This was the view that greeted us from the window of our room at Mercure Chamonix first thing in the morning on Day 4. Subhanallah.............. The layer of fog lingered around for just a short while before vanishing with rising sun.......
Day 4 started early with a breakfast and the purchase of Mont Blanc Multi-Passes. A pass that gives the holder accesses to all the cable cars, trains etc in the area. A family deal for 2 adults and 2 children costs EUR145 and an extra child pass costs a further EUR22.50. We then took the cable car that brought us to d’Aguille de Midi which was at 3842 mtrs (from wikipedia: built in 1955 and held the title of the world's highest cable car for about two decades. It still holds the record as the highest vertical ascent cable car in the world, from 1035m to 3842m. From Chamonix to the top of the Aiguille du Midi – an altitude gain of over 2,800 m – in 20 minutes) from where the peak of Mont Blanc was visible on a clear day, and a clear day it was (a clear morning at least).
At the station there, there were structures of a few floors
interconnected with stair (both enclosed and in the open). What surprised us initially was that even climbing the stairs up a floor left us breathless as if we've just jogged for miles. There was also the feeling of light-headedness and before long we realised that it was the effect of high-altitute and low oxygen content of the air we were breathing. Can't imagine how it's like to climb the mountain itself and definitely understand why people need oxygen supply when climbing the Everest.
It’s unbelievable that we could be so close to the peak of the highest mountain in Europe when back home we could only get to the foot of Mount Kinabalu and anything more than that requires 2 days trekking and now, months of permit application. Maybe we need to learn something here. Anyhow, the views and photos that we had thought are only possible from a helicopter are for us to capture. It was all in all an excellent outing with various viewing platforms, scenic deck built into the mountain, restaurants and other facilities. We also got into an ice cave there – ice cave as in the whole structure of the cave was built of ice and snow....the experience...priceless.
From there, after the return trip to the base on the cable car, we went back to the hotel for lunch. Unfortunately we could not find any halal restaurant in Chamonix. After lunch and solat, we made our way to the Montevers rail station. With our Multi-Passes, we by-passed the queue for ticket and was on the next train up in no time. This again is a great experience of riding an old train up the mountains across magnificent sceneries and cooling mountain air.
Arriving at Montevers, we straight away went looking for the Mer de Glace glacier. Unfortunately it looked ‘dry’ with dirts and rocks. To our mind, maybe with the summer sun, there’s not much of the glacier to see.
Walking around, we saw a Crystal Cave and went in – nice exhibits of Crystal.
There was also a cable-car going down to the ‘glacier’ but we were no longer excited about cable cars after the morning’s experience. However, while looking out from one of the observation decks, we saw some holes far below and what seemed like a bridge further down.
That was enough to spark our curiosity and we were soon on the cable-car going 300 meters down and THEN we found out that there were further 350 steps to be taken to get to the glacier....yeah, it was there. The Mer de Glace was there though unfortunately it has been reducing in heights by 4-5 meters a year. It is currently still 120 meters thick with a surface area of 40 km sq. Lots of numbers but what’s so great then?
Well, the holes we saw from the top are actually caves being drilled INTO the ice of the glacier and at the bottom of the 350 steps we got to walk into the ice-tunnel INSIDE the glacier. The 350 steps suddenly felt worthwhile. Soon we were walking in a tunnel dug inside the glacier. They are quite big and comfortable enough for a big groups of people to wander around in. All around us, sides and top are pure ice and had the floor not been laid with some form of rug to enable walking (otherwise it will be slippery), the floor would have been ice too.
We spent 10-15 minutes in the glacier (I still find it unbelievable writing this) and then it was the longggggg hike back up to the cable car - 350 steps (up) to be exact......
Fastforward. We took the Montevers Mer de Glace red train back to Chamonix and soon we found ourselves back at Chamonix. We then rushed to the Brevent Cable Car. The cable car we have been seeing from our hotel room. The kids really-really wanted to take it.
After a tiring hike to the cable car station where I had to carry my half-awake youngest boy on my back, we got there at 5.25 pm and the guy operating it made a hand-signal that it’s closed. After all the rush it was very disappointing. But then, the guy went to check something and we guessed it must be the time and he suddenly called us forward - alhamdulillah we got to go up.
We therefore ended up being the last party to take the cable car up on that day. The view from above was stunning and even though we only got to spend 10 minutes at the top before taking the cable car down, it was very satisfying trip overall.
From the station we took a slow stroll along the town centre and finally made it back to the hotel at about 8 pm after finding out that Filet O’ Fish at Mc Donald’s costs EUR6 in Chamonix (usually they cost about EUR2). An interesting thing was that along the way from the station to the town centre, we saw many beautiful houses; wooden, traditional houses that simply look stunning in the picturesque environment they are in.
Another nice day except that we still couldn’t find any halal food place there.
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