French Alps

I turned 30 on the 18Th of July and to celebrate we went to the french alps for a long weekend away. We based ourselves in the town of Chamonix which is in the valley below Mont Blanc. We had and amazing time and the mountains were spectacular.
We took a Gondola up to 3800 meters and saw amazing views of Mont Blanc and surrounding Glaciers and mountains. Even though it was summer and 20 deg in the village it was -1 at the top and there was lots of fresh snow.

We decided to take another gondola across the Glacier to Italy. It was an amazing half hour journey and the scenery was some of the most stunning I have seen. We had lunch in Italy and then took the Gondola back to France.

We also enjoyed the French food and had some great pastry, chocolate and coffee. For dinner we went to try the local cheese fondue specialty. It was great, basically a big pot of melted cheese under a burner and a big plate of bread for dipping in the cheese.

Our hotel was nice and had a balcony that overlooked a little church and square and had a view of Mont Blanc. One afternoon a large crowd gathered at the stage in the square to watch an international folk festival. We had the best seats in the house and watch amazing musicians and dancers from Peru, Mongolia and Romania perform in full costume.

We also did a small hike to Blue lake and it made me want to stay longer as there are so many montain biking and hiking opportunities available. Chamonix is definatly somewhere I would like to return one day and I had a fantastic birthday! Being 30 is not so bad after all.

Pics Here