Month: December 2018

We had seen weather reports before coming that there would be a lot of snow while we were here in Argentière.  We planned ahead and got most of the runs we wanted to do out of the way early just in case the snow arrived in full force.

We were beginning to think it wasn’t really going to snow that much as temperatures have been in the mid to upper thirties, and the snow has been light so far. There has even been quite a lot of rain.

As of this morning, there is evidently still not a drop of snow down the valley in Chamonix.  Things have changed here in Argentière however.

It has been snowing all night and so far about a foot has fallen, although it’s hard to tell from the picture.

We made our way up to Le Tour this morning because we had heard that it was much snowier than anywhere else.  Le Tour is only about 2 miles up the road and maybe 500 feet higher than Argentière.  We were told it is the snowiest village in France.  We do not have any means of verifying that, but judging by what we saw this morning, it would be hard to argue.

At least two feet has fallen on Le Tour since Saturday night, and it is still snowing.

Since we lived here this past summer, we knew that French roads are not known for their width.  Yes that could be the understatement of the year.  Add a few feet of snow and some snow plows and things get interesting.  Adding some aggressive French drivers to the mix is like adding jalapeños to your hot sauce.  Things get spicy!

We do not have any other plans until later in the day and can therefore avoid the roads for the time being.  Fortunately we have popcorn and Netflix to keep us occupied.

We have safely made it back to Argentiére!  Several people have asked why we came back to the same place.  The most obvious reason is that we really enjoy being here.  The other reason is that we wanted to go out to eat.

We didn’t find out until the day before we left that our favorite restaurant, Pizzeria Des Moulins, is closed until December 18, so that was rather disappointing.  Our second favorite restaurant, Hibou Deli, is open so they will be getting our business frequently.

We are staying across the river and just down the road from where we stayed this summer.  Our apartment is quite a bit smaller than where we stayed this summer, but we are only here for a week and should be able to manage.  However if I am shorter upon returning home, it will be because all the doorways and ceilings in the place were apparently made for Hobbits.  I am constantly ducking in order to not run into door frames and ceilings.  Even M has to be careful in the shower as the ceiling has a severe slope.

As one can see from the pictures, we have stuff strewn everywhere.  And by we I mean me.  There is one small wardrobe where you can hang a few coats and four shelves in the bedroom for placing a few items of clothing.  As you can see from the pictures, the entire place is smaller than some bedrooms in the US.  Having said all that, it does have basically everything we need.

M has already been to the grocery store numerous times to get our favorite foods.  Her favorite bakery is closed at the moment because apparently that is just something they do in France.  M has visited the new bakery however and sampled some of their offerings which were satisfactory.

The area immediately around Argentière is snow free at the moment, but the high mountains have lots of new snow.

That is all for now.  Hopefully I will come up with more to write about in the next few days.