Chamonix!

We traveled to the French Alps to stay in the beautiful mountain ski resort village of Chamonix ("Sham-on-knee").  In 1924, Chamonix was the first town where the Winter Olympics were held!  After Chamonix, later in the 20th Century, Albertville and Grenoble from the same area hosted the Winter Olympics, but first came Chamonix.

The monument to the first Winter Olympics



We stayed at the Chalet Hotel Le Prievre, one of the many ski resorts in Chamonix, and our room definitely looked like a ski cabin - but the view out of our balcony was stunning.



BUT getting there required a rainy drive up the French Alps, a stunning behemoth of a mountain range dotted with isolated villages and rushing water falls, green with tall pine trees, spiked with granite and slate, and painted on their peaks with white snow and melting glaciers.  Here are some of the scenes on the drive up to Chamonix:

Mont Blanc - its peak is shrouded in fog and clouds



After arriving in Chamonix, Mark and I took a walk through this resort village - it reminded us a lot of Tahoe!



On our way to dinner, Laurent took us to Col des Montets to take more photos of the Alps:



We ate dinner at La Cabane des Praz, a golf course whose cabin-inspired restaurant was opened only for our touring group - we cooked our own sliced meats (beef, chicken and duck) on large hotplates at our tables, which accompanied delicious potatoes au gratin.



We leave the next day for a trip down the Alps, a stop in Annecy, and then continue on to Grenoble.