Once arriving in Chamonix, we took the train up to Mer de Glace. It was about a 20 minute train ride up the mountain and there were nice views of the mountains from there.
We did a short walk through of a crystal gallery, where they displayed various crystals formed in caves in the area. This was an amethyst:
From there, we hiked down the mountain to approach the famous glacier. It was a long trek down, and at the end, included over 400 steps to see the glacial cave.
Once we got down to the caves, we walked inside the glacier. The glacier is constantly receding and gravity is pushing the glacier down the hill at 1cm every hour, or 90m per year. Every morning, workers recarve the cave to compensate for this movement to ensure it is safe to go inside. It was very interesting walking into the ice cave.
After the caves, we walked the 400+ steps back up to a cable car, which took us back to where we started, and then we trained it back to Chamonix. Here, Tim & I are squashed into the cable car with Nathalie & Chantal!
Once we got back to Chamonix, students had a couple hours to explore Chamonix. Students enjoyed some French crepes and shopping before we headed back home.
Because of the Swiss national day tomorrow, students had today off, so they get a nice long weekend. They'll have some "time off" to rest and explore in Leysin over the next two days. Many of the students seemed a little extra tired today, so the rest will do them good. The weather has also been a bit cooler in Leysin lately (i.e. it was only +9C when we woke up for breakfast this morning), so that's actually been a refreshing change from the heat. In spite of the exhaustion some students are feeling, the consensus has been that all are sad to realize that this is their final week in Switzerland.
Tim & Elviene
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