I should have got up earlier! I have been wanting to visit Mont Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe for several weeks, but I had not realised how long it would take me to get there! I caught a train from Zurich main station at 10:32, changed in Lausanne and then again in Martigny onto the “Mont Blanc Express”. I think “Express” is a bit of a joke because it travels less than 20MPH most of the time. I had to cross into France, and so had to buy a ticket for this portion of the journey. When we got to the border, the train stopped and everyone had to get out. I assumed it was just a border check, but soon realised that the train was not going any further. Apparently there were some track repairs further up the line. We all got onto a coach for the final part of the journey to Chamonix. Finally arrived there at 16:07!
I quickly went in search of cable cars, but when I found one it was very expensive and actualy did not go any higher than the ones I went on in Zermatt a while ago. Mont Blanc itself is not accessible by cable car – only the foot hills. So I decided not to bother. I had a meal and browsed round the shops (all prices in Euro) and then caught the coach back at 17:42.
The scenery was breathtaking again. At one stage on the train we were travelling high up the side of a huge gorge – must have been 300 feet deep or so. It had a stream at the bottom and pine trees, and they looked like toys from where we were.
The return journey was a reversal of the outgoing one, except that the train from Lausanne to Zurich went a different (longer) route. I finally got back to the apartment at 23:15! A very long day.