After getting back to the valley from my hike to La Jonction, it was still relatively early so I took the bus to the village of Chamonix and tried to go the Aiguille du Midi, using the ropeway. Unfortunately, it was full for the rest of the day. So instead, I took the train to Montenvers to have a look at the Mer de Glace (Sea of Ice), France’s largest glacier (7km long, 200 m thick). The Ice Cave had already closed when I got there however.
La Jonction (The Junction) is a rocky area below the Mont Blanc where the Glacier des Bossons and the Glacier de Taconnaz meet. The first successful ascent of the Mont Blanc by Jacques Balmat and Michel-Gabriel Paccard in 1786 was made through there: The hiking trail goes past the rock formation (known as Gîte à Balmat) where the 2 men stayed at some point during that ascent. I followed this itinerary.
The Old Town of Annecy (le Vieil Annecy) is the most visited part of the city. It is located at the mouth of the Thiou river, an effluent of Lake Annecy on the way to the Fier River. It mostly developed starting in the 13th century when Annecy became the capital of the County of Geneva. Its most famous sights are the Castle, the Palais de l’Ile (which served as a court and a jail) and the canals. It is a pedestrian-only area and is host to many restaurants and shops, as well as a large market every Sunday morning.
During the summer, I took my bike on the SIBRA summer shuttle to the top of the Semnoz. My goal was go down to Lake Annecy using the paved road (there are tracks for downhill mountain bikes as well): It is an almost uninterrupted downward slope until the lake with relatively little car traffic. Before going down, I spent some time on the plateau, which serves as cross country skiing tracks during winter. I also went to the summit (Crêt de Châtillon). There was a good view on the Mont Blanc from up there. Finally, I took the road to Leschaux, then went down the Route du Col de Leschaux until I reached the lake at Sévrier.
At 2750m, Pointe Percée (Pierced Peak, so named because of this hole) is the highest peak in the Aravis range. It is also a very popular hike in the area, although it can be challenging. I followed this itinerary (Cheminées de Sallanches on the way up, standard trail on the way down).
Chambéry is a city in Savoie, France, located 10km south of Lac du Bourget. It is the former capital of the duchy of Savoy.
After getting back to Aix-les-Bains from Mont Revard, I took my bike on the Voie Verte du Lac du Bourget, a bike lane (actually shared with roller skaters and pedestrians) next to the lake. Lac du Bourget is the biggest lake in France and the bike lane only goes along a small part of its shore. When I arrived at Bourget-du-Lac at the southern shore of the lake, I took the Avenue Verte Nord de Chambéry, which is another separate bike lane that goes all the way to Chambéry.
After the hike to Croix du Nivolet, I made a stop at the nearby Belvédère du Mont Revard. It is a viewpoint that provides a great view on the Lac du Bourget below and the surrounding mountains. I then took my bike down the mountain back to Aix-les-Bains.
The Croix du Nivolet is a giant christian cross (22 meters high) at the summit of the Dent du Nivolet, in the Bauges Massif. Its size and location make it highly visible from Chambéry and the surrounding towns. It offers a great view on the valley below, as well as the Lac du Bourget. The path to get there is pretty easy (although sometimes muddy) and is therefore very popular. This itinerary was the inspiration for the path I followed.
Some time ago, I saw this article about using the Qgis2threejs plugin to export a QGIS map as a 3D visualisation in the browser, thanks to three.js and WebGL. When I recently tried to follow the post to reproduce the results, I had some problem sourcing the data (related to Vienna, Austria) so instead I searched for data related to Paris to create a similar scene. Here is the result corresponding to the screenshot above and another one with aerial photos, both showing the Montmartre area of Paris.