually, this does take you to the summit of Aiguille du Midi at 3,842 meters. There are trails up here, that will take you to the summit of Mount Blanc and be at the top of Western Europe! 
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