February 9, 2017 - Tanya's Winter Wonderland Tour - Day 4 - Chamonix to Val d'Isere

Elisa's Daily Scoop
NEXT TRIP DEPARTS IN: 64 DAYS
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A Look at Chamonix

HEY GUYS!!
Wow - this week is flying by.  But, what is really amazing to me is that Tanya is not only on her 4th day of her Winter Wonderland Tour, but also in her third city and third country of her trip!!!

But, back to Tanya's trip in a moment.  First, let me bring you up to date on little ole me.

I'm not sure what is going on. If you remember, I had a terrible stomach bug two weekends ago. Then I felt like I was on the mend, but lo and behold, I woke up Tuesday with another killer belly ache! WTH!

I didn't even want to bring it up as I'm trying to be totally positive.  Well, yesterday, at the coaxing of my Aunt Ro, I decided to go to the doctor since she thought it was stupid to continue being in pain.

Off I went yesterday afternoon to my Gastrointerologist and as it turns out, I have a little gastritis.  She said the virus probably brought it on and some of the stress in my life at this moment, added to it.

No biggie - she put me on two weeks of Zantac and I'll see how that works out!

​Well, my dear cuz is in Chamonix today!!

Wow - she is just getting around this week and having the trip of a lifetime!!

Are you familiar with Chamoix?  Well, I wasn't either. So, lets take...

CHAMONIX (credit:collineige.com)

A Closer Look at
Chamoix-Mont-Blanc

1. ​Chamonix-Mont-Blanc (usually shortened to Chamonix) is a resort area near the junction of France, Switzerland and Italy. At the base of Mont Blanc, the highest
​summit in the Alps. 

2. It is France's oldest ski resort and really came to prominence when the first Winter Olympics were held there in 1924. ​

(credit: pinterest)

3. The town is at an altitude of 1035 metres, and the River Arve runs through it as it does through the other hamlets and villages
​of the commune.

4. These include:  Le Tour (1453m), Argentière (1252m), Les Tines and Les Praz (1060m) and Les Bossons (1012m).  ​

5. Although the population of the town is about 10,000, it nearly doubles from tourists during both the winter and summer seasons.

6. What's really cool about Chamonix is that it is geographically well placed for visiting other places of interest within France, but, also other countries since it borders
​Switzerland and Italy!

7. Chamonix Mont Blanc, has a reputation as the "Death Sports Capital Of The World."

 8. Mont Blanc, which translates to "White Mountain", is the highest mountain in the
Alps and the highest peak in Europe.

MONT BLANC ("WHITE MOUNTAIN" IN FRANCE) (credit: Evian country)

 9 Chamonix is one of the oldest ski resorts in France and is known as the "Gateway
to the European Cascades." 

10. Chamonix has the world's highest (12,605 ft) aerial cable car and is linked by
tunnel (7.5 miles) with Courmayeur, Italy.

11. The Chamonix Museum
has numerous themes presented by its impressively rich collection including the Chamonix priory, souvenirs of the valley
form the 18th and 19th century, maps
of the Mont Blanc range, catastrophes
​and rescue-work in the mountains.

CHAMONIX MUSEUM (credit: Chamonix.net)

12. In 1786, Jacques Balmat, a Chamonix crystal hunter, and Dr Michel-Gabriel Paccard, a local doctor, made the first ascent up Mont Blanc.

13. Their success established Chamonix as the birthplace of modern mountaineering
and a statue celebrating their achievement stands in Place Balmat in the centre of Chamonix today.
 
14. The author of Frankenstein, Mary Shelley, spent time in the area with Lord Byron, and Chamonix is the scene of an encounter between the monster and the doctor.

STATUE OF JACQUES BALMAT & HORACE-BENEDICT DE SAUSSURE POINTING TO MONT BLANC (credit: Chamonix.net)

15. The parents of Ian Fleming, author of
the James Bond books, are reported to
have died here in a climbing accident,
and the ski scenes from The World Is Not Enough were filmed in Chamonix.

16. Over 20,000 climbers reach the summit
of the mountain every year. There are
several different established routes to
the summit, one of which means
spending the night in a hut.

​17. Although the entire area is well known for its winter sports and mountaineering, summer is also a popular time to visit.
​The surrounding area offers great opportunities for hiking and cycling.

CHAMONIX IS THE SCENE OF AN ENCOUNTER BETWEEN THE MONSTER AND THE DOCTOR. (credit: google.com)

I never realized that the Doctor and the Monster meet in Chamonix!!! Wow - that is a totally cool bit of trivia!

And speaking of Winter and Snow - Long Island has pretty much closed down - well, at least the schools have!  With a snow storm hitting the area, beginning last night, all of the schools and community areas sent out notices last night that they would be closed today.

Need I tell you how excited the girls were when they found out!!

I love snow days  Of course, we don't want too many since they add the days onto the end of the year. But, one here or there is great fun!!

MY SNOWY YARD (c) travelincousins.com

FRONT YARD THROUGH SCREEN (c) travelincousins.com

I went to sleep with the temperature at around 50 degrees and no snow and woke up to a blustery, windy day; snow blowing all over and at least an inch to two covering everything in sight! 

The photos above were not filtered - that is how gray everything looked at around 7:30 AM EST.
​
On that note, I'm going to go and enjoy my day with my girls!!

Tomorrow, Tanya hits Val d'Isere, so join us to find out more about this commune in southwestern France!!

-E
xoxo

Tanya's Daily Scoop
CURRENTLY TRAVELING IN: CHAMONIX, FRANCE

Hello Chamonix!

Well hello hello, and GREETINGS from Chamonix!

​While this here is a much anticipated return visit for Dave and I, it is a first time visit for the kids. As you know I am a HUGE Olympics fan and this lovely village that won me over a few years ago happens to be home to the first ever Winter Olympic Games!
Chamonix-Mont-Blanc (usually shortened to Chamonix) is a resort area near the junction of France, Switzerland and Italy. Located at the base of the magical Mont Blanc, which is the highest summit in all of the Alps, and it is of course renowned for its skiing - which we indulged in during our last visit. 

But this time it seems that the snow levels here just aren't what they were or what we left back in the states - in fact while we are here in Europe on a ski circuit, many other travelers are heading to what I consider "home" resorts in Lake Tahoe, Colorado, and Utah - where there is more snow than ever! 

Oh well, like I've said it before - you just can't "plan" ski trips!

So meanwhile on the other hand if we can't ski in each and everyone of these cities, we are sure as heck gonna be checking other epic things out.

Let's start back with yesterday. My gang arrived in Geneva, we picked up a lovely and spacious rental and headed straight into the city.
 

STANDING IN FRONT OF TEMPLE de le FUSTERIE) (c) travelincousins.com

Although it wasn't all that cold, it was a gray drizzly day. I was trying to make the most of it as we strolled around - but something was just off - Dave was hungry, Cosette was in search of Lush (she is addicted to bath bombs), and I kinda felt like I was being weighed down by it all.

There happened to be a little farmer's market right there and I immediately spotted an olive vendor - yum - I couldn't help myself!
 

YUMMY OLIVES!! (c)travelincousins.com

But that didn't do it, I still felt like I was dragging Dave around and all he wanted was food, stamps and postcards. 
​
Perhaps taking care of his concerns first would set me free of this "feeling". So we strolled some more, took in whatever sights possible.
 

MOLARD TOWER (c) travelincousins.com

A LA MEMORIE DE PHILBERT BERTHELIER - DECAPITE POUR ABOUT DEFENDY LES LIBERTIES ET FRANCHISES DE SA PATRIE 1519.(c) travelincousins.com

STROLLING ALONGSIDE LAKE GENEVA (c) travelincousins.com​

And then we ended up at the visitors center. After gathering as much information to hopefully satisfy all of our needs, we were off once again. But now it was time for Dave to either feed the meter or for us to move the car. Well being that the kids left their umbrellas in the car I opted that we'd go back to the car - have a bite (some leftover pizza that we had), grab the umbrellas and Dominic's jacket and then focus on the rest of the sight seeing.

Well, as things would have it after munching away, Dominic couldn't find his Jacket (one that he just got for Christmas). This I've gotta tell you really set me off! This one thing. I can't stand when people lose things and when they don't keep track of their belongings - so this pretty much set the tone for the next couple of hours and I didn't want to do anything except find his jacket!

I tried calling the airlines, I tried their website - nothing was working and finally we decided to go back to the airport. We are pretty sure that the jacket (which was in a small pouch) rolled out of a bag and under a seat on the plane.

However once I was back at the airport I soon found out that they couldn't access the lost and found until tomorrow (today), and that I'd have to fill out a report online and IF they found it that we'd have to return and pay a lost and found fee.
Whatever - I just want the new jacket back. 

At this point we finally made out way out to Chamonix - with no jacket.
​
We sat in Geneva style rush hour - which sucked pretty hard - the only thing better than it vs NY or LA traffic was that we were sitting in traffic in Europe.
 

​Finally making it to Chamonix and heading straight to dinner at La Impossible.

THE DOG IS JOY - SHE BELONGS TO THE OWNERS OF THE RESTAURANT. (credit: travelincousins.com)

US AT LA IMPOSSIBLE RESTAURANT (c) travelincousins.com

(c) travelincousins.com

Then to top off the night we showed up at the hotel after the desk clerk had already closed up shop! Luckily he left an envelope behind with our key!! WHEW

Yup part of the day was pretty darn frustrating. I'm all for new beginnings and that is exactly how I'm treating today!

​Chamonix, home of Mont Blanc (the highest peak in western Europe), is the most famous and popular resort in the Alps.

​Heading to Val d'Isere later this afternoon and this will be a first time visit for all of us to this lovely french alpine village.

Val d'Isère is a commune of the Tarentaise Valley, in the Savoie department in southeastern France.
​It lies 5 km from the border with Italy. It is on the border of the Vanoise National Park created in 1963.
​We can't wait!!! 


Time for us to go and explore Chamonix.
​-T​

​SORRY FOLKS, BUT WITH THE TIME DIFFERENCE AND BAD WIFI, OUR BLOG IS GETTING PUBLISHED A BIT LATE DURING TANYA'S TRIP, WE WILL POST A LINK TO THE PREVIOUS DAY'S BLOG EACH DAY THIS MONTH.
YESTERDAY'S BLOG:
 February 8, 2017 - Tanya's Winter Wonderland Tour - Day 3 - Geneva to Chamonix - National Kite Flying Day 2017