Matthew, Oliver and I have had a great couple of days exploring Chamonix while Geoff has been getting ready for and participating in the "Etape de tour" from Albertville.

Yesterday we wandered through the Saturday morning market and bought some fresh strawberries and raspberries. There is an international rock climbing competition in Chamonix this week, so we stopped to watch some practice. We found a lovely play ground to play in and Geoff headed off to Albertville to register for his ride.

Matthew, Oliver and Ilana went back to the apartment via the boulangerie and bought some croissants for our lunch, to eat with our fresh berries. In the afternoon we discovered the leisure park where Matthew and Oliver drove motorcycles, use excavators to dig in the gravel and played pirates in the adventure play ground. When Geoff got back we went to a restaurant in the centre of Chamonix for dinner and sat outside enjoying the lovely evening weather.

This morning Geoff set off early to go on his ride (I have pasted a url to the ride profile at the end of this blog if anyone is interested) and Matthew, Oliver and I decided to go for a swim in the indoor pool in the complex here while the morning thunderstorms cleared. By the time we had finished the showers had cleared and we had another warm Sunny day in Chamonix.

We walked into the centre of Chamonix and bought croissants for lunch which we ate while waiting for "le petit train". This was a little red train which took us on a guided tour of Chamonix. It drove on the road, including the many pedestrian streets of Chamonix and the boys enjoyed the scenery. After the train we went back to the leisure park to play in the adventure playground and on the giant slide. Because all children under the age of 6 had to go on with an adult, I got to run up the hill twice as many times as the boys, as they took it in turns to go down.

http://www.letapedutour.com/ET1/img/commun/EDT12_ETAPE_Albertville_la_toussuire.pdf