And At Once I Knew I Was Not Magnificent

So it's my spring break and I am spending it in Thonon les Bains, France with my housemate, Marie.  Her parents are French and are living in France for a while, so I am spending break at her house.  We flew into Geneva Friday morning, and the view of the alps was absolutely stunning.  It did not look real. Thonon is 45 minutes from Geneva, and located smack in the middle of Lake Geneva, with the Swiss Alps to the left and the French Alps to the right.

Saturday, we went to Mount Blanc, the highest mountain in Europe.  It was an hour away from Thonon, and the view on the way to the mountain was absolutely stunning.

a picture I took from the car 

When we got to Mount Blanc, we walked around the city, Chamonix, and found an outdoor market, filled with clothes, jewelry, shoes, and food, especially the cheese.  Before coming to Europe, I liked cheese to an extent, but rarely ate it.  But the cheese in France, oh my the cheese. 

only one of the many, many cheese stands 

We wandered around the market, and then decided to get lunch.  We ate outside at one of the many restaurants since it was so sunny and warm.  Since skiing is an option at any of the many mountains surrounding Mount Blanc, there were people in all their ski wear and then there were other people like us, in shorts and tee shirts.  It was spring skiing at is finest. For lunch, I got French Onion Soup, a choice I deemed appropriate.  

In Chamonix with Mount Blanc behind me 

After lunch, we took a train that took us up to see the glacier that runs in between Mount Blanc.  We were going to such a high altitude the train took 20 minutes.  When we got up there, the view was absolutely spectacular. While we weren't quite on Mount Blanc, the view was still amazing.  In fact, we were only half way to the peak of Mount Blanc. 

By the Glacier 

After we got back from traversing up the mountain, we got a delicacy I like to call Nutella Icecream. Gods gift to the world. 

It was an amazing, unforgettable day. 

Keep Calm and Eat Lots of Cheese

ps. If your curious about the title of this post, its from the song Holocene by Bon Iver. I highly suggest you take a listen.