The Chamonix side has more to offer in the way of a cafe with cheesey, gooey yummy lunches and a gift shop so that you can prove to your friends that you made it to the top of the Aguille du Midi. There are extensive exterior walks and opportunities for you to take the most impressive photos of your vacation, and an elevator takes you even higher for a stunning rooftop view to make you feel like you are quite literally on top of the world. “And above it all, Mont Blanc,” as Percy Bysshe Shelley noted in the 19th century — the mountain is no less impressive now than it was in the time of the Romantics, and we have the means to get much closer than Shelley and Byron.
adventure
Switching my tiara for a miner’s helmet in Berchtesgaden, Germany
There will be no photos of me wearing the miner’s outfit I donned for the salt mine tour in Berchtesgaden, Germany, as the ensemble is not exactly befitting the royal status of your Weekend Duchess. However, sliding down the shafts well beneath the surface of the earth with a crowd of German family tourists was easily one of my favorite travel experiences, unglamorous as it was. Sometimes your duchess weekends at Lake Como searching for George Clooney, but sometimes she needs to tunnel into the salt mines, too!