She was able to get us beds in the dorm for Saturday, and they will let us leave our extra stuff in lockers while we do our Camonix to Zermatt hike. We will pay only 2 euros to store ous stuff for about 2 weeks - a bargain.
Eva and MaryAnn had gone back to town in mid-afternoon and Jack and Jim came back to the apartment about 5:30 so Shari and I left to meet Eva and MaryAnn. We have just one set of keys, so we need to be sure someone will either be in the apartment or we set up a meeting place.
I didn't want to do anything in town, so I left the other three and walked to the grocery store and then home. On the way to the store I fell in the street and got some big bruises on my leg. Of course I felt like a jerk because I fell down really hard and everyone turned and looked at me as I was sprawled out on ther sidewalk. Luckily I didn't break anything.
I got up quickly and went off to the store and then back to the apartment. We all just stayed in for the evening and cooked our own dinners. We decided to go out for dinner tomorrow night as a final night celebration.
8/29: What a wild weather night! Loud, long rumbles of thunder, flashes of lightning and pouring rain. I had to come in off the porch and sleet on the living room floor. It was so nice to listen to the rain. It was very overcast when we got up about 7:30, with lots of mist and fog on the mountains, and it started raining again about 9AM.
We have been so lucky with the weather, and it is supposed to clear up this afternoon. If so, we may do a short hike. I've really enjoyed sleeping on the floor of the porch (just like at home, except I don't have this view out my porch windows). This has been prime time to see the planet Mars at night and I see it whenever I wake up and look in the sky. It is yellowish in clor and much bigger than any of the stars in the sky.
It ended up raining most of the day so we hung around the apartment and then went into town to mail postards and shop. Then we all went out to eat at the restaurant across the street. After dinner, we toasted to a successful week with the champagne that Jim bought.
8/30: We were all up early and we packed up our stuff and then Shari and I walked up to drop our big packs at the hostel at 8AM. We then went back to the apartment and all of us got the 8:50 bus to Chamonix Center. We dropped the linens and keys to the apartment at the Interhome office, and they let Eva, MaryAnn, Jack and Jim leave their luggage at the office until it was time to go to the train station.
We all just wandered around town for a couple of hours. They have a big market on Saturday mornings in the center of town, with vegetables, fruits, meats, cheeses, crafts, flowers, pottery, etc., which was fun to walk through, and then we went for coffee.
It was raining, so we didn't want to walk outside too much., and we finally picked up the luggage and went to wait at the train station about 11:15AM. Shari and I waited with the other 4 until they left on the 12:20 train. They were going back to Geneva to spend the night in the hostel we stayed in when they first arrived. Then they are all flying home on Sunday.
After they left, Shari and I went to use the internet, got some lunch and went to the grocery store. Then we walked to the hostel and got there about 5:30.
We took showers, did laundry, organized gear - deciding what we are leaving in storage at the hostel and what we are taking in our big packs. My pack feels awfully heavy, even though I don't have a tent, sleeping bag or sleeping pad. It will get lighter as we go along though, because I have a lot of food to start out.
CHAMONIX TO
ZERMATT HIKE
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