Happy New Year in San Francisco

We spent the New Year's weekend in San Francisco, mostly revisiting old favorites, acquiring a few new ones, eating well, viewing the harbor fireworks, and resting up.

Amazing how this place has had its ups and downs; we like

seeing the vintage clothing stores, the Goodwill, all the

tourists our age or older; the clever T-shirt aphorisms, etc.

For a small donation you can take a picture of this "vintage"

van

After a nice Italian dinner in Cow Hollow, we returned to the

hotel, rested up, and then embarked on our long walk along

the Embarcadero to the Ferry Building; here, the baker at

Boudin's does his thing

A seasonally-ornamented rig in the harbor

near Fisherman's Wharf

The moon nearly colliding with Coit Tower

And our goal for the evening, and the weekend, the SF harbor

fireworks, one of the best anywhere; Happy New Year, all!

Rebecca had taken us to see one of these several years ago,

when she lived in SF; it has become one of our favorites

As long as you don't mind wading into and waiting among a

boisterous but good-natured crowd of 200,000, in the harbor

chill, right at the Ferry Building (south-side quay), it's a

pretty good show; the best fireworks we have seen

And, as you can see on the Ferry Building

clock, it's all over by 12:20; unfortunately,

public transportation shuts down in the vicinity

of the fireworks, so it's a long trudge back to

the hotel

Next afternoon, after lunch at Alioto's, we walked along among

the many sights; here, a seagull adds a splash of color to the

bow of the USS Pampanito, with The Rock in the background;

we toured the Pampanito in 1990, with the girls, on our first

summer tour in the Milennium Falcon...

Alcatraz; it was a beautiful day

In the (free) amusement museum, the Musee Mecanique, on

or near Pier 44, a collection of working old amusement park/

arcade machines, scores of them, plus a history of such parks;

Vicki scored a respectable 190 on Skeeball

Ah, the good old days...

Obligatory street scene, near Lombard

Obligatory bridge scene

And, for something new, we drove out to the Presidio; here, a

part of the National Cemetery there

And finally, on the way back home, Rebecca's

old apartment building on Divisadero at

Haight; thanks for a great weekend, Rebecca

and Jeremy...

Tour Du Mont Blanc, 4

And now, the exciting conclusion of "Tour Du Mont Blanc":

On the Bovine variant, the ugly city of Martigny, far, far below

Along the trail to Bovine; all through our trek, the alpine
wildflowers were everywhere, particularly the alpine azaleas
(alas, Vicki had the camera that day)

It gets to be a long story here; after Bovine, and en route 

to the Col de la Forclaz, it started raining; heavy rain; we

made it to the campground at the Col de la Forclaz, where a 

French couple from Lyons we had been leap-frogging

 (nyuk, nyuk, nuyk) helped us tent and shared their hot 

water (for our backapacka dinner); the next morning, with 

heavy rain predicted the next several days, they helped us 

find the train back to France, and then on to Les Houches, 

where we dried out in a nice little hotel; the next morning
we breakfasted on our bilberries and other goodies; we
would run into our Lyons friends another time, days later
and return the favors; "kindness of strangers" is truly one
of the best parts of travel

Back in the Valley of Chamonix; so from Les Houches we
trained back to the campground in Chamonix, established
a camp there and deposited our stuff, and rode back up
the valley to cover some of the ground we had missed; at
this point, we were beginning to ask ourselves "wait a
second, isn't this supposed to be a vacation?!"

The Great White Mountain

Chamonix from Plan Praz;  piecing together parts we had
missed, we rode up to La Flegere and walked to Plan Praz;
and then rode the cable-car up to Brevent; we left the great
descent from Brevent to Les Houches for another year...

From Brevent, parapentes sailing by

Spice girl: back in Chamonix, just in time for the Saturday marche

Poulet roti..the best; well, Costco's is pretty 

good, too

A Saturday afternoon repast at our favorite, Camping de
L'ile des Barrats    

Vicki waits for the bus while I do a bit more shooting and
shopping

Tenting area at Camping de L'ile des Barrats

Last minute shopping completed

And, after an hour's bus ride, we are back at the airport in 

Geneva, repacking, awaiting our flight back to Montana...

Tour Du Mont Blanc, 3

Our 2005 TMB continued:

The Grandes Jorasses as we climb up to Rifugio Bertone

Tenting near Rifugio Bertone

Looking back to Rifugio Bertone

Companions here and there; they're inquisitive and gentle and,

hey, they make fontina

The weather is always an issue; there are good days and bad;

if you're lucky, like us, you can go back and make up the bad

days later, maybe years later; if not, then you know that a bad

day in the mountains is worth two good ones anywhere else 

Trudging up toward the Rifugio Walter Bonatti; rain expected

My favorite, Rifugio Walter Bonatti; a double room, a great
meal, great wine, great views, interesting fellow trekkers,
hot showers, even a warming room to dry out boots and
clothing...

Tenting near Rifugio Elena; lots of weekend climbers here;
you can drive right up to Elena and climb Dolent 

The beautiful Val Ferret

More crazy bicyclistes, before Monte Dolent

Us, before Monte Dolent, nearing the Grand Col du Ferret, and

the Swiss border

At Camping Philosophes, in Champex

We had the Swiss version of cheese fondue in Champex; 

rather bland and uninteresting, I thought; needed more
garlic and kirsch; but the scenery was genuinely Swiss

Next morning, picking a quart or more of

bilberries, the Euro-equivalent of
huckleberries

After a morning hiking uphill, picking

bilberries, and in anticipation of the variant

around Bovine, it's time for another glass of

wine; European trekking beats all others!

Tour Du Mont Blanc, 2

Our 2005 TMB continued:

On the third day or so, we took a variant, skipping Les Chapieux, across the Col 
des Fours, and up these slabs to the highest point on the Tour from which you can 
see Mont Blanc

Thus; it's the white one, more distant

And you also can see Monte Cervino, the Matterhorn, 50 miles away; the higher 
white one, left of center

In the refectory at Les Mottets, somehow, one of the refuges people always 
remember

Mainly because of the dormitory, a converted cow barn; coed

Vicki at the Col de la Seigne, one foot in France, the other 
in Italy

In Italy's beautiful Val Veni, the Aiguille du Noire

And our next stop, the Rifugio Elisabetta Soldini, in the Val Veni

In the dining room of the Rifugio Elisabetta, many memories; an instructive 
representation of the little red fox that hangs around the Elisabetta; unfortunately, 
the staff did not tells us about the fox; again, we ate in, but camped out; about

midnight, in the middle of a horrific thunderstorm, the fox attacked, first the stern 
of the tent, and then the bow, ripping a 3 foot tear and starting to haul off our food 
bag before I smacked him away; next morning, the staff said, oh yes, that would  
have been the red fox; my other memory ends with this injunction: whenever 
dining family-style with Germans, take all the food you think you might want the 
first time it is passed; nothing will be coming back

Signage in the Val Veni; the quality of the signage throughout the TMB is fairly good, 
but best in the more populated areas; here we are only a few miles from Courmayeur; 
evidently many hikers pass right through Courmayeur and stay at the next refuge up the 
trail; not us; we had repairs to make, excess baggage to mail back to the campground 
in Chamonix, food and drink to sample, hot showers, and soft beds and other luxuries 
to enjoy

Besides, it was the Feast Day of Santa Pantaleone, patron saint of Courmayeur

View from our balcony at the Penzione Venezia (42 euros back then); underneath the 
terrace is the little hardware store where we bought "American" (duct) tape to repair 
our poor little tent

A Mont Blanc in butter; or Mont-Blanc dans le beurre; or better, 
Monte Bianco nel burro; it was on these days in Courmayeur 
that we acquired our taste for fontina; also polenta; also ham and 
veal smothered in fontina; salted meats...

Back on the trail after our respite in Courmayeur; more signage; and a 2000 foot 
climb ahead

Nearing the Rifugio Bertone, looking back to Courmayeur

To be continued...