The French Alps

So, I spent 3 nights in a small town in the French Alps called Chamonix. It's literally across the mountain from Turin (200? winter Olympics) Very cute but touristy. Many residents I met don't even speak French because it's just not required.
So, the first morning I woke up and walk to Les Praz, a tiny village next to Chamonix, and walked up the bottom slope to a chair lift and then took that up to the top.
The top was barren and looks like this. As you can see the glacier (there are glaciers everywhere) just receded in the last thousand years so primary growth hasn't really begun yet. (yay, environmental science)
So, then I walked down to Lac Blanc. Your basic glacier lake. Still very pretty though. I took lots of pictures but there were lots of clouds out ( I was in clouds for most of the hike) so none of them are very good.
But anyway, here's me at the lake.

This is Bud my real-life- headbutting- not a lost sheep -mountain goat. I kept saying "Look at me bud." " And you're going the wrong way bud" Which is how he got his name. This is also the point where I started singing sound of music and wishing I had long blond hair so I could heard him and be called Hiedi. Let's just blame that on the altitude shall we?Oh, and so the next day it was finally clear. So here is a picture of the tops of the mountains. I think one of them in Mt. Blanc (highest point in France) but I can't tell you which one.
So, after climbing around for 8 hours in slip-on shoes in the Alps the next day I was tired so I thought I would do something other than climb. Here is a hint at what I did. Look at the background and try to guess.
So, the guy next to me is Fred. He was my PARAGLIDING pilot!
Yay, Jo ran off a mountain! So, after a long day in the Alps I went down to the bar to talk to people and have a beer (alcohol is highly effective at this altitude, just a note) So I started talking to this guy named Xandy (Alexander) a British guy who had come here 8 years ago and never left. We compared back injuries and he convinced me to try his hobby, paragliding. It was lots of fun. You're in a seat strapped to someone with a glider overhead. We were up at about 2,800 meters (level with the mountains) for about an hour. Though oddly enough not as much of an adrenaline thing as you would expect. If I ever go again I'm piloting myself and doing acrobatics.
These, by the way, are the shoes I hike around in (and paraglided in) and the socks were given to me by Air Berlin for the flight over. I was really unprepared, all the other hikers looked at me weird as they walked around in their boots, with their coats and their ski poles, but it worked out. These shoes are also apparently very visible in the air.