It was a good day. I did laundry in the morning, and did some relaxing. But before too long, I got my stuff together (with lessons learned from yesterday) and set off to do another hike. I consulted with the reception at the hostel and got a good plan to go see Lac Blanc.
Unfortunately, I missed the bus to Chamonix. The next one was going to be an hour later, so the hike started with a 20 minute walk to Chamonix. There I checked out the tourist office and got a trail map, and nearby I got a sandwich for the trip.
Then I hiked to Les Praz. That took about half an hour, and I inadvertently stalked a girl most of the way. She ended up going to the same cable car station I was. After talking to her, Lauren from Colarado, we found out we were going to the same place. So we both got on the cable car to La Flegere. Then we had a nice hike to Lac Blanc.
The terrain was rough, but the lake was beautiful. I took lots of pictures. If I didn’t have a traveling companion, and there wasn’t a packed restaurant overlooking everything, I would have been very tempted to go for a swim. I should have gone wading as a way to ice my ankle.
She proposed that we go to Lacs des Cheserys, and that sounded like a good idea. The climb down was somewhat scary, and included ladders. At the first lake I convinced Lauren to take a ten minute break. I took the opportunity to put on my tevas and go wading a bit. It wasn’t as cold as Lac Blanc, but it felt good on my ankle. We continued along for awhile, until we came on to the Chalet des Cheserys trail that would take us back to the cable car.
That was a beautiful route. It went along the curve of the mountain. There were impressive views of the valley, and of Mont Blanc. Along the way there were some thick, straight, solitary stone walls, that looked like they might have been fortifications, but they were all alone.
Of course I twisted my ankle a few times. It feels better now, but I really need to find a way to strengthen it.
We returned to the cable car and got back to Chamonix.
There I got an ice cream, and finally got my train ticket to my next destination, Cavillion. Apparently I’m going to be traveling all day tomorrow. My train starts at ten o’clock, and I won’t arrive until seven in the evening. I hope I’ll still be able to get my bicycle.
I contemplated going to a restaurant to eat while I was in Chamonix. The hostel makes fantastic meals, that are affordable, and are local cuisine. And they don’t charge for water. But I feel like I’m taking the easy way out when I do that. So I checked out a restaurant that had been recommended to me, MBC which was run by Canadians. I don’t know what those initials stand for (Micro-Brewery Chamonix? Mont Blanc Canada? Mont British Columbia?) anyway, when I went in, it had a lot of Canadian paraphernalia. Including the menu. It all looked straight from my homeland. And while I appreciate the effort, I really should try something that I can’t get at home. Eating at the hostel it is.
I’ve noticed the German hikers, that had previously stayed in my room, lurking around. I think they are sneaking in to use the shower and bathrooms while they go camping in the mountains.
2012-9-5 22:00