What does a glacier look like in the summer? Basically, a lot of dirt. Further up the valley the surface of the Mer de Glace showed some white. Below the surface, however, is a lot of ice. So much, in fact, that every year they dig a cave into the glacier and sculpt large ice furniture out of the walls. Of course we had to check that out.

Recall that glaciers constantly move (albeit slowly). As a result about 50 meters down the valley one can see the opening to the previous year's ice cave (and further down, the remnants of the cave from two years ago). Besides having questionable structural integrity, the old caves are mostly underwater due to the center of the glacier moving faster than the edges.

We ended the day with a hearty swiss fondue, another regional specialty.