My first trip to France: Aiguille du Midi

Chamonix lies at the base of Mont Blanc -- the highest point in all of Europe. And if you think of Mont Blanc as the head of the Alps, the Aiguille du Midi ("Needle of Noon") would be the shoulder. Rising to a height of 3842m (over two miles), the view from the top represents the high point -- both literally and figuratively -- of my time in Haute Savoie.
Riding the cable car is, at first, a regular kind of impressive. Like, "Oh that's neat." You can see the whole of Chamonix on the valley floor, with the N205 highway going through the middle of town.
But then you get to the cloud layer, and it becomes white-out conditions.
Above that, it becomes otherwordly -- snow-capped peaks and bare rock faces. The views at every stage are incredible, but since 2013 there's even "Le Pas dans le Vide" (the step in the void). Google Maps view.
I don't have any bad pictures from the Aiguille du Midi, and that's an accomplishment in itself.