Holiday Day 6 – The Alps

I am writing today’s blog looking from the balcony of our hotel room in Courmayer onto Mont Blanc. When we arrived it was very clear, however now it is obscured by cloud and there is thunder and lightening developing.

We made an early start from the Vosges wanting to pass through the Swiss border without any holdup. In fact we sailed through and were not even stopped, although there was a minor panic when Marion could not find our passports. It was very busy driving round Basle but the traffic improved as we drove through Switzerland. By the time we approached Gruyere the mountains surrounded us. When we stopped at the cleanest motorway service area that you have ever seen Marion had an anti-Swiss rant, apparently they charge women a fee to use the toilets but not men.

As we found the end of Lake Geneva at Montreux the weather became really hot, the sun shimmering off the lake. Our route took us over the St. Bernard Pass; instead of taking the tunnel we climbed the pass on the old road. It was well worth the drive, the views of the Alps were spectacular. We passed the summit at 2300 metres with no dogs carrying brandy in sight. It was absolutely brilliant being in an open top car, although it was a cool 12 degrees at the summit.

As we dropped down into Italy it became cloudier, and the architecture changed to more rugged stone houses. It was then a quick drive along the autostrada, almost 15 miles completely in tunnels, and we reached our hotel, which is near the entrance to the Mont Blanc tunnel. The hotel is lovely, staff in traditional dress welcomed us. We have a really super room with a balcony giving us a clear view of Mont Blanc. The end of the glacier is almost in touching distance. It is odd because although we are in Italy it does not feel typically Italian, more pan-alpine.

I went for a short walk to the base station for the new Mont Blanc cable car. This only opened last week and has revolving cable cars so that you can enjoy the full view around the Mont Blanc Massif. We are just hoping that tomorrow will be at least partially clear so that we can take advantage.