Chamonix

Another sleepless night struggling with central heating despite the windows being open but this time we were both up till atleast 4.30am. This morning we planned to catch the 10am Montenver train up to the Mer de Glacé (sea of ice) at 1913 meters (6276 ft). We quickly toasted a baguette for breakfast to have with strawberry jam before throwing on our merinos and down jackets to head out the door at 9.40am. It was a 10 minute walk to where the train left and the footpaths and roads were very icy at this time of the morning as the sun was only just reaching the tips of the peaks and was yet to warm the valley. We were afraid we were going to miss the train and the next one up is at 12pm which meant it would be difficult for us to do our hike we planned for this afternoon. Luckily we had 10 minutes to spare when we got there which meant it was fairly easy to get tickets. For a total of €63 ($108 NZD) we were able to take the journey up and back to see the glacier. The cogwheel train was a bright red with wooden bench seats packed in facing each other and since there was a group of school kids both carriages were full. It took 20 minutes for us to get to the top and the train went through a series of tunnels and forests giving us a spectacular view of the valley and Chamonix below us despite being pretty fogged up. Reaching the top everyone spilled out of the carriages to get to the viewing point of the glacier and to be honest we were pretty underwhelmed. We had a feeling this may happen since we had seen many glaciers back at home - the Fox Glacier, the Franz Joesph Glacier and the Tasman Glacier in Mount Cook National Park. So ok we are a bit spoilt for choice especially since mum and dad had brought us tickets for the Glacier Explorer for one of Lews birthdays which allows us to go in a boat on the glacier lake and get up close to the face of the Tasman Glacier. It was still a spectacular view over the valley and the glacier below was covered with snow so we couldn't see the colours of the ice beneath it. A helicopter speed up the valley behind us and as soon as it past us we recognised the familiar sound of a drone. Lew had already worked out that this area was a complete no fly zone and also a helicopter just flew through very low so we were disappointed to see someone yet again flying one illegally. We spotted the guy who was flying the Phantom 4 Pro down on the lower platform and we were confused as how he had got out of the train and set up so fast. It was then we started to realise that he had probably been hired to fly and we noticed a wee while later that he had a pass around his neck that must have been some sort of authorisation to do so. After wandering around taking some photos of the view since we had been spoilt with a incredible blue bird day Lew finally plucked up the courage to talk to this guy since we was back out flying again. Thankfully he spoke English as it gets awkward fast when the don't but they had infact hired him to get some shots for a promo video or something like that. We spoke to him for a bit about drones and he mentioned he had been to NZ and loved Banks Peninsula. Now this was a first since most people who have been there usually bring up Queenstown but we were proud to tell him that its next to our home town of Christchurch. He wanted to keep in touch incase he ever came back to NZ and was also interested in our website so we swapped our names and website details for his business card. Turns out he is a professional drone pilot/photographer/videographer called Arnaud Lesueur and you can check out his stuff on his Facebook page "Imagine par Arnaud Lesueur". We got some more shots since we had a bit more time to waste as the next train down wasn't until 1130am. There was a small underground cave focusing on crystals, in particular quartz as there is a lot of it in these mountains. Probably one of the most fascinating things I learnt was that initially when the quartz is developed it is white and transparent but over time the radioactivity within the enclosing granite irradiates the aluminum salts within the crystal giving it that smokey appearance between the colours brown to black. Usually if you come up here in the summertime there is more for you to do such as the ice cave, glaciorium, the temple of nature museum, restaurants and also hikes. So once again if you come at a better time of year it will be more worth your money. Just before 11.30am we went back to the train station to get back down the moutain. Arnaud was also coming down and we went to sit next to him on the way down. Him and Lew talked about all their camera equipment and we were impressed that he had some NZ equipment from the company Syrp which has some cool timelapse devices. The 20 minute cogwheel train ride when a lot faster than when we came up as the boys each shared their star time lapse videos and Arnaud showed us one of his latest videos which has some incredible timelapses in it - its called "Mountain's Heart" if your keen to check it out. When we reached the bottom he promised to hit us up when he was next in London and we headed our seperate directions. We wanted to get some lunch before we went back out for a hike and contemplated what we had for lunch back at the house...not much, maybe plain pasta! Yesterday we had seen a cute little authentic burger place in the main street of Chamonix called "La Maison Du Burger" and we couldn't pass up the opportunity for a well priced tasty looking burger. For €15 ($25.70 NZD) we got two burgers - one regular sized and one large and we took these back to our apartment 5 minutes away.

The place was just bathed in sun as we returned and for once we were able to sit in the sun and enjoy lunch, whilst watching an episode of one of our favourite Youtube channels "Sailing Lavagabonde". We were a bit delayed leaving home again since Lew didn't have any camera batteries charged up and the Gopro was nearly flat also and we knew this would be something we wanted to get lots of videos and photographs of. Following the instruction guide that the women at the High Mountain Office gave us yesterday we walked to the left of the church and then right at the carpark where one of the lifts starts. There was also a big paddock of goats and sheep with bells on that was providing some background music as they munched on the grass. We got a little closer to take some photos and the smell of goat hit us in the face as well as a couple of blond fluffy dogs came out of nowhere barking at us. We must not have noticed them since they were camouflaged by the other animals. We struggled to find the start of the track "petite balcon sud" where we were currently looking and tried to go down another road with no luck there also. Lew got google maps out on his phone and compared it to the one we had taken a photo of at the office and sure enough we should have taken another left at the carpark and the track was well marked as we reached the correct area. The track went up into the forest and despite all the fresh powder from yesterday it has been compacted a little from other people on it. As we climbed higher we could see more of Chamonix below us and it was honestly stunning. Whilst the track was reasonable well sign posted there were a couple of times that we ended up off the track and taking a different route. It wasn't overly cold since we were walking uphill for the next hour but I think the temperature was still about -1 degrees. The sun shone down on us and we wondered why we hadn't been able to find something like this back in Switzerland but were reminded that it rained pretty much the entire time we were there. As we got further into the track the snow got deeper and we understood why the lady at the hiking office said it would have been better if we had boots up above our ankles. Not to worry though as our trusty Adidas shoes weren't getting wet just cold and it was easier for me following Lewis as I just walked in his large footsteps.

The next part of the track we were supposed to walk up to Chalet de la Floria which was another short walk uphill to a deserted chalet. I think possibly it is only used in summer since it had some seating areas outside but it provided an incredible view over the entire valley and all of Chamonix. The only thing was that it was in the shade by this stage of the day and we quickly cooled down and had to throw some more layers on. We took lots of photos although its hard to say it really did it justice since the human eye is so incredible. Lew also wanted to take a timelapse which he set up and we left that for half an hour or so. During that time I did some stretching and we discussed what we wanted to cook Nick and his gf Magali for dinner tomorrow night which started off as a joke and now we thought we may as well cook something Kiwi. The plan was to try and do a roast chicken with chocolate self-saucing pudding for dessert and Lew also found a liquor store in Lyon that would hopefully sell NZ beer. The sun was setting on the valley below us now and it was about 4pm. I was getting rather cold so started doing some of the exercises we do in Grit cardio - basically just running and jumping all over the place with the occasional press-up on the balcony railing. It certainly helped but my extremities weren't really being affected by any of it. We finished the timelapse at about 4.15pm despite it being the golden time to really be continuing and capturing as the sun left the valley completely but we still had to get ourselves back to Chamonix. We walked down to the area of Les Praz and crossed a bridge to get to a small path along the riverside that said it would take 40 minutes to reach the heart of Chamonix. Thankfully we had head torches on us just incase but the sun seemed to set a bit later in the mountains at about 5.30pm instead of the usual 5pm which was strange. It was a lovely walk down the river and past all the sporting complexes where they have a pool, tennis courts and an ice rink. I was surprised to know that Chamonix has a team in the top French league called the Chamonix Mount-Blanc Pioneers but they wernt playing any home games on either of the nights we were here. Luckily for us we are going to a game Friday night with Nick and Magali! Arriving back in town we were feeling full of fresh air and pleased to have gotten out into the wild again. Lew kept saying this was officially the last day of our "holiday" but I am claiming that the holidays for him still continue as he's still unemployed but I think tomorrow should be the offical day since we have to return the car to the Citroen dealer tomorrow. Somehow we have to get him/her (we never thought of a name!) clean inside and out for her new owners whoever they are. The rest of the night I got some washing done, we cooked sausage & eggplant pasta for dinner, watched a bit of the All Blacks vs France game (although turns out it was just a warm up "B" team game with none of the big names playing) and a bit of Modern Family. Tomorrow will probably be a big day since it is a 2.5 hour drive to Lyon on top of everything else we have to do!