Chamonix: La Mer de Glace

So I know I promised you more mountain photos. 

But do you mind if I throw a glacier in there too? 

No? Didn't think so!

(Look at me, getting all fancy with my slideshow!)
(If you'd like to look at the photos in my Picasa album instead, just click on one of the pictures.)

La Mer de Glace ("Sea of Ice") is the longest glacier in France. 

It's 7 km long and 200 km deep. 

Obviously we couldn't miss seeing it during our weekend in Chamonix, could we?

I could tell you that we hiked up to the glacier,

or heli-skiied in,

or did something sporty involving crampons to get there.

The truth is, we took the train.

But not just any old train.

We took the "Chemin de fer du Montenvers",

a nifty little "rack railway".

The train ride lasted 20 minutes.

It went up & up & up

from 3,418 ft above sea level when we got on in Chamonix 

to 6,276 ft when we got off in Montenvers by the glacier.

(That's 1042 to 1913 metres for you metric folks).

No crampons required.