Chamonix

 Sunday, July13th -  Our first day in the Chamonix valley was more of a tourist day for us. Rémi and I went around town just walking around taking in the views. We decided to go paragliding today instead of waiting until we were finished the trek as it was perfect conditions.  A little funny story: as we were walking down to one of the offices to book, we saw Beth sitting at a restaurant. She told us she would like to go as well so we said we would let her know how the booking went.  We get to the office to see it was closed.  We decided to walk up the hill and see if anyone there could help us. As we passed by Beth again, we told her we were booked (her as well) in 30 minutes. Oh my!  The look on her face was priceless!  Her response was well, I just ate all these eggs... at which point Remi and I burst out laughing.  Told her we were just kidding.

When we arrived at the top of this huge hill, bottom of the cablecar, we found a little shop that had openings and so we booked.   What a different experience than the last time we did it in California! Different types of air currents is what makes the sail full of air.  In California, to take off, you run off the cliff and you just start to sort of float. Here in Chamonix, in the mountains, when you stand up once the sail is fully opened, you fly off like a bullet! It was a little scary! It felt like I was going to fall out of my harness!  After the take off, it’s absolutely magnificent!  The view is spectacular!  My pilot let me drive for a minute, showing me how to turn right and left.  He then asked if I wanted some strong feelings... why not... right?  OMG!  Sharp turn this way and that way! Up down all around!  Felt like being in a roller coaster!  Thank goodness that wasn’t any longer... I would have vomited! 😂. The landing was pretty smooth. 

Once we finish paragliding we went downtown, had some wonderful ice cream and then it was time

to go to our campsite for the night.  We met our guide John and camp support Emily. They briefed us  on our trek and camp experience. We then had our first dinner. It was not very good food. At least I didn’t think so. It was over cooked rice with mushrooms, which I hate, some salad which was actually decent. For dessert we had fruit salad. We then went to bed at which point I was not able to sleep.  I was up until about 3 AM as it was pouring rain and making a lot of noise.

Let’s see what tomorrow brings!