Courchevel

There's an odd atmosphere to some of the places in the Alps.  Corchevel is pretty much the 'Posh Persons Alps', as our discovery of the various Gouchi, Rolex, and so on shops demonstrated.  Apparently the place is very much tied to the Russkie Oligarch Crowd according to a chap we met out there, and now because of the war, they're not about.  So it's a bit of a ghost town.

Also, given the money which must under peacetime conditions be sloshing around here, the architecture of the main shopping areas of Corchevel is decidedly vintage.

It's odd, really, this place reminded me (Ben) of many slightly-neglected shopping centres in Birmingham and Wolverhampton in the late 1980's.

That said, it was beautifully well kept, no graffiti, no litter.

We also liked the mix of materials, and those very nice curved windows.

Lovely tiles.

You also didn't get that view out of the old Bull Ring.

 

Going Over the Top; chairlifts and cable-cars...

Honestly, this place looks so pretty as to be fake.

From where we were stopping, the best way to get around was by cable cars.  Most of the main routes were running, even though it was summer; walkers, and especially mountain bike riders, were providing enough custom to keep it all in service.

More fun were the chair lifts; my (Ben's) previous experience with them had been the short-run chairlift at Dudley Zoo, so this was in another league altogether.

Plenty of opportunity for photographs of the beautiful views.

The area was relatively quiet, at least compared to the ski season, so to balance the weight of the various lifts and cars, some were being run empty.

Occasionally, you'd find yourself lifting up into the clouds, something we've only experienced before mountain-walking in North Wales.

Bike track up above Meribel.

Rather steep drop on the long, long, run down to Brides-Les-Bains.

Amusing instructions for passengers.  At this time of year it was mostly families on the route, but guess things get a little rowdy with the winter Après-Ski crowds.  Particularly like the two having a "Where Eagles Dare"-style fight in the cable car, second-down on the left.

Some interesting interior décor too, like the carpets on the doors...

For those who don't want to wait for the cable cars, apparently.

Architectural Variety in the Alps

You can't fault the Alps for scenery, nor, apparently, for the variety of architecture on show.  Down in the bottom of the valley, Moutiers was pretty, and what you'd think of as 'typically' urban France.

...up in Meribel, by contrast, it was wood-faced concrete buildings.

The whole of the village was of a similar style, and blended in nicely with the mountains.

Things were somewhat different in La Tania, where the architectural design was a bit more modernist and experimental.

And then down in Courchevel, things looked rather more traditional again.

That said, the cleanliness of the buildings, and the colouring of the stone, gave it a slight 'Disney does The Alps' atmosphere.

Most of the buildings had large, slightly-creepy underground car parking.

This is another shot which doesn't necessarily fit here, but then it was taken on our first night in France; this was the sunset seen from inside our hotel in Reims.

 

Up to the Lake

The Alps continue to be, as we hope you can see, stupidly pretty.

At the top end of the valley was a popular nature reserve.  We walked up there, on the path alongside the glacial river.

Up at the lake.

A very unusual tree.

The area was full of massive grasshoppers, and some very odd insects.

The clouds which formed over the valley were often quite eye-catching.

The colour of the water was somewhat unusual, carrying as it was gypsum deposits from the glacier higher up the valley.

Another odd cloud formed above the village.

Couldn't resist another shot from the balcony.

Strictly speaking, this doesn't belong in this post as this was a few miles down the valley, but we found the sign amusing.  We couldn't work out which of those animals was Prudence, and why she was so dangerous she needed a road sign warning us about her.