Chamonix

We were lucky enough to secure hotel rooms in Chamonix-Mont Blanc, France because the ski season officially ended the day before we arrived.

This is the view from our hotel patio and we had the same view from our rooms.

There was a sauna, steam room, Jacuzzi and this heated pool.

It was heated, but I think it was still a bit chilly.

This is a glacier we could also see from our hotel. I zoomed in so this is actually huge and quite far away. FYI - a glacier is a large, persistent body of ice.

This is a view of the main street in Chamonix. It is a fairly small town with about 10,000 people.

This little stream runs through town. The water was almost white in color.

The sunrise on the mountains was really beautiful.

One last snapshot as we left Chamonix. This looks like it could be a postcard.

We then drove to Courmayeur, Italy. On the way we happened upon this rushing river and just had to get out for a closer look.

This is Courmayeur, Italy.

It's also a ski town on the other side of Mont Blanc.

Naturally, we ate real Italian pizza. This photo is one of 9 attempts to get a picture of all of us. They were all similar :)

I hope this picture is big enough that you can see this is a little town in the valley on a lake.

As we reluctantly left the Alps,

we snapped some pictures from the highway.

So many pristine lakes and rivers.

And finally, if you look really close - about one inch down from the top of this photo - right in the middle where the snow begins and the rock ends - that little tiny dot - that's a cable car.

More on that cable car in my next post.