Annecy and Chamonix, France
I have three reasonable updates from the past few weeks, but it’ll probably take some time before I’m able to get them all posted. So I’ll start with the older stuff first, and work my way up to more recent happenings...
My first real out-of-Switzerland “mini-vacation” came a weekend ago (October 13th-15th) when I traveled to Annecy, France, to visit Alison and Erica, the UC graphic design juniors currently co-oping there for Salomon. I left Geneva after work that Friday by bus and arrived in time for pizza and ice cream to help celebrate Erica’s birthday. I also got to meet some of the other interns there who were very nice.
On Saturday we headed to Chamonix with Krishnama (one of their Salomon co-workers).
A view into Chamonix after leaving the train station
Before ascending Mont-Blanc we found a wonderful café where I had a Mexican-style wrap as fresh as anything I’ve had over here. It may not have been Chipotle, but it did the job. Following our meal we found the tourism office and figured out where we needed to go to catch the lift up the mountain. We were just in time to take the last one of the day, and though it was a bit pricey, it was well worth the fee.
This is what the lift up the mountain looks like. It wasn’t quite as scary inside, but looks a bit precarious from this view
The summit we climbed to via the lift thingy
To get to the top of Mont-Blanc actually required two lifts, the first to a medium height about 1300 meters up from where we started. From there was another lift that took us a further 1500 meters up, to an elevation of 3842 meters (the actual summit is at 4810). This was where everything went very vertical, got quite cloudy, and temperatures dropped below freezing. There is a viewing station complex that the lift goes to, so sane people can take a look at everything. There are plenty of people with more of a death wish that go up with skis or those crazy ice hiking boots that go off to climb the mountain or something. We saw plenty on the ridge and it looked like they could just tumble off at any moment.
The views were amazing, but the location did test the limits of my tolerance for heights (or more my tolerance for falling down a mountain).
A look down into the abyss
Some more of the snowy mountain goodness
Peaks of some of the Alps viewed from on high
Me chilling in the Ice Cave you can enter from the lift station
From the middle lift station we saw plenty of people parasailing off the mountain. While the view from the top offered a glimpse into another world above (and within) the clouds, the medium view also offered great vistas.
From this location, it was also possible to hike down. It was a beautiful day and we didn’t really have anything much planned, so we decided to go for it. The 2.5 hour journey offered me some of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever been privy to, and though my calves ached for three days afterwards, it was well worth it. It’s also kind of fun to say that I hiked down a mountain almost 1300 meters.
One of the stunning landscapes on the way down the mountain
Fire and Ice — an amazing array of shrubbery paints the landscape in front of the glacier
I couldn’t resist the urge to go sit amongst the plants. God’s quite the artist
Once we finally reached the bottom, we had about an hour before our train so we got some pizza near the station that was made-to-order and absolutely delicious. We got back to Annecy around 11pm and headed for bed.
On Sunday I got to see more of Annecy. It was at once strange and cool to experience the city where so many of my friends and classmates have each spent 6 months of their lives. It definitely has a distinct European village feel to it which is missing from the commercial metropolis of Geneva. The Old Town was charming and the lake incredibly beautiful (supposedly the cleanest one in Europe or something). Alison and I went out to the market in the morning and returned to have lunch and be joined by Erica for our afternoon journeys. We went to one of the castles in the town which was having a free weekend so we got to see a couple little museums. We also got some amazing ice cream at a shop they knew of (I had banana flambeé and chocolate orange).
View along the canal. Postcard-tastic
A look over the Old Town with a view of the lake and mountain
Before I knew it, it was time to head back to Geneva. I boarded the bus having become closer to some college friends and with a wealth of wonderful new memories.
My first real out-of-Switzerland “mini-vacation” came a weekend ago (October 13th-15th) when I traveled to Annecy, France, to visit Alison and Erica, the UC graphic design juniors currently co-oping there for Salomon. I left Geneva after work that Friday by bus and arrived in time for pizza and ice cream to help celebrate Erica’s birthday. I also got to meet some of the other interns there who were very nice.
On Saturday we headed to Chamonix with Krishnama (one of their Salomon co-workers).
A view into Chamonix after leaving the train station
Before ascending Mont-Blanc we found a wonderful café where I had a Mexican-style wrap as fresh as anything I’ve had over here. It may not have been Chipotle, but it did the job. Following our meal we found the tourism office and figured out where we needed to go to catch the lift up the mountain. We were just in time to take the last one of the day, and though it was a bit pricey, it was well worth the fee.
This is what the lift up the mountain looks like. It wasn’t quite as scary inside, but looks a bit precarious from this view
The summit we climbed to via the lift thingy
To get to the top of Mont-Blanc actually required two lifts, the first to a medium height about 1300 meters up from where we started. From there was another lift that took us a further 1500 meters up, to an elevation of 3842 meters (the actual summit is at 4810). This was where everything went very vertical, got quite cloudy, and temperatures dropped below freezing. There is a viewing station complex that the lift goes to, so sane people can take a look at everything. There are plenty of people with more of a death wish that go up with skis or those crazy ice hiking boots that go off to climb the mountain or something. We saw plenty on the ridge and it looked like they could just tumble off at any moment.
The views were amazing, but the location did test the limits of my tolerance for heights (or more my tolerance for falling down a mountain).
A look down into the abyss
Some more of the snowy mountain goodness
Peaks of some of the Alps viewed from on high
Me chilling in the Ice Cave you can enter from the lift station
From the middle lift station we saw plenty of people parasailing off the mountain. While the view from the top offered a glimpse into another world above (and within) the clouds, the medium view also offered great vistas.
From this location, it was also possible to hike down. It was a beautiful day and we didn’t really have anything much planned, so we decided to go for it. The 2.5 hour journey offered me some of the most beautiful sights I’ve ever been privy to, and though my calves ached for three days afterwards, it was well worth it. It’s also kind of fun to say that I hiked down a mountain almost 1300 meters.
One of the stunning landscapes on the way down the mountain
Fire and Ice — an amazing array of shrubbery paints the landscape in front of the glacier
I couldn’t resist the urge to go sit amongst the plants. God’s quite the artist
Once we finally reached the bottom, we had about an hour before our train so we got some pizza near the station that was made-to-order and absolutely delicious. We got back to Annecy around 11pm and headed for bed.
On Sunday I got to see more of Annecy. It was at once strange and cool to experience the city where so many of my friends and classmates have each spent 6 months of their lives. It definitely has a distinct European village feel to it which is missing from the commercial metropolis of Geneva. The Old Town was charming and the lake incredibly beautiful (supposedly the cleanest one in Europe or something). Alison and I went out to the market in the morning and returned to have lunch and be joined by Erica for our afternoon journeys. We went to one of the castles in the town which was having a free weekend so we got to see a couple little museums. We also got some amazing ice cream at a shop they knew of (I had banana flambeé and chocolate orange).
View along the canal. Postcard-tastic
A look over the Old Town with a view of the lake and mountain
Before I knew it, it was time to head back to Geneva. I boarded the bus having become closer to some college friends and with a wealth of wonderful new memories.
posted by Aaron at 11:04 PM
2 Comments:
dang aaron, those pictures are stunning. when i co-oped years ago for salomon in colorado, alot of my co-workers were from this area you just visited and often spoke of how beatiful it was...they weren't joking. incredible. i'm jealous. thanks for sharing.
Stunning, Aaron !
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