On to Switzerland

We had a "moderate" day ahead of us today so we had a moderately early start to the day. Off to the grocery store for snacks and then off to search for breakfast. Since restaurants don't even open for dinner until 7PM we found that they were still serving drinks, but no breakfast at 8:30 in the AM. We had to settle for a few pastries from the bakery. Our first few hours were uphill through the forest. Once we got to the village of Le Tour we were above the trees and the views back down the Chamonix Valley improved. We resisted the temptation to hop on the gondola (so don't believe Billie when she says that Tami & I took the easy way up) and continued to trudge up to Col de Balme. Actually, it wasn't too bad. Lots of switchbacks with a fairly easy grade and beautiful views (and a unicyclist) to distract us. After climbing 1010m we reached the top (which is also the French/Swiss border) and stopped for lunch and a nap. We had great views back to Mont Blanc, Chamonix and the entire valley. The next few hours were downhill to Trient. Still nice views, but nothing quite as impressive as the Mont Blanc massif. Lots of wildlife on this portion - cows with deafening decibel cowbells (the poor animals must be deaf from the constant noise), a flock of sheep being herded across a mountain top, a caterpillar, mountain bikers carrying their bikes, and hundreds of grasshoppers. We were in to the picturesque village of Trient shortly after 3. The last picture below is the view from our lodging. Another great day - 12 kms, 1010m up, 980m down, sunny skies, temps probably on the low 20s.