Les Houches, France

We are sitting in our charming little inn, very French Alps chalet style, looking out on the Mont Blanc massive. Spectacular. Dinner was Crouette (a local baked bread and cheese dish) with green salad and ham. We ate on a sidewalk patio with front row seats for the 2015 ultra trail du Mont Blanc (a 120k run) with over 2000 participants listening to the crowd cheer everyone off. Interesting that they start in the evening. We think it is just as well no one lines up to cheer for the walkers. Getting here was easy, we are in Europe and public transportation is fast and simple. We quickly  left Switzerland behind passing into France just outside Geneva. We have not seen any of the famous alpine dairy cows yet, just one village after another. We found tomorrow's start point, after the first 100 meters or so we will start up the first, of many, mountain ridges.