The last couple of days we have been very active, with lots of walking at altitude.

Yesterday we wanted to go up to the top of the Aiguille du Midi but we were a bit slow to get to the bottom station and the queues were very long when we got there, so we decided to take the cog railway up to Montenvers to see the Mer de Glace (sea of ice) glacier. The train climbs to about 1800 m and the we walked down 380 steps to go inside an ice cave carved out of the glacier! Matthew and Oliver were amazed by the ice walls and the carving inside the tunnels and caves. Then we climbed back up the 380 steps, noting where the markers indicated how high the glacier had been in the past. The glacier is melting at an alarming rate. We ate lunch on the sunny terrace over looking the glacier and caught the train back down to Chamonix.

After we got off the train we decided to give the summer Luge a go. Matthew and Oliver loved going fast around the twisty track, and both preferred riding with Dad, because Mum used the brakes too much so wasn't as fast. That night we ate in a restaurant in Chamonix, and Matthew and Oliver continued to practice their French on unsuspecting passers-by.

Today we got up early and caught a bus to the other end of the valley near a town called Argentiere, where Geoff and I came skiing in about 1996. The Gite we stayed in is still there! We took 2 big gondolas up to the top of Les Grand Montets. The first gondola took us to 1972 meters above sea level and then the second gondola took us to 3300 meters. It was very windy and a bit cold up at the top station so we quickly took some photos and came back down to the mid station. From there we walked back up to over 2000 meters above sea level to a place where we could get a good view over the Argentiere glacier. After all that walking we had a hearty lunch at a little restaurant at the foot of the Grand Montets Gondolas which served local specialities. The owners were very friendly and spoke excellent English, which was lucky as my school girl French isn't really cutting it, especially when trying to decipher regional specialities on menus.

We caught the bus back to Chamonix and spent the rest of the afternoon swimming in the pool on our apartment complex. An early night tonight as we have a booking in the morning to go up to the Aiguille du Midi.