Big Hikes

So one of the wonderful things to do in Chamonix, obviously, in the summertime is to hike some of the many, many, MANY gorgeous mountain trails in the valley. We have already tackled a few. One really fun one involved taking a cable car up to about 2000m (the Plan d'Aguille), hiking to a glacial lake for a swim (well, more of a very quick dunk) then staying overnight in a mountain hut. We then hiked across the ridge (about three hours) to where we could catch a little mountain train down. The hut was a lot of fun, and I think the highlight was the giant bowls of hot chocolate the girls were served in the morning for breakfast. The hike was not only jaw-droppingly scenic (see attached) but also offered up lots of wild blueberries for the girls to gather. The result was that they basically ran the trail in their desire to gather the most blueberries. At one point an elderly French lady (even the octogenarians hike around here) stopped to ask what we were doing, and when I responded something about gathering 'bluets' she immediately said, 'Ah, vous etes Canadiennes!'. I immediately wondered what gave it away (the accent, the baseball cap, the teeth??) and she explained that blueberries are called 'myrtilles' here. So something new learned already.

Local donkeys provided some entertainment on the trail.

 They insisted on hiking with us for awhile.

Not bad for a view.

 Even dolly came along for the hike.

More hiking.

 The glacial lake - pre-swim.

 The girls were incredibly hardy. (We definitely provided the entertainment for the many tourists who clearly thought we were mad...)

 Indra doing the dip.

 Anna striking a pose.

 Indra enjoying her bowl of hot chocolate.

 Montenvers hike.

 Toby and Anna.

'Some are sour, some are sweet. Mountain blueberries for us to eat'.