Rainy Days and Mondays, Part 3

There seems to be a pattern here. Why is it often raining on Mondays??

With much sadness, we packed up and left Val d'Isere by 9:00 a.m. Our next destination was Chamonix, France, almost 3 hours away. We were nervous about the road conditions, but much to our relief, as soon as we left town the roads were clear the rest of the way! We had another drive involving about 3 sets of mountainous, narrow, windy roads with switchbacks before we ended up on a 4-lane highway that took us right into Chamonix! We're pretty sure that our GPS sent us on the insane scenic route! Our hotel, the Auberge du Manoir, was right off the highway. It is apparent that this same highway will take us right into Geneva, where we will be heading on Friday, so we will have an easy exit. Chamonix is not a "ski station" like Val d'Isere. It is a city, and you have to drive or take a bus to your ski areas. You can't walk to your lifts, unless you like long walks. There are 5 or 6 ski areas nearby.

As we pulled into Chamonix, it began to sprinkle. We unloaded our bags and then walked to a nearby pedestrian area for lunch.

This polar bear welcomed us to the pedestrian area.

While at lunch, the sprinkle turned into a steady rain. After we returned to the hotel, the steady rain turned into a heavy, wet snow! We couldn't believe how well we timed our travels to avoid driving in the blizzard! "Slippy" was thanking us!

Our next item of business was to unpack our ski's from our ski tube. Our friend, David Desforges, gave us special ski socks to use on the ski's while they are being transported in the tube. Before we can use the ski's, we remove the socks.

Every now and then you have to stop and admire your ski's.

We were admiring the great tune and wax jobs we got on our ski's in Val d'Isere.

When we're finished unpacking the ski's, we neatly put the socks back in the tube so they're ready when we have to pack them up again.

While we were doing this, in walked hotel guests Raymond and Savannah, from New York City and Spain but now living in London. They had just returned from skiing and were soaked!

Our hotel doesn't offer dinner, so we had no choice but to go out for dinner. When we went out, it was still snowing, but thankfully there was very little wind. When we reached our restaurant, "Cap Horn", we were relatively dry except for our boots! The restaurant had a nautical theme and its name may have been referencing "Cape Horn".

Seafood is the thing to order at "Cap Horn". We enjoyed a delicious filet of sole for dinner.

I got to wear my new sweater to dinner!

It was still dumping snow by the time we got back to the hotel. It appears that tomorrow will be a promising ski day!