We both slept well — almost 12 hours! Once again, we're really glad we've had this day to rest, acclimate, and get ready to start our hike tomorrow. We did a few "chores" in the morning — washed out what we wore traveling and hung it outside to dry in the sun.
We then took the bus to Chamonix and had a late breakfast. We actually had remembered this restaurant (and had liked it) from the first time we came to Chamonix to visit Steve who was studying abroad in Montpelier, France. 
Breakfast was delicious!
I took this panoramic shot in one of the squares in Chamonix. Wow! The Europeans LOVE their outside eating and flowers. Everywhere, there are beautiful flowers in window boxes, baskets, planters. It is a beautiful day — we're excited because the other two times we've been in Chamonix, it was cloudy and the mountains weren't even visible. So, it made us appreciate the day even more.
We then came back to our Inn and read for a couple of hours. In between chapters, I went out on our porch and took in the view from our balcony.
After awhile, we walked down to the super marché (grocery store) and bought some food for our first day of hiking. We don't want to carry too much weight, but we also want to make sure we have enough calories for our first day. We figured we'll get a better feel of the right amount after tomorrow.Some Stage 1 facts:
• Stage 1 Les Houches — Les Contaminés
• 16-18 km (10-11.5 miles) depending on route (lower route or higher route)
• Col (s) Col de Voza both routes plus Col de Tricot on the high route
Note: Before I did the last hike in the Alps, I had no idea what a "col" was :-) I soon learned that a col means a lot of hard work to get to the top and a different kind of hard work descending. I quickly learned to seriously look at how many cols are in a given stage,
We haven't decided which route we'll take. We're planning to get to the first col, Col de Voza, and then assess how we're doing. We want to make sure that we're pacing ourselves appropriately as we have lots of hiking days ahead.
