The Mont Blanc Tramway - in summer (not my photo). There's still snow now!
Tragically, today of all days, our camera's memory card decided to die. So there's no pictures to accompany a pretty good sort of day. I'll do my best with a few words and some photos from the internet.
After 83 days of skiing, despite the glorious spring weather, we've decided to take the day off and do a "touristy" trip on the Mont Blanc Tramway. Leaving from Saint Gervais -Le Fayet, the tramway heads up into the mountains. Another French engineering feat, it climbs steeply (24% gradient) up to the Les Houches/ Saint Gervais ski area. The views of the St Gervais /Les Contamines valley to the west and Bionnassay Glacier and Chamonix valley were, as always, breathtakingly beautiful. Admittedly we had seen these views before while skiing at Les Houches earlier in the season, but we were pleased to see that the Les Contamines resort, where we are headed tomorrow, still looks to have good snow!
Coming from Australia, a flat land, dominated by beaches and deserts, the mountains of New Zealand were always something special for me. But now, having lived with the dramatic scenery of the European Alps for the last 5 months, I think I may have over played their beauty in the past to our european Te Wanaka guests. Especially for the French, Swiss, Italians and Austrians, our Southern Alps must actually seem quite "ho-hum". NZ's, wild weather and lack of infrastructure is also a double-edged sword. While the lack of "people pressure" and feeling of isolation is appealing to some, the inaccessibility of our mountains make them daunting and possibly, quite boring to the average person. Certainly there are no "telepheriques" and access to the high mountains in NZ is reserved for the seriously fit and skilled mountaineer or those with enough money to afford a helicopter. There are few "mountain-top" restaurants or places to stay of a european standard in our mountains.
I guess the reality is, that unless there is a huge shift in population, there will never be a european level of infrastructure in NZ. For such a tiny country, the NZ Department of Conservation and NZ Alpine Club does an amazing job maintaining all the tracks and huts we do have. Let's be thankful for that!
Dining with Bovines!
Returning to Araches in the evening, we joined Rick & Liz and their friends, Simon, Carol, and their grown children Jo & Andy for an interesting dining experience.
Jo has been staying with R&L for 4 weeks during the season. She's a delightful girl and gives Liz a helpful hand running the chalet during the busiest periods. We've skied with her and enjoyed meeting up with her again and getting to know her family.
Back to that "interesting dining experience"? Travelling to Samoens, about 20 minutes drive over the hill to the valley parallel with us, we arrived at a fully operational farm yard. The cows were still in their winter shed. Pigs, dogs, chickens were everywhere. The strong smell of silage and hay filled their air. Our shoes were quickly covered in mud, straw and cow poo, as we strolled through the shed making the acquaintance of all the cows, who, were soon to be our dining companions for the evening!
Tucked into the corner of the shed was a glass room. Set up inside were two long country tables laid with red gingham table clothes and baskets of bread. Every night of the week during the winter season, the hard working farmer's wife prepares a traditional Haute Savoyarde feast for her family and 15 other paying guests! Much of the ingredients are produced on the farm, sausages, cheeses, meats, and vegetables are all grown on the farm or sourced locally.
The fare is seriously hearty and the quantities ...well even Michael Phelps (the swimmer) may have had trouble finishing the servings of Tartiflette, Diot (Sausages) and Pottage (plate of meats). Add to this home made pate, basketloads of crusty bread, green salad and dessert and we were starting to have waistlines resembling the girls chewing their cuds outside.
Such a wonderful and unusual dining experience. We wondered if the cows outside in the shed appreciated the continuous comings and going? I imagine it would be excrutiatingly boring to be locked up in a shed for 5 months every year and some human entertainment each night might be quite fun for them. We wondered whether the farmer moved the cows around so that each had a turn at the window to watch the funny two legged creatures feeding? The bovine obsessed cartoonist, Larson, would have a field day with this dining venue.
What a shame our camera decided to malfunction - oh well C'est la vie!
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