soooo ... we took advantage of the long 4-day weekend and headed south to the french alps ... hadn't been there yet and heard how beautiful it is ... they were right! we stayed in the town of Chamonix ... a small skiing/hiking town in the valley beneath Mont Blanc ... the highest mountain in western Europe.





it was a nice little town ... pretty quiet this time of year ... between prime skiing & hiking seasons. on Friday morning we got up early and took a ride up the worlds highest cable car ... all the way to the top of the aiguille du midi (12,602 ft) ... amazing!





we checked out the views for a while and then boarded a little cable car (just the 2 of us) and rode it over to italy ... very cool ... just dangling over the mountains for about 45 mins



we didn't get to do as much hiking as we would have liked ... the snow line was still pretty low ... though we did get some in. the petit balcon sud trail followed the ridge line between Chamonix and Le Praz ... very nice



after some good hiking, the local specialty -- fondue -- tasted really good!



we also had a chance to visit the beautiful town of Annecy ... spent saturday checking it out ... i would love to go back





all in all, it was a great trip ... beautiful mountains, great weather, good food ... what more do you need? harm's family gets in on saturday ... can't wait! leaving for greece on the 13th ...will post pics from that trip then. hope everyone is well ... wishing you a peaceful memorial day. t