Megeve, France (about 20 minutes from Chamonix)
Leaving the hidden little Alpine Shangri-la of Saas-Fee was tough, but it was time to get to France. We had nabbed a Chalet in Megeve for a few days, en route to meeting my sister, brother in law and their kids in Chateau country. We had booked Megeve well before Saas Fee, but still did not know what to expect. The trip, about three and a half hours, again on small roads where we could find them, was like going to another world. It was actually sort of fun asking some of the Saas Fee locals how far it was from their pretty little valley to the Chamonix area, sort of like when we would ask folks from Italy how far away places were in Switzerland…another country, another language, out of mind. In this case, one could understand, as the scenery changed dramatically, as the language shifted from Swiss German to French. There was a vestige of a border crossing on the Swiss side, but not even a sign telling us we had entered France!
Going past Chamonix and Mont Blanc was extremely dramatic, with the glaciers, most likely shrinking rapidly, still reached almost down to the road.
Mont Blanc as well, at over 15,000 feet, simply towered over the green valleys below. The only way I can succinctly define the difference between where we were in Switzerland and the Megeve area is that Megeve was 'softer', more like the cushy spots of Colorado than something rugged and 'end of the earth'. But still a great spot to spend a few days. My wife was excited, as the place we were staying in had a full-size washer and dryer…so we clean our ever more ragged and motley collection of clothes.
The second shot was sunset on our second night, and it was clear that the famed Mont Blanc winds were kicking off the summit. Here we were in sight of the mountain, in shorts and a t-shirt, knowing that there were people up on the summit (an exception of the not-so-ends-of-the-earth cushiness of the area) getting blown away in a driving frozen snowstorm.
The hiking was much different as well. As opposed to the full Goretex, and enough mountaineering equipment to conquer everest, the hikers of Megeve were like us, in sneakers and shorts with a backpack. The trails were still a lot of fun, herds of cows all around, great vistas of the Haute Alps. But none of us knew how to yodel in French. Is there even such a thing as yodeling in French? The two days in Megeve ended up being an excellent restful pit stop. We got our laundry done. The kids got to play with a crowd of kids from North Carolina in the next unit over. We got to eat at "home" for two nights, and we got to eat chicken. As I think I said in another post, a lot of folks in Europe are freaked out by bird flu, and "Poulet" has disappeared off the menus like the demise of the dodo bird. Great local cheeses though, and we got to work a bit on the wines that we had brought out of Tuscany. We weren't sure if you could drink Italian wines in France without the gendarmes descending, but it worked out ok. So it was off to the Loire Valley and Chateau country!
Bonjour Jeff,
Love your blog and espcially the fantastic photos! Look forward to speaking with you soon.
Take good care and travel safe.
best,
AZ
Posted by: ali | August 01, 2007 at 08:14 AM