Leysin/Grenoble: Thurs-Fri 16th & 17th April 2009

Leysin: Thursday 16th April 2009

The girls, Simon and Austin and Hayden all left on the train at noon. The girls off to Rome and the Banks back to London.

After wonderful weather yesterday it cooled considerably in the morning and early afternoon there were snow showers, hail and rain. It was about 3 degrees and when we explored the heights of the village in the car the temperature clock got down to 1 degrees

We joined Hilly, Annie and Will at Davindra lounge and had a lovely meal

Leysin to Grenoble: Friday 17th April 2009

A travelling day today. There was no snow in the village, but the surrounding mountains were definitely a shade whiter. As we descended from Leysin to the valley floor the weather improved and we were in sun.

It was an hour’s drive to Chamonix-Mont Blanc where we stopped for a break and a brief look at the village. The mountain was partially obscured by cloud, but remained an impressive sight. We had lunch at a reserve on the outskirts of the town.

Here, as well as the magnificent mountains, there were a number of people practicing their rock-climbing. It was interesting to watch 2 parents initiating their 2 children to the sport. The children would have been 7 – 9 and they were climbing heights that looked challenging.

We drove through a surprising amount of population density, in areas we thought would have been more sparsely populated. But it is interesting the amount of ski related industry there is out there.

Grenoble hosted the Winter Olympics in 1968