Chamonix, France – Everyone was excited about Paris, but I felt certain my twin-agers would soon grow weary of the city’s palaces and gardens and fabulous art museums. And I was right. Don’t get me wrong, I wish we had more time in Paris; but the twins were ready to move on. They are men of action, and that’s why we planned to spend several days in the mountains – hiking, biking, expending energy, and marveling at the magnificence of the hautes montagnes, or High Alps, the likes of which they have never seen before. Destination: Chamonix.
It was cloudy when we arrived. For that reason, I hemmed and hawed about shelling out €280 to take the cable car up to the summit of Aiguille du Midi. It didn’t help that my guidebook said it’s only worth it on “bluebird days”. Of course, guidebook also said advance reservations are obligatory, but we were able to waltz up and purchase tickets–maybe because it wasn’t a bluebird day.
Anyway, that is what we finally did. And soon we were floating on the cable car through the clouds up to 3842m.
It was snowing at the top. (At least one twin was in shorts.) The clouds were swirling all around, which did impede the views to some degree. But it was still awesome (or “sick” as they say). The clouds would clear momentarily, giving us glimpses of surrounding peaks, if not the full panorama. And we were all impressed. In fact, S said it was the coolest thing we have done. Like, ever.
S also suggested that we should have hiked up, so he was obviously out of his head. Instead, we opted to hike on the same mountain at 2317 meters, where it was much warmer and we didn’t need crampons and ice picks. Our destination was Blue Lake, which we could just barely see through the fog. Then we hiked back through the rain (Alaska vibes) and the kids said it was fun.
And this is why we came to Chamonix. Because the hautes montagnes are amazing, yes. But also because the twin-agers are exhausted after looking at art for 30 minutes, but they are happy after hiking through the rain for hours. So be it.
