Thursday August 15th
Today I decided to have one final adventure high above Chamonix. First, I took the gondola to Plan Praz far up above the town (2200m). Then, as if that were not enough, I took the teleferique (cable car) to le Brevent (2500m). This gave me an amazing view of Mont Blanc and the surrounding valley.
I was busy taking pictures when I heard someone call my name. I turned to see Ginette and Thomas who were just finishing lunch in the little restaurant perched high on the edge of the mountain.
They had hiked up from Plan Paz and were getting ready to continue their final journey back to Les Houches. We chatted for a bit and then they were on their way. I stayed on top for a while, had lunch, took some more pictures and then went back down to Plan Praz. I decided to walk up the trail to the spot where the parasailers were launching their flights. It was amazing to see them running off the edge of the cliff and lifting into the air with a great swoosh of the sail. I took a mini video of several launches and will post it on the blog as soon as I can. In the meantime, here are a couple of stills.
After watching the parasailors for some time, I continued my walk up the trail - being careful of my toe since I can only wear sandals and remembering what two doctors had told me about NOT hiking! Still, I remained up for several hours before reluctantly descending to Chamonix again. Ginette and Thomas finally arrived back from their extremely difficult and hazardous hike to Les Houches. They had completed the TMB. Bravo and lots of congratulations to them. This is NOT an easy hike and NOT for the feint of heart - FAR FROM IT!
Later we had a farewell dinner with friends met on the trail (John, Helen, Rob) - delicious raclette such as we can only get in this beautiful region of the Haute Savoie! Next evening (Friday) we had another farewell dinner - this time with John, Helen, Alice and Duncan. I leave tomorrow morning for Geneva and Canada. And, as I said yesterday, although this was not the holiday I planned, it was wonderful nonetheless!
Today I decided to have one final adventure high above Chamonix. First, I took the gondola to Plan Praz far up above the town (2200m). Then, as if that were not enough, I took the teleferique (cable car) to le Brevent (2500m). This gave me an amazing view of Mont Blanc and the surrounding valley.
I was busy taking pictures when I heard someone call my name. I turned to see Ginette and Thomas who were just finishing lunch in the little restaurant perched high on the edge of the mountain.
They had hiked up from Plan Paz and were getting ready to continue their final journey back to Les Houches. We chatted for a bit and then they were on their way. I stayed on top for a while, had lunch, took some more pictures and then went back down to Plan Praz. I decided to walk up the trail to the spot where the parasailers were launching their flights. It was amazing to see them running off the edge of the cliff and lifting into the air with a great swoosh of the sail. I took a mini video of several launches and will post it on the blog as soon as I can. In the meantime, here are a couple of stills.
After watching the parasailors for some time, I continued my walk up the trail - being careful of my toe since I can only wear sandals and remembering what two doctors had told me about NOT hiking! Still, I remained up for several hours before reluctantly descending to Chamonix again. Ginette and Thomas finally arrived back from their extremely difficult and hazardous hike to Les Houches. They had completed the TMB. Bravo and lots of congratulations to them. This is NOT an easy hike and NOT for the feint of heart - FAR FROM IT!
Later we had a farewell dinner with friends met on the trail (John, Helen, Rob) - delicious raclette such as we can only get in this beautiful region of the Haute Savoie! Next evening (Friday) we had another farewell dinner - this time with John, Helen, Alice and Duncan. I leave tomorrow morning for Geneva and Canada. And, as I said yesterday, although this was not the holiday I planned, it was wonderful nonetheless!
Thank you, Wendy for the last blog. You had a very nice day in the mountains. Can't wait to see the videos and photos. Have a safe and pleasant trip back to Ottawa.
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