CHAMONIX, FRANCE

                            Famous for its Mountain

      Established in the11th century by Benedictine monks, Chamonix is situated in the north-westerly part of the Alps, just 15 km from the Swiss border via the Col des Montets and 15 km from Italy via the Mont-Blanc tunnel. The natural border, where these three countries converge, lies at 4138-feet on the summit Mont Dolent.

French Alps

      Chamonix, with a population of 10,000, and its valley are dominated by the Mont Blanc chain to the south and the Aiguilles Rouges (red peaks) to the north.  The community of Chamonix-Mont-Blanc includes 16 villages and hamlets. One of the oldest ski resorts in France, during the winter season the population swells by an additional 80,000 people! The first winter Olympics were held in Chamonix in 1924, and now the area receives 5 million visitors a year.                                                     

      The Arve, the main river of the upper Savoy, starts at the Col de Balme and flows a 107 km through the Chamonix valley on down to Geneva where it joins the Rhône.      

      The glacial valley measures 17 km, from the northern most point at Col des Montets to the Taconnaz torrent. The town center is at an altitude of 1121-feet; the highest village at the top of the valley is Le Tour at 1585-feet.

       It was a 2-hour drive from Cogne, Italy to Chamonix. We stopped in Courmayeur, Italy for a gelato break before entering the 11-mile long tunnel connecting the city to Chamonix (3500’). Because of previous fatal accidents now all vehicles are checked for temperature before entering the tunnel. There is an escape route about every kilometer throughout the tunnel. The toll tunnel saves drivers 160 km if one had to drive around. 

Top of Mont Blanc

       On arrival it was unusually clear and sunny so we all agreed we’d visit Mont Blanc immediately after lunch rather than taking weather chances the next couple of days. It was an excellent choice. The weather was not bad the next couple of days but was intermittently more cloudy.     

      Mont Blanc, the highest European mountain west of Russia, holds a special allure for climbers. Chamonix is famous for its spectacular cable car up to the Aiguille du Midi (12,605’). Constructed in 1955, it was then the highest cable car in the world.

Receding glacier from hotel balcony

      The growth of tourism in the early 19th century led to the formation in 1821 of the Compagnie des Guides de Chamonix to regulate access to the mountain slopes. This association held a monopoly of guiding from the town until it was broken by the French government in 1892; thereafter guides were required to hold a diploma issued by a commission dominated by civil servants and members of the French Alpine Club rather than just being local residents.        

      Two famous statues are in the centre of Chamonix. One commemorates Horace Bendicte de Saussure who, in 1760, offered a substantial cash prize to the first person to reach the summit of Mont Blanc, but the prize was not  claimed until 26 years later by Jaques Balmat. The other statue is of Dr Gabriel Michel Paccard, Jacques Balmat's partner on that historic ascent. 

       In winter months the area gets only 3-4 hours of sunshine a day. The glacier which we saw so well from our room balcony originally reached the city.  It has receded over 2 K in the past ten years. Of the original 107 glaciers in Europe, 93 remain and in 60 years it is predicted that only two will remain! A scary thought indeed!

MEMORABLE BIRTHDAY LUNCHEONS

                    Broughton Castle

      I visited several castles, a couple really memorable ones, before I ever had lunch in one. I’ve also eaten in a several castles since that first one but two are memorable birthday lunches.

      It was after a hoof and mouth disease outbreak that I found myself in England on my birthday. Because we were a small group of 6-7—as many others had canceled the trip—we had a lot of latitude regarding time and venues. It was a complete surprise that we would be at Broughton Castle on that special day.

     A wide 6-foot deep moat surrounded the stately 1300s castle. (Many castle moats have been filled in and grassed over.) We arrived late morning—just in time for lunch. We were served a typical ploughman’s’ lunch, which was a first for me. Traditionally such a lunch consisted of cheese and hard bread. The drink was most probably ale. The ploughmen would take their lunch to the fields, just like the miners took theirs into the mine. Today restaurants add a small green salad and sliced tomato to such a lunch and in parts of England it is a popular lunch item. Tea and cake followed our lunch.

      The large castle has oversized rooms and I particularly remember 6-foot long logs ready for the immense fireplace. Many movies have been filmed at the castle, especially in its lovely interior rooms. The gardens here are large manicured Victorian ones.

                  Caffe Nazionale 

      Fast forward 12 years, after more castles, palaces and lunches, when at 81 I found myself hiking the Alps in Italy. We spent the morning touring the massive Roman ruins in Aosta, Italy. The local docent finished the two and half hour tour at lunch time.

      With a little research beforehand I figured we’d be in Aosta (the a is silent  and the o long) on my birthday. I read about the Caffe Nazionale having been in service since 1886. It was a long ago private sanctuary with a chapel for the Dukes of Savoy. We had no problem finding the Caffe inside the Roman gate and located on the large main square.

     We passed on the sidewalk café and opted to eat in the 10-vaulted chapel, each with a lovely fresco. English is a bit scarce in this part of the world, but our pleasant waiter spoke enough to answer our questions, help with the menu and make some conversation. My daughter and I each ordered a salad; hers was a side salad, but remembering how salads often come in Europe I ordered a mixed salad. My eyes got big when I saw the size of my salad that could have been a whole meal in itself! I managed to eat half of it. My daughter ordered roast beef which was thinly sliced, cold and spread on the plate under frilly greens and thin slices of cheese. Potatoes were served on the side. I’m not big on cold beef, so I ordered lasagna which was excellent, and again the serving was large. By the time we finished our meal, neither of us had any room for dessert. The service was good, the food excellent to say nothing of the ambience. What a treat!

     We could have lollygagged over coffee, but the restaurant was busy and we wanted the waiter to be able to turn our table plus we still had lots more to see.

     That evening the lights dimmed after dinner at our Cogne, Italy hotel and in came the waitress with a lovely birthday cake while everyone sang Happy Birthday.  It truly had been a great day for a little old lady who doesn’t know enough to stay home in her rocking chair and watch the grass grow!

                       

NORWAY

Lovely Country

       At the Hanseatic Museum we picked up a guided tour in English. Our timing was perfect! The museum is situated in one of the old trade houses at Bergen. The museum has old interiors from the 18th and 19th centuries.  In 1360 German merchants set up import/export offices in Bergen and dominated the trade for 400 years.

       The Hanseatic merchants traded mainly stock fish from Northern Norway and grain from Baltic countries. Only German merchants were allowed to live at Bergen during the period of the Hanseatic Office.  Hanseatics were unmarried and had to live in celibacy as long as they lived in the area. The tenements in the Bergen area each consisted of several smaller trade houses, each run by a merchant with a journeyman and apprentices. Neither light nor heating was allowed in the tenements because of the danger for fire. Behind each tenement there was an assembly hall, called schotstue, belonging to all the merchants of one or more tenements. The assembly halls could be heated, and in connection with these halls there were also a kitchen as well as storage room for food.

       A fire in 1702 reduced the city to ashes, but it was quickly rebuilt on the foundations that had been in place since the 11^th century. The museum is one of the best preserved buildings in the city and is furnished in the style of the 1700s.

      Hanseatic apprentices were teenage boys. They slept two to a bunk, head to toe, in narrow single beds in enclosed cabinets. They actually were locked in at night so there was no monkey business.  Punishment was severe for infractions of the rules. No smoking was allowed because of the real danger of fire.

     The League was created to protect economic interests and diplomatic privileges in cities and countries along the trade routes the merchants visited. The Hanseatic cities had their own legal system and furnished their own armies for mutual protection and aid. Despite this, the organization was not a city-state, nor can it be called a confederation of city-states; only a very small number of the cities within the league enjoyed autonomy.

     It was an interesting visit on a drizzly day and enlightened me to a society I had no idea ever existed.

           

    If you ask people what they associate with Norwegian history and culture, their answers will vary. Some will say the Vikings sailed to foreign parts to pillage and wage war, although the Vikings were in fact also merchants who founded kingdoms on foreign soil and brought back new impulses to Scandinavia. Others will point to internationally famous authors, composers, actors and painters. Others may mention attractions like Vigeland's sculpture park, Holmenkollen and the stave churches or the expeditions of Thor Heyerdahl, Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen. Maybe someone will mention smoked salmon, lutefish, reindeer meat, shrimps or cloudberries.  

    One thing is certain, Norway is more than untouched nature. The country, rich in history, is poor in large historic monuments. Nature has formed the Norwegian character and given it a kind of durability that has formed the Norwegian national identity. Thanks to the country's rich natural resources, Norway has long been an industrial nation. There is special pride in being one of the first countries to eradicate illiteracy!          

   My take away of  Norway include  its many smokers, restaurants not service oriented, AMs are misty but clear by mid morning, expensive, many fountains in parks, few hi-rise buildings, chestnut trees,  narrow streets, public restrooms frequent, clean and free, and courteous drivers   giving pedestrians a break!

    And the scenery is spectacular!

A STEP BACK IN TIME

                                     A Different Way of Life

      It was a scenic ride to the town Broek op Langedijk, the Netherlands, established in 1063.  The area was swampy and after building a 4-mile dike people settled along it. Originally there were 37 islands and after digging and dikes, started in 1100, the number of islands climbed to 1500.   Originally the area covered 50 square kilometers. The canals are used for transportation by punt---flat bottom boats.  
     In the 17^th century pig farming gave way to vegetable farming. The soil is very rich and there is no need for fertilizer. The area is noted for its vegetable farming, primarily root vegetables plus cabbage. A huge amount of cabbage is grown here which used to be stored in cabbage attics. Most houses  had hoists on the side of the house to lift the cabbages up for storage.
      Because of water plants the canals need to be dredged every three years. If they are not, it’s not long before the plants close the canal and two islands will join each other to form a larger island. The canals are one-meter deep, and the lake is seven-meters deep in the center. All the islands are named.
      Auctions started in 1887 when the auctioneer stood on a wooden platform and vegetables were sold from small boats. In 1903 a clock was added and the auction building built.  The last auction  was in 1973; then all of the area plus buildings was turned into Broeker Veiling Museum.
     Built over the water, the impressive mooring halls, with 1,900 wooden posts to support the imposing wooden structure, is a national monument. The boat hall was covered in 1922. It was massive with wide sturdy walkways throughout. Moving from one part of the museum to another we stopped in the boat hall to see how the boats were constructed.
      Made of oak, they were  painted with tar containing crushed shells making the decks less slippery.
      Following a museum tour, we enjoyed a boat trip to the interesting Realm of the Thousand Islands where we were introduced to a fascinating area in the province of North Holland. Many of the islands are owned by the state for a nature reserve. Over 2500 people live in the Realm. While on the boat we noted the definite aroma of potato chips and learned the stack belching smoke was a Lay’s factory. They sure smelled good!
      We had an intimate lesson on Dutch trading in the 1912 historic auction room. It was fun to experience and witness the excitement of a traditional auction. The auction room was very light with large windows and a roof sky light. This was the oldest water vegetable auction in the world. I wonder where there might have been other ones.
      It was an interesting afternoon learning about another way of life.

THE ITALIAN ALPS

                                          THE ITALIAN ALPS

            The alpine village of Cogne, Italy is nestled in the Italian Alps at the edge of Gran Paridiso National Park. Cogne is a delightful little village of 1500 people. There are 32 small family-owned hotels with 28-38 rooms .The village first found prosperity seven centuries ago with magnetite (iron ore) mining, an industry that once supported more than 20,000 Valdostans in the valley below.

            After the closing of the mine, the village nearly became a ghost town until it started attracting visitors and capitalizing on skiing, hiking and other outdoor sports. The village has strict building codes. There is a moratorium on building anything more in the park. Eighty percent of the village and its buildings are owned by local residents. The local dialect is called patois, which is a derivative of French.

            The name Cogne comes from the word "coin" (corner) because of its shape. One of the largest municipalities in the Valle, it is located in the southern part of the region. The town, surrounded by pine, larch and fir forests, is framed by mountains in the background. Rocks and glaciers are colored by rhododendron, juniper, blueberries and alders. The diverse fauna is protected by the Park.

            There are over 80 kilometers of cross country ski trails and 9 kilometers of Alpine ski tracks. Rock climbing is a popular sport and fully equipped area shelters are available. In winter, Cogne is the best spot in the Valle  for cross-country skiing, and was in the running to host the event for the Turin 2006 Winter Olympics. In summer, it is a gateway to the Gran Paradiso for thousands of hikers and climbers.  

            They still make exquisite hand made lace in the village.  Rather unusual wood carvings are available also. The entire village is cobbled with 3-4” square grey granite cobble stones that are easy to walk on. The village is up a few feet from the level of the river, so it was always a walk down to the big parking lot that served as a bus stop. Early each day we took a local bus to our hike starting location---and often walked back to town for lunch.

            Lillaz (5304’) was a hamlet where we started walking through a nice park stopping periodically for a geology lesson.   We followed the Urtier River through wooded areas that eventually led to waterfalls. There were several running and large rocks provided steps on a path up to the highest 492-feet fall.  After much picture taking we hiked down on the other side of the falls to walk through  pine forest before picking up a 6-K trail along the river back to Cogne. The sound of the water was a nice diversion while walking on a lovely sunny clear day.

            The hamlet of Gimillan (5900’), one of the Valley’s most renowned resorts, is built on a terrace. It is a  frazione, a type of territorial subdivision, in the Province of Aosta, Usually sunny, it provides a wonderful view of the Gran Paradiso chain and of Cogne center. Any season is good in the Italian Alps, and this smallest region of Italy is known for its friendly hospitality and delicious cuisine. 

            The hamlet of Valnontey lies totally within the boundaries of the park. We hiked along the river of the same name, then spent a couple hours playing mountain goat over a narrow  undulating trail full of tree roots and rocks through coniferous and larch tree forests. It was a good cardiac workout as I huffed and puffed my way along.  Believe me our walking sticks became our best friend! We stopped in a couple of lovely meadows where we saw chamois and during the morning we saw a good dozen of them grazing. Of the elk family they are about the size of a goat. We also saw and watched a family of marmots. They burrow like prairie dogs and are fun to watch.

            All through the mountains on our Alps hiking trip we noticed an unusual structure over various parts of some roads. Some were long enough to simulate a tunnel, but they were open on the down side and supported by a post every few feet. The mountain side of the structure seemed to meld into the roadside, and the roof slanted ever so slightly toward the opposite side . After inquiry, I learned they let an avalanche continue past the road with all the snow dropping over the edge. It kept the roads clear in avalanche prone areas. Clever and simple solution!

    It was a wonderful, fun time in this spectacular corner of Italy!