Sunday February 26th - aaaaah, there was already our first waking up under the Alps.
We got up at about 8 a.m. ... yes, we deserved such a long sleeping after such yesterday's long and exhausting day. We did our morning things and then undrew curtains of windows ... It was so great ! So wonderful ! We could see high, steep mountains that peaks were like a gold and silver of the morning sun ... Farytaile views. Magnificent views. On the south side we could admire a high needle of Aiguille du Midi (the one spike of the Mont Blanc massif) and on the north side a big guy called Brevent. It was really splendid getting up ...
And then good breakfast followed ... and coffee ... and : "Let's go !" we went downtown.
Well. Something about Chamonix and the Chamonix valley. The town of Chamonix Mont Blanc is 1035m (3,396 ft) above sea level at the foot of the Mont Blanc, the highest peak in Western Europe at 4810 m (15,770 ft).   Chamonix is at the heart of Western Europe in the French Alps, very close to Mont Dolent where the French, Swiss and Italian borders meet. The resident population of the valley is about 10,000. The seasonal workers and tourists can add another 100,000 on any given day in  winter high season week and 130,000 in summer. A world capital for outdoor activites: mountaineering, hiking, climbing, biking, paragliding, plus all the winter activities. The valley and neighbouring mountains are a wonderful natural resource. Yes, it is very interesting place to visit indeed ...
So ...we decided to spend our first day to familiarize ourselves with Chamonix and the valley. We went through a historical center and visited an information center where we bought brochures contained maps and plans of surroundings, pistes. We learnt other important things like information about ski passes, cableways and of course what to do and where to go to spend our holiday the best way ...
Then we climbed up to see a cableway station at the bottom of Brevent. There were so many skiers waiting for a lift up to Plantraz pistes. No, no. Nothing for us ! We just had a nice views from that place down to the town and valley and went down to looked around for restaurants and viewed a lower station of a cableway to a Brevent opposite guy, to Aiguille du Midi. Then we returned to our " holiday base", had something small to eat and our loved afternoon coffee and set out by Subaru to the Le Houches village (about 15 km = 9 miles) where we wanted to look round for our down-hill skiing area. We had a quick look at village, cableway and we bought badge ski passes for two next days. There is an important thing to say that everywhere we came and needed to speak, we took advantage of our English because we could understand nothing in French and everybody in information centers, ticket offices even restaurants and shops could speak in English. Just information. 
Well. After doing that we slowly went by the japanese blue horse up the valley, were sightseeing high mountains that were suffusing with the afternoon sun, ... ice fields, icefalls ...
We parked the car in a garage and we headed for our first advanture. Yes, for the rest of the Sunday afternoon we decided to go by the suspension cableway up to the top of Aiguille du Midi, to the needle that peak is at the height of 3842 m (12,596 ft) above sea level. It is one of the other tops of the Mont Blanc massif. Wow! It was the ride ! It was like on a plane ! So high ! So dangerous ! So wonderful ... We could see the entire valley with the town that laid below us. That cableway is said the best in the world, the highest, with the highest vertical distance from 1035 m to 3842 m above sea level. And we believed it. And on the top ? It's hardly to say ... Beauty, magic, heaven. Just those words were close to it what we felt when we got off the cableway and climbed up to the view point. There were unbelievable views and skylines ! We could see the Chamonix valley deep bellow us, some light white clouds and many, many mountaintops of the Alps with a snow cover that rose up through those clouds. And the main peak , the guy Mont Blanc looked down at us ... and icefields and icefalls ... We stood silently under deep blue sky and golden sun. The splendid experience of a lifetime ... We had never been in a such height before. It was so great !  And of course, we were taking pictures and pictures and pictures. For memory. And then back down. Our returned ride was also nice and exciting. Such a height ! Wow !
Well. When we got down we went back "home", had a rest and a bit of Pilsner Urquell (that we took in cans with us from home) and about 5 p.m. we left our apartment for night sightseeing and for dinner. There were many small, cozy restaurants, so we chose one of them, entered and sat down. It was really very nice place to eat and drink. And then ? Dinner of course ! We tried local pizzas, fondue, salads and spent one pleasant hour to drink good Chardonnay wine, talking and planning next days. It was nice evening, nice back walking down the spotlit streets. We went to bed at about 10 p.m..
There was our first skiing day before us.