Sunday, June 25, 2023
First and foremost, we were all blown away by the French Alps. If you ever have a chance to go, DO IT! I’m an ocean girl, so the Alps weren’t even on my radar when planning this trip. But it was one of Doug’s “must-dos” and I am so glad. It’s everything they say it is. Beautiful. Majestic. And the air is so clear. It’s almost otherworldly. There’s a reason people have long associated mountains with God.
Our destination was Chamonix, France, for a two night stay. Given the terrain, getting from the sea to the Alps is quite a journey and, believe it or not, the fastest route was through Italy. So YES! Of course we took that route. It saved us nearly two hours of drive time, and allowed us to visit two more countries: Monaco and Italy!
Jump to:
1. Leaving the French Riviera
2. Monaco and Monte Carlo
3. Italy, Alps, and Pizza in Aosta Valley
4. The Unexpected and Expensive Mont Blanc Tunnel
5. The Alps in Chamonix Valley at Golden Hour
I will write more in another post about our full day in the Alps, riding to mountaintops and descending into glaciers, but this one travel day has enough in it for an entire post of its own.
Leaving the French Riviera
It was so hard to say good-bye to the Mediterranean, but after two weeks on the road, I was finally starting to feel homesick. Leaving Villefranche felt like the first leg of a long journey home, and we missed our dog, our family, and American breakfasts. (Doug and Jacquelyn were especially looking forward to American-sized coffees!!!)
If you’ve read our previous posts, you’ll remember that the roads in Nice and Villefranche were so tight, Doug parked the car on Thursday and refused to drive it again until we left for Chamonix on Sunday. I included a photo and video so you can see for yourself. It was the perfect morning for a drive.
Monaco & Monte Carlo
Monaco was only about a 30 minute drive from our Airbnb. We decided to stop off at the Casino de Monte-Carlo because when else would we have the chance?!
None of us love gambling, but we were actually kind of excited to go throw some money away on the slot machines for my mom. She loves to play and we wanted to send her photos of our adventure. But alas, it was not to be. Gaming at Monte Carlo doesn’t open until 2:00 p.m. As it was 11:30 a.m. and we had a long day ahead, we couldn’t wait. From 10:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. they do allow people to walk the floor without gambling but it cost €18 per person!!! So we settled for peeking in the room, walking around the lobby, and buying silly souvenirs at the gift shop.
We made a quick and somewhat complicated stop at Starbucks (parking in Europe, am I right?!) mostly to get one of their Monaco mugs, and use the rest room. Then we were off for a day of driving across the Italian countryside.
Italy, Alps & Pizza in Aosta Valley
Once in Italy, there was no shortage of vineyards. Literally vineyards everywhere and anywhere. I was super excited when I started seeing the tall skinny Italian Cypress trees that I recognized from famous artwork, specifically Van Gogh. It was like watching art come to life. What a gift.
We even got to see a helicopter putting out a wildfire with a bambi bucket. This was pretty cool because Doug, who’s worked for a helicopter company most of his life, has talked about these things a lot and I finally got to see one in action!
Our first stretch of highway through Italy was tunnel after tunnel after tunnel. No need to go over hills and mountains apparently. They just bore right through them all. We had no idea how God was preparing us for what was to come.
Stopping for gas in Italy was yet another adventure. Like New Jersey, they insisted on pumping the gas for us. The people parked next to us had a van that was made in Russia!!! They seemed delighted that we were so crazy about it, and they gladly let us take a picture.
I loved seeing the different kinds of food for sale at the rest stop, in particular cases brimming with ready-to-eat Italian meats and cheeses. Very different from an American rest stop.
Later in the day, our route brought us alongside the Italian Alps which, juxtaposed with the plains before them, formed a stunning backdrop.
Eventually, we started to get desperate for some real food. We had tried stopping in a little Italian seaside town but as it was a beautiful Sunday afternoon, parking was utterly hopeless. Finally, around 6:30 p.m., we stopped in the town of Aosta. We found a little pizza shop with gluten free pizza. I couldn’t eat the pizza because it contained corn, so I wandered to a funky little general store that sold a little of everything and a lot of nothing lol. BUT I did managed to cobble together a dinner of cheese, olives, and, you guessed it, Gariguette strawberries!!!
One of the most difficult things about road trips is not having time to explore every place you stop! Aosta is a great little bilingual town on the border of Italy and France, with lots of history, but we didn’t have time to linger. As soon as the pizza was ready, we piled in the car and headed off again. Everyone seemed to enjoy it; nothing earth-shattering, but living in Northeast USA, we already get to eat some pretty great pizza.
Mont Blanc Tunnel
As we got closer to the border of France, I noticed something strange on the GPS. At first I didn’t believe it. I said nothing aloud because I thought, Surely, this is a mistake. Surely, I must be reading the map wrong. Why does it look like the highway just disappears under the mountain? I kept the uncertainty to myself for as long as I could. Why incite panic in everyone else? I will find a solution! There must be another way!
There was no other way.
After much scouring, searching, and googling, I confirmed my worst fears. Then with much dread, and as much calm as I could muster, I said to everyone in the car, “I think we have to drive through a tunnel under the alps to get into France.”
It would be an exaggeration to say pandemonium ensued. It was more like a pall fell over the car. Like we could already feel the weight of the 15,766′ mountain over our heads. Then Christina said quietly from the back seat, “Yeah. I saw that a while ago but didn’t say anything because I didn’t want to stress anyone out.” And rightly so. Why worry about what we couldn’t change.
Yes, there is another route, sans tunnel, back into France but that required driving several hours out of the way. So we resigned ourselves to our fate and girded our loins for the seven mile tunnel – you read that right – SEVEN MILE tunnel carved under a nearly 16 THOUSAND FOOT mountain.
We stopped at the rest area at the tunnel entrance to enjoy our last moments on Italian soil. It’s wild how dark it was. The sun had already fallen behind the mountains, but on the other side of the tunnel, in Chamonix Valley, the sun was still shining, as we would soon see.
Now, while one might think Italy and France should offer concessions to commuters for the nightmare of driving under a mountain, they charge for it instead. How much? €52.30!!!!!! (That was in 2023. It costs more now!)
I think the tunnel was the quietest, most tense part of our road trip. Everyone’s head was so filled with what-ifs and how-much-longers that no one wanted to speak. It was like we were collectively holding our breath. At some point, someone mentioned the silence and broke the tension. Then we put on worship music to distract us from the giant mountain over our heads.
And that is my excuse for why we have precisely ZERO photos or videos from inside Mont Blanc Tunnel!!! I am totally serious. Not a single one of us took a photo or video. Maybe I tried but was so nervous I never actually hit the record button. HAHAHAHA! I don’t know. But I have included a YouTube video and someone else’s photo below so you can see it for yourself!
One good thing I can say about the tunnel is that it is quite tall and wide, much more so than the average tunnel, so that while still claustrophobia inducing, it was not as confining as anticipated. Thankfully, we were driving at a time of day with low traffic and no delays. In all, it took us about 15 minutes to get through the tunnel. 15 MINUTES. IN A TUNNEL. UNDER A MOUNTAIN. Two years later, and I still can’t believe it.
All that said, our reward for conquering this marvel of human engineering was great: We drove straight into Chamonix Valley at golden hour!!!!
The French Alps in Chamonix Valley
Why try to describe it when I have pictures:
We arrived at our Airbnb in Les Houches around 9 p.m., with plenty of time to watch the ever-changing sun-gilded landscape and sky. Once again, this house was an amazing find!
The only drawback was the lack of both AC and window screens. Living without AC would be fine if one felt one could leave the windows open. But, while they don’t get many mosquitos in the Alps, they do have an alarming number of bats – which we had taken to calling “day bats” because they are out all day. But those bats are even more active at dusk and at night, and they are entirely too comfortable flying right in one’s face. So leaving the windows open was NOT an option. Other than that, the place was wonderful.
We went straight to bed without any stops for food or the grocery store, as it was rather late on a Sunday night. Most places were closed and we were tired. Also, Doug and Christina had BIG PLANS the next morning!!!
Next up: Two of us go to the top of Aiguille du Midi!!!! Aerial cable cars! Trains! Glaciers! And a marvelous alpine meal at a family owned restaurant in the woods.
Lightning Bug 
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