Once again, we decided to take a Vermont Bicycle Tour (VBT) and this one is along the border between France and Switzerland ranging from Geneva, Switzerland to Lyon, France. It’s rated easy as we are supposed to be riding in the valley between the Alps. We also elect to take a pre-trip which includes a couple of days in Chamonix, France.

So we are up early on June 8 for our flight to Geneva, Switzerland with a dreaded layover in Newark. With nothing but dry and hot weather for the past few weeks, today we have rain and lots of it. So much so that our flight is delayed an hour getting to Newark. Over the years, we’ve spent several nights in Newark due to missed connections and feared this was going to happen once again. But we arrived in Newark with 50 minutes to spare and arrived at our departure gate just in time to be among the last people to board the plane. And, big sigh of relief, our luggage made it too.

it’s bee a stresssful week getting ready for the bike trip. Just a lot going on plus hot and windy weather that made bike riding not much fun. We took our final training ride on Thursday before our Monday flight. It was hot and we only rode 17 miles before the tank just got empty. After we were back home awhile, Ross gets so dizzy he has to lie down. We push the Gator Aide and water and he has a small meal but four hours later he is still so dizzy he crawls to the bathroom. So we go to the hospital. At this point it’s 9 pm and that’s our only recourse. He has a chest x/ray and EKG but the doctor’s initial diagnosis is that his electrolytes “are all messed up,” They do discover that he has a touch of pneumonia so after an IV which cures the dizziness and a script for an antibiotic, we get home at 2 am. For the next few days we work on hydration. I get to worry about it too because my kidneys don’t function so good anymore. So bottles of water in hand, we leave for Switzerland.

We arrive in Geneva early, around 7 am local time. Did have a bountiful breakfast on the plane but my stomach wonders why we were eating at midnight.

Anyway, the airport is very quiet and getting through is uneventful and we meet our driver who is taking us to Chamonix. I should note that there are four of us; we are joined on this trip by our daughter and son in-law, Emily and Jim. We are informed the trip takes about an hour and it is overcast and cloudy out today. Our driver keeps up a pretty steady rate of 140 kph and the general practice seems to be to follow cars by three feet regardless of speed. And the road is busy. It all works out pretty smoothly but I’m reminded of Jon Krakauer’s book Eiger Dreams where he talks about French climbers and how a friend “is at that age when the pituitary secretes an overabundance of those hormones that mask the subtler emotions, such as fear. He tends to confuse things like life-or-death climbing with fun.”

A bad photo of clouds, mountains, and a waterfall along the way.

We arrive at our hotel, the Les Aiglons, which we learn means “eagles,” and we’re pretty wasted, and surprised that one of our rooms is available since it’s only 9:30 in the morning. We cram two of us in each twin bed and snooze until about noon. Then we leave the hotel in search of food.

We cross the Arve River which rushes busily through town carrying its snowmelt, It’s 62 miles long, and eventually flows into the Rhône River near Geneva.

One of the first things we notice along the street is this mural representing former mountain guides looking up toward their shared.fascination of Mont Blanc. Twenty of the most celebrated guides and mountaineers are represented in the mural.

We soon stop at a pizzeria for lunch. The pizzas were supposed to serve one person plus imagine my surprise when the pizza I ordered turned out to be a giant calzone.

Chamonix is a town full of sporting goods stores especially for skiing and mountaineering but we also managed to check out a patisserie. We didn’t purchase anything yet though.

Venturing on, we see the statue commemorating the first ascent of Mont Blanc in 1786. Unfortunately, the statue only shows one of the first people to ascend the mountain, Jacques Balmat, who is pointing toward the peak along with their financier.

A statue for the other climber and apparently the first to reach the top, Dr. Michel Paccard, was erected about a block away several years later. Politics, I suppose.

Stopping to watch a very short train – three cars – go by.

Dinner is at the Cafe La Potinière.

We learned not to order an item called Croziflette. Three of us thought the cheese was much too strong.

The fourth one of us was busy chowing down on her onion soup and Caesar salad.

We were able to get the crepe craving satisfied with dessert.

Will end this food tour with a street view walking back to the hotel. Tomorrow we go on the L’Alguille du Midi and we’re really hoping for a break in this cloudy weather.