(April 16, Chamonix): The Pinnacle of Peanut Butter & Jelly Bits

On Monday we scheduled a tour back to France to see Mont Blanc (the highest peak in Western Europe), Chamonix (the ski town at the base of Mont Blanc) and a nearby glacier.  Melanie's brother had taken this particular tour when he visited earlier in the year and proclaimed it the best day of his life.  Obviously we had to do it.

We set out that morning for the bus station apprehensively as the weather was pretty awful.  A quick perusal of the live webcams on Mont Blanc the night before led us to believe that we would be lucky to see 5 feet in front of us let alone any mountains.  We actually tried to call and cancel but they told us it would be easier to be refunded if we showed up in the morning.  Being the rule-followers we are, we were seated and ready to go at the bus station on time. 

When our fearless tour guide, Neil, arrived he did little to dissuade our concern that we were wasting our money by informing us that the weather was terrible and it would be terrible for the next 2 weeks.  He disclaimed his statements by informing us he was British and thus very cynical.  We knew that Monday was the only day that Jonathan had off work and that Melanie found a sitter for Jake during our first week- so we put it all on black and decided to give it a whirl. 

The trip over to Mont Blanc was probably somewhere in the 1.5 hour range.  In the beginning of our trip Neil had us introduce ourselves.  There were only 2 groups of us since the weather was so ominous - the 4 of us and a family from Australia.  When asked where we were from, Ryan confidently (and red-neckly) said " 'Muh-rica."  I'm sure you can imagine how proud I was to have hitched my wagon to such a cultured man.  Neil was not impressed.  He continued to make jokes about how Americans only like to eat "peanut butter and jelly bits."  I presume he was referring to peanut butter & jelly sandwiches.  I'm not sure what American caused him to have a terrible experience with a PB&J, but it seemed to have left a lasting impression as it came up a few times that day.  Keep that in mind when in the land of Nutella, my fellow 'Mericans.

A picture of the countryside from our moving bus.  

Upon arriving in town we were happily surprised to realize the sun was cutting through the clouds and that we would probably be able to see the mountain afterall.  The first activity on our to do list once we arrived in Chamonix was to ride the teleferic (gondola) to the Aiguille du Midi (sharp needle in Mont Blanc).  I'd like to point out a couple of parts of this equation.  1) Mont Blanc is 15,775(ish) feet high, 2) the gondola is one of the highest/longest/something in the world, 3) where the gondola dropped us off put us at a height 12x the Eiffel Tower and 4) some of us are afraid of heights. 

Already a little skiddish about this undertaking, we piled onto the gondola with what we thought were our game faces.  The 4 of us in our normal street clothes were greeted with about 12 hard core skiiers in extreme gear who looked as calm as they would if they were riding the bus into work for the day.  I think this only served to make Ryan & Jonathan feel a little less manly - Melanie and I were still a little scared.

You might have to click on the picture to make it bigger, but here is the view from the base of the gondola.

 

Melanie reminding Jonathan that if he touches her it equates to instant divorce.

When we arrived and stepped out of the gondola we were immediately struck by the beauty of the mountains.  I think in that moment we were all so glad that we didn't cancel the trip.  Something about the enormity of mountains has a way of putting life into perspective.  I took a zillion pictures but none of them seem to do it justice. 

Looking out the window at the gift shop and cafe on our way to the main attraction.

Vanna Blanc-ing (do you get it?!  because "blanc" is white in French AND the name of the mountain.  I'm obvi on fire today) the entrance to awesome-ness.

Melanie and I giving those skiiers our best "areyouinsane" look.

It was a little bit cold.

Manly men don't ski, they wear pea coats.

It's hard to tell what is snow and what is cloud, but isn't it incredible?

Definitely not in Texas anymore.

See ya, gondola hogs!  (P.S. There are no runs this high up.  They had to be chained to one another and hiked down in ski boots.  Certifiably crazy.)

What?  You want me to keep posting more pictures because it's so overwhelmingly pretty?  Fiiiine.

Skiiers making some progress.  Mountain still being beautiful.

Ryan, Jonathan & I decided to cross a bridge and walk across to see some different views.  Melanie made it about 2 steps before she decided it was getting too real.  I am sure this type of behavior had nothing to do with that decision.

I think Mt. Martin has a nice ring to it.  Maybe I'll write to the French government.

 

As Jonathan took this picture Ryan yelled "highest kiss ever!"  I'd like to say it was romantic except that I think he did the same thing to Jonathan 5 mins later.

Cliff-y.

The view when you walked through this tunnel was astounding.

Ryan & Jonathan decided to increase their manly factor by taking an elevator up to an even higher peak.  Melanie & I grabbed hot chocolate in the cafe.  The elevation is in meters here.  The next few pictures are from their little man date.

Jonathan contemplating life.

Ryan striking quite the pose.  I suspect he couldn't be convinced to get his whole body that close to the edge.  Or he's practicing his stance for if he ever does a Jazzercise video.

Can you see the crazy skiiers?!

Nothing says I scaled a mountain and have hair on my chest like a shot of jaeger right after.  I believe it was about 11:30 am in this photo.

A picture of the scenery heading back down the gondola.  Please note how steep this is.

 

Melanie looking a lot happier to be headed the other way... no divorces this trip!

After we finished our gondola ride we met back up with Neil.  He took us over to a cute little restaurant in town for a deeeelicious 3 course meal.  Nothing like some french onion soup and wine to get you warmed back up.  The boys enjoyed recounting their mountain scaling war stories while Neil continued to ask about peanut butter and jelly bits.  He also impressed us all with his knowledge of US politics and the storm that hit Galveston in the early 1900s.  The rest of the world is so much more knowledgeable regarding other countries than the US is.  It's almost embarrassing.  I find that taking a sip of wine kind of makes you feel a little better about that.

Headed into the heart of Chamonix.

 

Me creeping on Neil, J-Mc, Mel & Ryan.

Cute little stream.

The name of the restaurant we ate at.

Melanie & Jonathan ready to devour the world's best French Onion Soup.

Looking at this picture  makes me want to go back.  I guess the mountain pictures did too.

Delicious blueberry tart dessert.  These people saw me coming.

Post lunch, we headed over to the train station to catch an adorably picturesque train over to the glacier.  The weather got pretty nasty around this time, so sadly we weren't able to see the glacier as well as we would have liked to.  However, did take the stairs down to an ice cave they carved in the glacier.  400 stairs later, we were pretty tired but definitely not too tired to take some silly pictures.  Is there such a thing as too tired for that?

Does that train look like it's aching to be in a postcard?

 

Jonathan looks pumped to get his stair-stepping on.  Ryan looks... well, like Ryan.

It's hard to see but somewhere super far off in the distance you can see our destination.

I'm pretty confident that's not sanitary.

 

Work it girls.

"Coldest kiss!"

 

After our cave expedition we met back up with Neil in town and caught the bus back home.  That evening we had some belly-warming grilled cheese (PB&J for me of course) sandwiches, a bottle of wine and were introduced to Ryan's newest TV series addiction - the Walking Dead.  I can definitely understand why Melanie's brother proclaimed it the best day of his life- it was definitely one of mine.

Up Next:  Team Housewife takes on Geneva.