Camping --- European Style

--- More pictures at our Mont Blanc pixagogo album: http://www.pixagogo.com/5154065611 ---

Billed as Europe`s tallest mountain and an alpine wonderland...after our Tour de France experience we headed towards the village of Chamonix and the beast of a mountain --- Mont Blanc. Heading into Chamonix we were once again putting ourselves into the middle of a spectacular landscape, similar to the countless of jaw-dropping scenes we witnessed in New Zealand. We tossed the idea of heading south into Provence for a bit...but the draw of the mountains came calling again and we found our stay in Mont Blanc rather perfect.

Upon arriving we settled into a campsite that was at the base of Mont Blanc`s two gigantic glaciers. A quick turn of the head and we had a stunning view of the two glaciers that were a short one hour hike from our tent.

A nice little glacial runoff stream ran through the campsite and we immensly enjoyed the chance to cool our beverages naturally. So needless to say the campsite proved rather perfect to veg out a bit in between the hiking. Before we continue...you all should know one thing --- and that is about camping in Europe and how it is a pasttime people take VERY, VERY seriously! People - mostly German, Dutch, Belgium and French - take their camping very seriously and they really anchor down for weeks on end in these campsites. We cannot stress enough that Europeans love to relax and chill OUT!!! They are the kings and queens of spending an entire week in a lawnchair eating baguettes, cheese and salami while watching idiots like us come and go with sweat all over our bodies (okay, just Tom as Jill has yet to perspire a drop in her short life). If you look close enough...you can see them mutter the words, "Crazy young Americans" as they politely wave and give smiles to us as they haven`t moved a muscle while we have blasted out 10km in the pounding heat!!! There is something to be said for the European camping experience...so we decided to give it a bit of a "go" while staying at the picturesque campsite in Chamonix.

We couldn`t totally give into the "do nothing" mentality...but we tried desperately hard (wink, wink) to drink a bit extra wine and beer during our 5 nights there and just sit around soaking in the views. Chamonix is a gorgeous town amidst these towering mountains and we advise anyone to visit this area.





One of the most impressive engineering feats has been designed in this area. A series of gondolas and ski lifts will get you up as high as 3,842 meters and can take a person over the "border" and into Italy once above 3,000 meters.


The fees are pretty high so the Prancers opted out of the experience, but the Aiguilee du Midi lifts are an impressive feat of engineering and perfect for taking in the 360-degree views of Mont Blanc! We did, however, ride the lifts on the opposite side of the valley and hiked for several hours around 2500 meters which proved that the views across the valley towards Mont Blanc and Aiguille du Midi are amazing! Most of the pictures we took we from this side of the valley.

The 5 days in and around Chamonix were just great. We went inside an ice cave, swam laps with 7,000 people packed into 2 lanes (a swimming world record) and enjoyed great evenings at our campsite trying to fit in as European campers!

--- More Mont Blanc pictures at our pixagogo link: http://www.pixagogo.com/5154065611 ---