Written 6/23
June 22 (Part III):
I ended up getting to St. Gervais around 10:30pm. Needless to say, there were no connecting trains. It was late and I was substantially panicked (on the inside of course, can't be in some odd place late at night all in a tizzy). I went to the first open bar/restaurant and asked them to call me a taxi. I had no idea how far Argetiére was from this train station. Turns out it is $90 far. I am still not completely over that stab to my budget but it was the only option at the time and I made it to the chalet safely and everything worked out in an acceptable manner.
June 23:
The chalet is so cute. It reminds me of the timeshares the family used to get in the Poconos except that it has a more personal feel with all of its little country decorations. The owner is British I believe, and the girl who runs it with him is an ex-Texan. They are very nice which also adds to the homey feel. The only draw back is there is no breakfast. So I this morning I made my way into town to find a petit-dejourner (breakfast) before my hike. No luck. I was starved by the time I finally settled into the chalet the last night so I woke up famished. I hit the first bakery I saw to get a snack just so that I wouldn't end up getting a cheeseburger for breakfast. I bought a brioche. It was a fluffy piece of buttery baked yum and it tasted very familiar. For my actual breakfast, I end up buying some groceries (a couple pieces of fruit, yogurt, a baguette, some jelly, and pineapple juice). I also bought a box of these delish meringue cookies and a sandwich for hiking snacks.
When I finished my petit-dejourner, I ventured out into the mighty Alps. I spoke to the lady at my favorite office (that would be the office of tourism) and I decided to attempt an ascent to Lac Blanc. It was no joke. It was incredibly difficult and tiring and at numerous points I wondered if I had bitten off more than I could chew for my first hike. Yes, I surely had. Nevermind that I chose the Alps for my first hike, I also had to choose an aggressive route. Despite my mental and physical conflicts during the adventure, I eventually made it to the lake...well it turns out that it was not the lake. I had been so excited to reach this lake and it had taken so long (I believe about four hours) and Lac Blanc was still quite far away and quite high up. I decided to call it a success and enjoyed some lunch and snacks at "The Invisible Lake."
Since I worked so hard getting up the mountain, I wanted to take the ski lift down. So I hiked another hour or so to the lift...It was closed. I had missed the last lift by an hour...Hike down the mountain? Really the only option. Two hours later I reached Chamonix. Cute little town but it was getting late so rather than explore, I wanted to make sure that I could get back to Argentiére. I read on the Chamonix website that a night bus runs to Argentiére...apparently that is not true in the summer off season. The train? IDK how my luck was so bad but I literally reached the platform to see the last train to Argentiére pull off. At this point I had completely had it. After a brief breakdown, I decided that I would just walk back. I had climbed the Alps another hour or two along a relatively flat street would be fine. I bought some ice cream to cheer myself up.
It was fine at first and I was making good time, but as the sun started to set, I began to question my original decision more and more. By the grace of God, I made it back to Argentiére along with the last hint of twilight. I stopped by the local bar (with everybody from the chalet it seemed) and had a dinner of frites and a salad before I finally called it a day.
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