Wednesday 10th August: Weather: 13°C to 30°C: Very sunny and hot with a dry wind
Bern to Chamonix: Train to Geneva, bus to Chamonix. No walking
Ascent/Descent: No walking today
Accommodation: Chalet Chamonix
Lunch by Lake Geneva
Swans on the crystal clear Rhone
Geneva - upmarket watches
Lake Geneva’s water spout
Dinner in our Chamonix Chalet
Highlight of the day was coming into Chamonix and seeing Mont Blanc in all it’s glory standing hed and shoulders above all else.
An early start - 3.15am, an hour later than yesterday. Ian discovers he needs a new cable to transfer photos from his camera across to his phone and my computer. So we pack, have breakfast and and leave early to catch the 7.30am train to Geneva. It’s a smooth ride back to Geneva where we pick our way through the streets to find Swiss Tours, a bus company which we have tried to book through for a bus to Chamonix. But the online booking system dowsn’t work, very annoying that Visa Secure wants to send a code to our phone number back in Australia, and we then found that to book through their office in Geneva was double the price. No thanks. So ian booked on line using some nearby finance companies internet which popped up on his phone, throug Flixbus - a very popular but strange bus company that has no offices in Europe but each bus is equipped with it’s own computer and booking sydtem. Kinda like a uber system for buses not cars.
Bus booked for 2pm, so we look for the Leica camera shop down near Geneva Lake, where the staff were extremeley helpful and 12 euro later we have the right cable and head back to find a shady spot by the lake for coffee and biscuits, and soon after lunch of last nights left over ham cheese tomato and butter on a bread roll. The Gare Router (bus station) is just over the road and we find our Flix bus which is a very clean, almost new bus. Right on 2pm it leaves and we doze on and off for the 2 hr trip to Chamonix, waking just in time for our arrival on the dot at 4pm in Chamonix, nestled in the midst of the Alps, with Mont Blanc towering above.
It’s only a 400 metre walk to 320 Albrogoges Street and our apartment which is in a very old Swiss Ski Resort building. It really suits us with a separate bedroom, batroom and a large kitchen/dining/lounge area. Dumping our stuff, it’s a short walk to te centre of Chamonix which looks all familia as we had been here many times in the past on our Alps hikes. Walking past Snells Sports store to a Casino (small supermarket) we buy enough food for a few days - hams, cheeses, bullock hearts tomatoes, bread and of course a few beers.