Mount Blanc

Today we had our usual breakfast of cereal, bread, a wide assortment of jam, and absolutely no english as at all.

We packed up the bikes and hit the road at about 930 and headed off toward Mount Blanc in France, but of course we took the long way around via northern Italy. We had to pay for 3 toll rolls in total, and traveling certainly isn't cheap, but it doesn't matter because its not real money until you get home and have to pay the credit card bills.

We rode through the Chmoinx tunnel which is 11.6km long and goes right underneath Mount Blanc. We arrived in France (again with no border crossing, it feels much like going from Montana to South Dakota, just a sign on the side on the side of the road, and cheaper/more expensive gas depending on which way you're going) and took the obligatory pictures, and knowing a bit of French now, and hand signals we bough two gondola tickets which took us up the face of Mount Blanc. Unlike at the Top of Europe it was clear and we could see forever. It made for truly great pictures.

There were a fair bit of people hiking around the first transfer station and even more doing snow hiking. It makes me want to come back to persue my new fondness with hiking. Someday.

After we spent about 3 hours at the top of the mountain, we headed back down on the gondola, roamed back to the bikes and headed off toward Sierre, Switzerland via 2 mountain passes. There was to much traffic on the passes to really have any fun but the scenery was of course beautiful per usual.

We made it to the hotel, taking all the right roundabouts, and parked the bikes in the parking garage, unpacked and took a walk around town. We went to a great bar/pub/cafe and sat on the sidewalk and had a pizza and of course beers. Our French must be getting better because ordering was a piece of cake and our waitress again didn't speak any english! Or maybe the beers just made it seem easier.

Tomorrow, the Matterhorn!

Cheers!


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