Martigny & Vernayaz

Day 8

We slept in a little later than usual and didn’t have time for breakfast so we had trail mix and fruit leather for breakfast on the train. We went from Chamonix to Vernayaz to see the Trient Gorges. We had read about them on the internet and the little walkways and paths looked like fun. We got there and realized we were in Switzerland so needed francs instead of Euros. Ugh! We walked for what was probably a mile round trip to find an ATM to get some cash. When we finally got to the flower shop that sells the tickets for the gorge we discovered that it didn’t open until May 15^th (today is the 10^th) because of falling rocks. We were disappointed but the cute lady there told us of a train we could take to a different point of the gorge and walk around on trails and stuff. We decided to first go to Martingy as planned so back on the train we went.

In Martigny they have a St. Bernard museum that was really interesting telling of the history of the St. Bernard dog. We got to pet a really sweet St. Bernard and I was amazed that the whole time there we didn’t hear a dog bark once. They were so cute and well taken care of and if I could have I would’ve snuck one into my luggage to bring home.

We had lunch in the café there that cost a small fortune. The food was decent but way over-priced which I read is common in Switzerland. After that we walked next door to some old Roman amphitheater ruins. The boys ran around like wild hooligans and we snapped a few pictures, and saw some cute little lizards.

It was back to the trains then and over to the city of Salvan to see the upper Trient Gorge. School had just released so the train was full of loud teenagers for a few stops. We took a little path that led down through a darling little neighborhood and beyond to see the gorges. There were tons of stairs and pathways and beautiful views. It was starting to get cool the higher we got and the later in the day. 

We got back to our condo in Chamonix around 7 p.m. and the boys wanted to swim so they went while I worked on laundry. May I just say that hand washing everything really sucks? Because it does! When they got back at 8 Brad and I walked over to the small grocery store to get some food for dinner and tomorrow’s breakfast but they had already closed so we stopped at Ick-Donalds again. Blech! The only thing McDonalds is good for is an ice cold fountain Coke which I can’t even get here! We ate quickly and came back for showers and blogging. I’m looking forward to going to sleep- this week is catching up to me!