We woke up in a wonderfully good mood, since there was no scurrying to pack up, no hurrying through breakfast …while Harold slept in, I sat near the window, watching the town wake up. I man wheeled a cart to an old wooden structure, heaved out firewood onto the cart, and then wheeled it back to our hotel—I think he was our waiter the night before for dinner. I dreamed for a moment or two about being able to live in a place like this, heaving firewood in the mornings. I was envious of this town’s dreamy pace.

We were just doing a day hike today, and decided to take the bus to the other end of the Lac de Moiry, and then climb up to see the large glacier a little better (and drink hot chocolate at the Cabane de Moiry, a little hut).

Breakfast was good and powerful—choices of bread, 3 different kinds of granola to put in your yogurt (yes!), and we caught a later bus. At least at this time, since it was kind of the off season, at certain times of the day the buses were being driven by private contractors who didn’t accept our half off Swiss passes. Oh well…there were a ton of different day hikes to do in the areas—some low-lying loops around the lake, some higher loops that took longer, you can hike up to the glacier like we did, etc. etc. The tourism bureau had a map of day hikes that was useful in choosing what we wanted to do.

The weather had cleared, and the town and the area looked completely different in the sun. There were still some clouds, but they seemed to be caught on the other side of the mountain (where we had come from the day before, Villaz). The Lac de Moiry, whether in the clouds or not, was still stunning. I wish I had taken some better photos of it…it has the electric blue-green of a glacier lake, and when you can see the 3,000 meters mountains surrounding it…wow.

The hike today was pure pleasure—without our heavy packs on, and after a good night’s sleep, we felt we could climb anything. A slight layer of snow had descended the night before, and made everything sparkle. The parking lot at the dam, and the parking lot closer to the glacier (there was even a snack bar here, the Buvette du Glacier, which was closed, but made me think this was probably a more crowded place during peak season!) were much more crowded today because of the weather, but not too many people ventured beyond the parking lots. We spotted a rugged Haute Route hiker near the Buvette du Glacier– he looked tired, strong, and a little alone, and a small small part of me wished that we could have handled that entire Haute Route…but my legs were tired enough, and I was so happy to enjoy just a brief three hour hike today.

The views were stunning on the way up to the hut, and the incline wasn’t too bad (though it was a lot of switchbacks!). All I needed to do was look to my right, and see the glowing lake, to get energized. And what better treat than, at the top of a climb, to have a little hut with pit toilets and a menu! They didn’t seem to care that Harold and I inconspicuously ate our bagged lunch on their picnic tables, right next to the glacier (what an overlook! especially in the sun, the glacier looked so clean and blindingly white), as we sipped their always expensive hot drinks. I loved how powerful and ancient and wrinkled the glacier looked. You could stay overnight here too, and the place seemed friendlier than at Falhorn—people were laughing together and having a better time. But they only have dorm rooms.

Harold and I wandered back down the pleasant, not so painful descent, and though we could have had a lovely walk around the lake and back to the dam, we decided to just take the bus back and explore the town of Grimentz more. We would be doing enough hiking during the next three days! We shared the bus back with a group of 10 year old school children, who looked happy, and we were happy, and it was a happy day….Harold was especially happy at dinner, when he ordered the Swiss specialty of raclette, which is all of the special raclette cheese you want, roasted over a fire in the oven, and a large bucket of boiled potatoes as well. Harold loved it—I thought it was very Swiss! We met our only other American couple that we had seen our entire trip in the dining room that night—they had rented a car and were enjoying driving around the valley.

We had time, after dinner, to do the walking tour we had purchased for one Franc right before it got dark. It was a fun tour that didn’t require a whole lot of walking, and pointed out things we had missed (crosses rising above the town, really old aspects of buildings from the middle ages, etc.). It was nice, in bed, to have enough energy to read a few pages of the paperback novels we had carried all throughout the mountains.