Friday, August 5, 2016

Day 12: Heading to France, Chamonix to be exact.

September 5th, 2015

After spending a delightful day and a half relaxing by the pool at the old country house, we decided to take a little unexpected road trip!  We figured that we had spent 10 days in Italy, and it was pretty much a perfect opportunity to add France and Switzerland to our destination list!

The backyard view of the Monferrato country house was absolutely unbelievable.  I almost felt fake, but we loved just hanging out up there and it made a perfect backdrop for pictures.

The house was approximately 200 years old!
The Northern Italy, in the foothills of the Alps.  The scenery and the architecture changes really dramatically.  Going from the warm climates of Florence and Vernazza to the Italian Alps, we couldn't help but notice how the houses had a more mountain-type design, but still retained that instantly-recognizable Italian look.
After driving through a 7-mile tunnel under Mont Blanc(!), we emerged in the small, but bustling and trendy ski-town of Chamonix, France.  It was so crazy to just hop in the car for a little bit, and end up in a totally different country where the language, architecture, and cuisine is different.  But it was so fun!  The Chamonix visit wasn't planned ahead of time, but it was much colder up there than it was under the baking sun of Florence and Venice, so we made due with what we could to keep warm with our rain jackets and light sweaters.  The town is gorgeous.  I hope we can go back someday!
Mt. Macaroon.

Love the French style.  So fascinating how distinct the architecture is in these different places.



Everybody, say "Freezing!"



We loved Chamonix!  We had a delightful dinner at an American, yes, American gourmet bakery-type place, the Bighorn Bistro, and it was pretty fun for all of us to enjoy some delicious, familiar comfort food after two weeks in a foreign country.  But mostly, it was just really great food!  We didn't have a chance to ride any of the lifts to the tops of the mountains, but it was kind of a cloudy day, so I don't think there would've been any visibility, plus, would've been tough with the kids.  Next time, Chamonix!  We'll be back!

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