This was taken at Mer de Glace, the largest glacier in France. Dressed pragmatically heh.
# – Quite cold.
Top trifted in Bangkok. Trousers from Bangkok. Jumper from Puma. Shoes from Onitsuka Tiger. Bag from Louis Vuitton. Sunglasses from Bazzarro.
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Chamonix wasn’t even in our initial itinerary but the hubs wanted for me to see a glacier for the first time so we decided to do one night there.
# – This is Glacier of Argentiere, visible from Chamonix. The mass of frozen water in the middle….spectacular in real! Pictures do no justice.
The glacier used to extend all the way to town but in present day has receded to almost the top of the mountain :(
Anyway, what a wonderful town Chamonix is! It is surrounded by the French Alps, notably the famous Mont Blanc.
Am sure we saw Mont Blanc but didn’t know which peak it was hahaha.
# – We did have a view of Aiguille Verte from our window :)
From our hotel, we walked to Montenvers Railway to catch a train to Montenvers where we could see the Mer de Glace glacier up close.
It was a pleasant 20 minute ride up (almost 2000 metres above sea level) a steep mountain overlooking the Chamonix valley.
Then, it was a short cable car ride.
# – You can see the glacier path. Imagine, it used to be filled with glacier! It has receded greatly due to global environmental issues.
After the cable car ride, it was another 430 steps of stairs to descend to the mouth of the glacier cave.
# – A lot of signs to tell you there are 430 steps to reach the glacier.
Going down the stairs were not too bad. The worst was just some parts of the stairs that were see-through, looking down not that fun.
Finally we reached the entrance of the cave. It is a man-made cave, of course.
# – The entrance into the glacier Mer de Glace.
I couldn’t believe it, I was seeing glacier for the first time! All those time watching Discovery Channel and BBC Earth and looking at black & white illustrations of glacier in my high school geography textbook.
# – Glacier… though greatly receded. See the grey part of the wall? Used to be that high. Now the top of the glacier looks like some dirt road :(
This is the real McCoy.
# – My hand touching glacier.
# – Obligatory I was there.
# – Beautiful.
After that, we climbed 430 steps back up. It was torturous T-T but it’s all worth it!
I was so knackered I fell asleep in the train back to Chamonix haha.
Our breakfast had completely burnt off by the time we reached Chamonix so we fueled up at a restaurant by the Montenvers Railway station.
Had beef tartare.. again.
# – Delicious with piping hot fries.
# – Dessert was mad mad awesome. Tarte tartin and Grand Marnier crepe.
Then we made our way to Geneva, Switzerland for a quick jaunt. About an hour drive.
Geneva is stunning! Beautiful, posh buildings and look of money everywhere.
# – Geneva.
We headed straight to the lake. I thought Lake Como was beautiful but honestly Lake Geneva was much more breathtaking to me.
The water was a deep blue green colour and the entire lake was choppy, which made it looked really unusual. And it was a really windy place!
# – Obligatory I was there.
# – Hubs.
Then we continued our journey to Dijon. Yeap, where the mustard comes from.
It is about 2.5 hours drive from Geneva. We had a hard time finding hotel cause the city was closed to vehicles. Garmin went apeshit cause as all the roads we needed to go pass were closed for pedestrians.
In the end, after a somewhat illegal driving maneuver and much walking, we managed to find the place….. and doors were locked and reception was closed. Wah I was quite pissed off.
Luckily there was a number which I called and the Frenchman spoke perfect English.
He came down to open the door for us and then he told me that hotel parking was full and we had to find our own parking space.
That was when my bitch fit was triggered lol
Told him if I had known his hotel was technically not accessible by car and his 4-car parking space, I would not have booked it. That they were not very clear with their descriptions online.
He was like, “It is not my fault!”. I gave him dirty looks.
Poor guy. He was a bit pissed off too but he recovered quickly and told us he will show us the way to a public parking area nearby. And I apologised to him for my tone.
I said “merci beucoup” a lot haha.
The hotel turned out very nice. It is on a prime location, at the city’s high street.
Our room is above H&M. Very spacious and near to eateries.
# – Our room is right above H&M.
# – Our view of the high street from our balcony.
# – Nice spacious room.
Did you know that Dijon has over 20 michelin starred restaurants? That’s mad.
We are still thinking whether to splurge on a 2 star because we have busted our budget as it is hahahaha
