After spending a full day in Zurich, we started early for France the following morning. We planned to stay at a resort called Alpe d'Huez, situated at an altitude of around 6,000 feet and surrounded by mountains nearly 11,000 feet high. I wanted to be there the next morning for the famous downhill/enduro bike race called Megavalanche, which takes place there once a year in July. On the way to the resort, we stopped to enjoy the city of Annecy, a gem of a place on the shore of a big lake that seems to go on forever into the mountains. Annecy's old town center made me feel as if I had traveled back a couple centuries. There are several chic canals, restaurants with terraces, flowers, and old buildings whose walls carry history. It was still hot, even though it started drizzling at some point.
The road going up to Alpe d'Huez is picturesque. I was pleasantly surprised to see that we were driving right on the road where one of the stages of the Tour de France,
the world's most renowned annual bicycle race took place - incidentaly, the race was supposed to start in a few days. Up in the hotel, we admired the surreal view of mountains, some of which were still full of snow, and were graced with a wonderful rainbow and clouds. Despite being so high in the mountains, we slept with the balcony door open, a testament to the unusual temperatures. In the morning, my dad and I ran uphill to one of the many nearby gondolas that took us up to nearly 9,000 feet. It took us a couple of hours to locate the exact place where the races would come downhill. Eventually, I noticed the first bikes carrying the pros (some of which I had recognized), and in no time they were flying by us amid the crowd's loud encouragement. I took a lot of pictures and I must say I envied them for racing on this amazing track that descends over 22 kilometers (about 13.7 miles). Perhaps someday I'll be able to participate in Megavalanche too!
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