A hint of things to come.
In Switzerland, trains run everywhere, and you learn this as soon as you try to drive anywhere - even the most obscure mountain backroad will be bisected by one or more (sometimes fairly busy) rail grade crossings. We make our way over hill and down dale, stopping for pastry and coffee shortly before entering France. Not a customs agent to be found at the border - no passport stamp, but no hassle over our weirdball license plates, either. We roll down the hill into Chamonix, parking in the first large parking lot we encounter upon entering town. We use an automated exchange machine a few blocks into town to trade our Swiss francs for French; no idea if it was the best deal, but it was certainly convenient.
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Turning back toward the parking lot, we make our way along the highway to the Aiguille-du-Midi tramway. The ticket line alone is something like half an hour long, but I notice that there's another ticket line around the end of the building that few have noticed. Five minutes later we have our tickets - for a tram ride an hour and a half later. We tour the shops around the car-house, hike across the plaza to a small shopping center and - in a maneuver that'll become common on this trip - pick up a baguette, ham, and a jar of mustard at the grocery store there, return to the plaza and make lunch.
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| Heilbronner, and enroute to Talloires |
When our turn comes for the tram, it's packed solid. We get to the transfer car-house, and the next one is packed solid too. We make our way through the station at the top of the hill and wait for a gondola ride over to Heilbronner. Once there, you pick up a waiting check for the ride back - a minimum of an hour. Eva won't go down the steps to the snow, but I do (of course) and stumble around for a few minutes. It's cold, and we're not really dressed for it, so I go back up to the roof of the car-house. There's some heavy-duty hiking and climbing going on, but we're just here for the view. By the time we get back to the French side and down off the mountain again it's taken 7+ hours for a minimal out-and-back trip.
Eva wants to do a little souvenir shopping, so I scoot back across Chamonix on foot to pick up the car from the parking lot. I got there easily, but was then faced by some of that baffling French technology: you stick the ticket in the machine, it then tells you that you owe FF75. Okay, it takes coins - but no bills! - or credit card. Now, where does the card go?
A helpful woman behind me pointed out that it goes in the same slot as the ticket did. Now, why was that so tough for me to figure out? Then after I reclaim the card and walk away, another helpful soul sprints off after me, bringing the receipt I'd forgotten! So much for French indifference; somehow I have to wonder if a baffled French tourist would have gotten that much consideration at Union Square.
The trip to Talloires consisted of ever- narrowing roads, ever-heavier traffic, and a few entertaining mountain-road passes on 1.8-lane-and-no-shoulder roads where the slow-moving Peugeot 405 diesel in the lead drives the whole road as if it were one-way. Following the lead of some others, the proper approach proved to be just shouldering one's way past on whatever stretch of road looks halfway straight.
The narrowing street trend continues right to and along the shore of Lac d'Annecy, through Verthier and Balmette to the Talloires turnoff. An old town with tiny streets, but obviously some money here - big houses up on the side of the hill, and the local hotel parking lots full of expensive hardware. We pull into the parking lot at the Auberge du Pere Bise; the hotel concierge remarks "Are you taking it back to the States?" - apparently we're not the first ones.
We check in and stretch out for a few minutes, take a walk around the area, clean up and head down for dinner at 9:30; business is booming. My limited French-cuisine exposure assesses dinner as very good. I steer clear of the paté dishes that are supposed to be a specialty, though the spouse indulges. There is the sherbet course, and the fromage cart, and dessert, etc. so I'm hardly suffering for my ignorance.