Mitzi made a little friend at the church in Annecy.

The whole family after church in Annecy.

Waiting for the Tour de France to come by.

Here comes the break-away.

Mitzi loves nutella, especially in crepes.

Everyone watching the world cup on TV outside a restaurant.
7-11-10 Sunday
We all made it to church today at the little branch in Annecy. Most of the places we’ve been to church, have missionaries and headsets and they translate the service for you. But they didn’t have that in Annecy, so we just had to sit through the service. The kids were very good though. After church we all went to see the Tour de France go by. The kids really liked the publicity caravan that goes in front of the Tour, but the tour its self goes by rather quickly and then it’s over. I think some of the people near us must have thought Brecken was nuts as she would scream when anyone would come by. With the whole family we didn’t go watch at a prime location on a climb, but just on a flat section. It was just after a feed zone though, so we got a couple of the mussette bags that a couple of the riders threw out. Later that night we all went to down town Annecy. The old town kind of comes alive at night with street performers, the river, the restaurants. It was especially lively in parts as the world cup was going on. In front of some of the restaurants they had large screen TV’s and lots of people were gathered around watching the match. They get pretty fanatical about their football (soccer) over here. I remember in Venice when Italy was playing, when Italy scored a goal you could hear shouting all over town. It’s all pretty neat.

Grandma in front of the Chateau in Menthon across from where we were staying near Lake Annecy.

A neat old picture of St. Bernard who was born at the chateau.

A neat view of the Chateau from the outside.

7-10-10 Saturday
Today everyone was pretty wiped out from out trip yesterday to Chamonix, but I don’t like to just sit around all day. My mom and I decided to go see the Chateau in Menthon. Come to find out, this is where St. Bernard was born and grew up before he went to what’s now known as the Grand St. Bernard pass and founded a hospice that searched for and cared for people making the journey over the alps that needed help. He used the dogs that also were named after him, the saint bernards. They take you on a tour, but the tour wasn’t in English. They did give you a brochure though that as you went around you could read about the history and some of the different rooms. The castle is still privately owned and has been for centuries. One of the more recent owners was extremely active in organizing the French resistance in the area during WW II. A very neat Chateau. We had a nice barbeque that night. Brad especially loves the white German sausages you can get in Europe.

Self picture with Mitzi.

The whole family on the Aiguille du Midi with Mont Blanc in the background.

The Aiguille du Midi has a needle looking tower that is on it's top with a viewing platform. You have to take an elevator ride up to the very top that goes right throught the middle of the mountain.

The tram and station that takes you to the Aiguille du Midi.

One of the cute restaurants in Chamonix.
7-9-10 Friday
Today we went on an excursion to Chamonix which is just barely over an hour’s drive away. I wanted to take the cable car up to the Aiguille du Midi which is extremely high up and has great views of Mont Blanc. A lot of mountain climbers take the cable car up before taking on the summit from there. You take one tram up about ½ way, then switch to the one that takes you up to the top. From a number of miles away from Chamonix you see what looks like needle sticking out of one of the high mountain peaks. That’s summit of the Aiguille du Midi that you see. It was interesting to see Alta stickers on the insides of both of the trams. Someone must have brought them from home and stuck them on the ceiling of the trams. The views from the top are incredible. You can take these smaller trams that only fit 4 people in them from the Aiguille du Midi down into Courmayer in Italy and then back, and I was planning on doing that, but we didn’t get there until later in the day and we didn’t have enough time. Grandma started not feeling good, and was having a very hard time walking up the steps. She said her heart was racing, and I was starting to get a little concerned, so we headed down the mountain quickly. We got a bite to eat in Chamonix, and then explored the town and the stores. There are some great views of the mountains and Mont Blanc from Chamonix, with a river running right through the middle of the town. Even in the middle of July the river was quite high and swift. I guess they get quite a bit off run off from the glaciers all year round.