We just came back from an amazing ski vacation in Chamonix France. This was a vacation of celebrations, my Dad and Uncle Ronnie’s 65th birthdays, Uncle Billy’s 64th birthday, cousin Karyn’s birthday, my birthday, meeting cousin Michael’s partner.
The vacation had a rocky start, as we were about to get off the plane, Baby threw up what looked like a week’s worth of food all over her seat, her clothes, hair, everything. This was our unfortunate way of finding out she has motion sickness. After the hour drive from Geneva airport to Chamonix, thankfully, this memory was quickly forgotten when we got to town.
We rented a two-bedroom apartment at the Le Majestic Congres. It was a beautiful, grand, old hotel that was converted into apartments. We booked through Chamonix All Year. Great company, great service. Nick, the owner, was very helpful when we had a mixup with the apartment address and Lianna pleasantly tended to all of my obnoxious American questions.
After settling in, we walked into the center of town to find a place to eat. It was a beautiful day so wanted to eat outside. My first meal, classic French bistro, Moule Frites with a couple glasses of wine.
The girls walked around town with their ice cream pops they got from our dinner.
Hello from Chamonix!
The town of Chamonix is fabulous.
There are lots of restaurants, shops (even a Chanel), and when you look up, you are surrounded by these gorgeous snow capped mountains.
The town is separated by a stream of water. The girls were convinced they would see fish in the water.
Within the first hour into our flight, Princess had a fever. She is like a delicate flower, the excitement of the trip and the stress of packing her choice of four things took a toll on her body. We got a tip from the management company to shop at the SuperU in town for groceries. It was where all of the locals shopped. Before heading home for our first night in Chamonix, we stopped to pick up some groceries and ingredients to make chicken soup. The chicken soup I made was so tasty. I think it’s because of the quality and freshness of the chicken meat.
We flew a day earlier then the rest of my family so we decided to do some site-seeing our first full day while we waited for everyone to arrive. We decided to take the train down to France’s largest glacier, Mer de Glace. As parents of a 2 and 5-year old, this was not a good activity choice because after the train ride, there was a short gondola, and then over 400 steps to the glacier. Baby wasn’t able to walk all these steps so she was on my Grouchy Husband’s shoulders. Princess was fine walking down, walking up was a totally different story. Did I mention it was a cold, rainy day and she was running a fever…she cried the entire over 400 steps up (I couldn’t blame her, I wanted to cry also and I didn’t have a fever). When we finally got back to the top, I let both girls pick out a lollipop from the gift shop and instantly the whole experience walking up the over 400 steps had disappeared.
At the center of the glacier is a man-made ice castle. Every year, this castle has to be reformed because of the movement from the glacier. The girls had just seen Frozen so they were hoping to see Queen Elsa in the castle.
After the long day to see the glacier, I just wanted to go home, dry off, relax, and cook dinner. I bought pork chops from the SuperU and with the almond meal I brought from home made pan-fried pork chops. Look at how yellow the egg yolks are…amazing!
A couple of things from our apartment that were a must-have when traveling with small children. (1) Washer/Drying Rack. As I mentioned, Baby threw up on the plane ride to Chamonix. She also threw up on the car ride to Megeve (more about this fun trip in my next blog post). I cannot begin to tell you how thankful I was to have a washer/drying rack. I even washed all of our clothes before leaving so I didn’t have to wash them when I got home.
(2) Heated towel rack. I’ve already told my Grouchy Husband that we will be getting one in the next bathroom we renovate. I hung the hand towel to have a warm towel after washing your hands. I hung my bath towel so I would have a warm towel after I took a shower. I hung the floor towel so I would have a warm towel when I got out of the shower. I hung my face towel so I would have a warm towel to dry my face. Obsessed with the heated towel rack. Can you tell?
Cousins! Cousin Karyn. My Jewish cousins, Sami and Michael. Sami’s husband, Mike. Michael’s partner, Sultan. Sami and Michael’s cousin David from Switzerland. Got it?
My mom and the girls waiting for the horse and carriage man in town to come and take us for a ride. We waited an hour and he never showed up.
Waiting for the bus. We took the bus to go to the different ski mountains. The bus rides were short and you could see a different mountain every day.
The first day of skiing we went to Brevant. I decided not to sign Princess up for ski school like I usually do. I was worried about finding an english-speaking instructor and we were on vacation, so we weren’t planning on skiing the full day anyways. She did a great job and started to parallel her skis.
This picture makes me look like a better snowboarder then I really am. I like that.
Taking pictures outside the restaurant we had lunch. I had warm wine for the first time here and it was surprisingly good. I drank wine at lunch every day. It was glorious. Look at the mountains. What an amazing view!
Our group of skiers and riders.
About to break for a snack at the base lodge of Flegere. Behind the net fence there were chairs and tables to relax in the sun and enjoy a snack.
It was a beautiful day. We ate french fries, drank beers and I had too much wine. Skiing after our snack was challenging.
After snack, we decided to take the scenic route down the mountain and take lots of pictures. One of the highlights for my Dad is skiing with Princess. It makes him so happy.
This was the view all day. Amazing.
The mountains were enormous. I thought the West Coast had great ski mountains. They were no comparison to the Alps.
ok, last picture!
Missing Chamonix,
The Dumpling Mama xo