TMB Day 7: Refuge de Miage to Les Houches

Breakfast was great today with crusty freshly baked bread and home made jams. We were done and ready by 7:10. First there was a 600 meter ascent to the Col de Tricot. This was the first time we beat the estimated time in the guide book. Their suggestion was one and a half hours and we did it in 1:12 (Jack) and 1:16 (me). On the other side of the pass we could see the glacier Bionnassay, which was beautiful in the rising rays of the sun.

The hillside on the descent had lots of flowers. It took us another hour to reach a suspension bridge over the glacial torrent. The book said reassuringly that its predecessors kept getting swept away either by avalanches or floods. This one seemed pretty solid though.

At about 11am we reached the top of the chairlift above Les Houches. We had a break and some lunch and then descended into town. The way down had some slippery uncomfortable scrambling parts, but most of it ran through a shady pine forest.

We arrived in town just before 3pm. We're staying in an actual proper hotel for the night and it makes a nice change to the dorm accommodation. Being able to take as long as you need under a warm shower is a luxury. Another awesome day on the TMB.

Highlight of the day : doing the washing in an actual washing machine at the hotel and playing pool while waiting for it to finish. Score 1:1 😁

Lowlight of the day : nothing really... It was a pretty good day.

July 18, 2019 at 02:37PM

TMB Day 7 done! Just arrived in Les Houches. #tourdumontblanc. Via Instagram

Danger!

We come over a big pass today, and on the way down there's a danger sign. We leaving anyway, so it doesn't bother us.

Later we translated it. Turns out it says Danger keep your dog on a leash. Anticlimactic to say the least... And apparently only relevant to people reviewing in a certain direction...

Here's more photos

July 18, 2019 at 09:07AM

TMB Day 7: walking down from Col de Tricot on the way to Les Houches. #tourdumontblanc. Via Instagram

July 18, 2019 at 09:06AM

TMB Day 7: Torrent coming down from the glacier of Bionnassay. #tourdumontblanc. Via Instagram

TMB Day 6: Refuge du Bonhomme to Refuge de Miage via Les Contamines

We started early at 7:15 this morning. First it was a very steep rocky descent for about two hours. On one of the turnoffs there were three ibex that ran across our path. I now have a lot of respect for them as being very solid animals with big horns.

The descent continued for the next 2.5 hrs to the town of Les Contamines. On the way we came across a beautiful gorge and a cute old church. We had a warm lunch in town and then set off on our ascent to the refuge for the night. The first part of the ascent was tough, as it was the hottest part of the day and the first part of the path ran along open asphalt roads. But then after about 150 vertical meters the path entered a forest. It had a beautiful smell of warm pines.

Around 16:30 we arrived at the Refuge de Miage. It lies in a gorgeous valley overlooking an impressive face of the Dome de Miage (around 3600 meters). Now dinner and well deserved rest. Today we walked the furthest distance so far of 20km.

Highlight of the day : having our own little cottage for the night and a hot shower in the end of the day. 🚿🛁🏚️

Lowlight of the day : breakfast at the Refugio. There were only bowls (for dry DYI porridge) and same bowls to use for coffee (no cups!) 🤔 

July 17, 2019 at 04:26PM

TMB Day 6: arrived in our accommodation for the night. Tonight we get this cute mountain cottage all to ourselves 🤩 #tourdumontblanc. Via Instagram

July 17, 2019 at 10:52AM

TMB Day 6: walking down to Les Contamines. #tourdumontblanc. Via Instagram

July 17, 2019 at 08:49AM

TMB Day 6: on the way down to La Balme. #tourdumontblanc. Via Instagram

July 16, 2019 at 02:38PM

TMB Day 5: Mont Blanc. #tourdumontblanc. Via Instagram

July 16, 2019 at 02:38PM

TMB Day 4: just did 8.5km and got to Casermetta, an old Italian customs house. #tourdumontblanc. Via Instagram

TMB Day 5: Refuge des Mottets to Refuge du Bonhomme via Col des Fours

This morning we set off straight after breakfast at 7:20. The path ran downhill for 1km. After that followed a difficult 800 meter climb to the Col des Fours. This was by far the most strenuous ascent of the whole TMB so far. I also made a mistake of carrying an extra 1.5 litres of water with me, because the guide book said the area today is very remote and there will be no water on the way. It was a bit too much anyway.

The scenery was stunning on the way up and at about 200 meters below the pass there was no one else around, so it did feel very remote.

We arrived on the pass around 11:30, had lunch and then walked up another 100 meters further up to the Tete Nord des Fours from where we had amazing views in all directions. We then descended for about 40 mins down to our refuge for the night. We arrived at our destination just after 13:30. Unfortunately there are no showers at all in this refuge, because they're broken. Also absolutely no power points, because it's all solar powered. Wish we brought one of these portable solar panels...

Highlight of the day : getting a 360 degree view from the tallest point on the TMB so far (2756 meters). Although the single cloud in the sky was strategically positioned in front of Mont Blanc 🌥️

Lowlight of the day : my left leg falling through the snow next to some boulders just below the pass of Col des Fours. Thankfully I was able to climb out quickly without any of the rest of me going under. There are many patches of snow above 2300 meters, which melt on the sides and some of them are hollowed out underneath from melting snow, so it is hard to know how solid any of the patches are. Pretty scary experience. 

Hiking observation nr. 2

Even out here on the remote trail people care about how they look. There were guys styling their hair with gel this morning in the common bathrooms. And some women with perfectly manicured hands with bright pink nail polish, and what looked like a designer haircut. 

Hiking observation nr. 1

The population of hikers reflects the normal spread of the general population. There are people who are very considerate on the one end of the scale and those who are basically arse#$*s, ie. the very opposite of considerate, on the opposite end. And then most of the rest fall anywhere in between those two extremes. 

TMB Day 4: Courmayeur to Refuge des Mottets

We got up way too early at 6am and were fully packed at 6:30, which left a whole 45 minutes to twiddle our thumbs before hotel breakfast. While we waited we pored over the map and realised that the refuge where we were going to have lunch is actually off the path uphill. So we went to a bakery across the street and got warm pizza bread to take with us.

We took the bus up to a place called La Vasaille up at around 1600 meters. We were very glad that we did, because from there downhill (!) it was going to have been 4 hours to Courmayeur. Meaning it would have easily taken us 6 or 7 hours to walk up. On the bus up there was also a nice young American couple who left their four (!) kids at home to come and hike the TMB. They've were doing the circuit with camping in between, meaning a lot more gear to carry.

It was cold and drizzly when we started off just before 9am. It took us just under an hour to reach Lake Combal. From then it was another hour of flat walking through the glacial valley and then a slow climb up to the pass Col du la Seigne from Italy to France. The pass itself was a very barren and hostile place yesterday. Extremely cold and windy. It was also very cloudy, so there wasn't much to see there.

We crossed the pass around 1pm and started descending to our refuge. After we got out from the clouds it started to warm up and the first mountain and valley became visible. Very beautiful. We met a flock of sheep with their sheep dog. It was fascinating to watch the dog gather such a huge number of sheep and how they all paid attention.

We arrived in the Refuge des Mottets just before 3pm. We were some of the first, so we managed to get a hot shower and our choice of bunk beds. We spent the rest of the afternoon in the common room studying the map for the next few days.

There was no reception anywhere near the refuge, so posting this one day late...

Highlight of the day : dinner in the refuge that consisted of very tasty bean soup, cucumber salad, rice with vegetables and what I think was beef bourguignon, followed by cheese and panna cotta for desert. Just after the main course and before desert one of the hostesses played a few songs on a hand organ.

Lowlight of the day : tiniest shower on the TMB so far. 👎 Water nice and hot though 👍

TMB Day 3: Refugio Bonatti to Courmayeur

We had an early rise at 6am this morning for breakfast at 6:15. Breakfast consisted of a lot of small bits of bread with jam and butter, and a few slices of cheese. This so far seems to be standard for the included breakfasts at the refugios and hotels. We were ready and set off at 7:30.

The first 3 hours we walked along meadows looking at the rising mountains on the opposite side of the Acosta Valley. The south ridges of the Mont Blanc massiv were becoming more visible as we progressed. There were a few helicopters and small planes flying over the valley, probably for sightseeing tourists. The noise from them is pretty loud.

Around 11am we got to the Refugio Bertoli, where we had a break and proper coffees. After that it was a steep 700 meter descent into the town of Courmayeur.  The downhill path ran mainly through the forest, which was nice, because the sun was fairly strong and it was good to be mostly in the shade. Just as we reached town there was an area where Mount Blanc itself was visible, covered in a good layer of snow.

In town the path brought us onto the church square, which we briefly inspected and which was pretty. We then went to the tourist office to inquire about a bus that can take us part of the way tomorrow. Normally tomorrow should be a roughly 19km day, but the Refugio where you're supposed to stay was not reachable when I booked accommodation in the end of last year. And now it was reachable but already booked out. I clearly missed the window of opportunity there. So I booked us into the next one along, which happens to be 27km away, with two steep ascents and one steep descent. At the pace that we're going it'd take us some 14-16 hours, if we're to make it at all. Hence we will try to take the bus for the part of the first assent.

After getting bus tickets it was onto the hotel, via some outdoor shops for hat shopping. Followed by showers, doing the washing and dinner of hamburgers. Jack's left foot is very sore for no reason that we can work out, so we bought some different insoles to try tomorrow. Fingers crossed. My cold is doing better, and I could feel more energy this morning. The forecast says thunderstorms and rain in the first half of the day, so that'll be new on the trip so far.

Highlight of the day : seeing the first set of goats on the mountainside this morning. And watching the third episode of Good Omens before bedtime on the hotel WiFi.

Lowlight of the day : buying incorrect insoles at first. Doh 🤪

All of this is optional

So we're walking around a mountain. We go 500m the wrong way, trying to get to our hotel and Polina says "this wasn't necessary". I had to point out that none of this wall is strictly speaking necessary...

Nice views but!

July 14, 2019 at 02:00PM

Arrived in Courmayeur. Day 3 completed. #tourdumontblanc. Via Instagram

July 14, 2019 at 10:12AM

TMB Day 3: just got to Refugio Bertoni. Now a steep descent into Courmayeur. Gorgeous views and lucky with the weather so far. #tourdumontblanc. Via Instagram

TMB Day 2: Ferret to Refugio Bonatti

We started off from Ferret at 8:15 and shortly thereafter got to the bottom of what was going to be an 800 meter climb to the pass to Italy. There were some beautiful views on the way and plenty of cow bell music. We also came across a number of some very fit people who were running down the mountain with their tiny water backpacks. Overall the fitness levels of fellow hikers are as expected - very varied. We even managed to overtake a few.

We got to the pass just after midday and spent about 40 mins relaxing and having a break. The downside was that it was very windy and cold up there. And there were about 50 or so odd people who have just climbed up from the other side and were resting also. Some of them, mainly American and some Japanes, were very loud and annoying.

After our rest we descended 500 meters down into Italy along some beautiful meadows. These were full of blooming field flowers. There's actually a lot of butterflies here, which we really don't see often in Berlin. And hence there are thousands of caterpillars, which cross our paths constantly and we have to watch out not to step on them.

After the steep descent we had a filling lunch at Refugio Elena. Italian prices are a lot more reasonable than Swiss. We then descended further to around 1700 meters to a car park followed by a bus stop. Just because our day journey wasn't strenuous enough we decided to add some extra fun to it by missing our turn off to our Refugio and walk about a kilometer downhill along an asphalt road before realising our mistake. Thus instead of enjoying an hour and a half of semi relaxed uphill walking with an altitude gain of 300 meters we instead did 350 meters up a steep hill in an hour. My calves are not going to thank me in the morning.

Just before 18:00 we got to our Refugio Bonatti. We're staying in our first dorm on this trip. It is pretty clean and semi comfortable. Dinner was good. It consisted of salad, bean soup, zucchini cakes with potato mash and a yoghurt for desert. I've started on antibiotics this morning after all and have been feeling better throughout the day, but now I'm exhausted and looking forward to some shut-eye. Reception up here is not great so I'm hoping for a brief window of opportunity to post this.

Highlight of the day : crossing the border from Switzerland to Italy at the 2500m pass of Grand Col Ferret. Incredible views.

Lowlight of the day : hot water in the shower of the dorm being limited to about 2 mins 🚿😒

July 13, 2019 at 06:37PM

The flowers on the mountain sides are really beautiful here. #tourdumontblanc. Via Instagram

July 13, 2019 at 06:29PM

Just got to our hut for the night. Exhausted, but happy. #tourdumontblanc. Via Instagram

July 13, 2019 at 11:36AM

Day 2: just got to Grand Col Ferret, 2500m. The view is not too shabby. #tourdumontblanc. Via Instagram

July 12, 2019 at 05:46PM

Got to Ferret. Now dinner and rest. #tourdumontblanc. Via Instagram

July 12, 2019 at 02:52PM

Just got to La Fouly. 2.5km to go to Ferret. #tourdumontblanc. Via Instagram

July 12, 2019 at 01:26PM

Two thirds of the way to Ferret. #tourdumontblanc. Via Instagram

TMB Day 1: Champex to Ferret

It was a long day. We left Champex just after 9am this morning and arrived at our destination of Ferret at 18:00. The uphill walking while I'm congested is a lot of work. I really hope I'll feel better tomorrow morning, otherwise I'll start on antibiotics. Right now we're sitting down for dinner and there's a Mont Dolent (3823m) rising up behind Jack. Pretty amazing.

Since we're going the tour clockwise, which is the less popular direction, there are very few hikers going in the same direction as us. With the many that come towards us in the opposite direction we exchange a brief "Bon Jour" and occasionally "Merci", in parts where path is particularly narrow and someone has to give way.

On the way out of Champex we came across a lot of wood carvings. Mainly of different forest animals and mushrooms. The countryside here is, as expected, absolutely stunning. There are beautiful views upon beautiful views. The houses in the small towns along the way are all very pretty, with many wooden decorations and flowers. There seem to be a lot of people with kids living there, as we came across a number of playgrounds and obstacle courses.

There's hardly any reception in this area, so not sure if we'll be able to either post or be reachable for the next two days. On Sunday evening we should be in Courmayeur, which is a larger town with hopefully better reception.

Highlight of the day : huge number of cows with massive cowbells that create a constant ringing.

Lowlight of the day : sneezing all over the mountains and having to walk with a cold. 

PS : posting this from the border of Switzerland and Italy at Grand Col Ferret, which surprisingly has reception, but still not enough for photos. 

Champex Lac - at the starting line

We left Mannheim at 8:40 this morning and arrived at Champex just after 14:00. For the last 40 mins a narrow road wound itself steeply up from 500 meters to 1400 meters altitude. 

This place is full of fellow hikers. Some of them obviously arrived a while earlier. Some arrived later in the afternoon. Means that everyone is walking at their own pace. 

We're staying in a cute little apartment that overlooks this small town and the lake. The owner was happy for us to leave our car here for the ten days of our walk. 

We went to try and find lunch but seemingly too late. The waitress in the lakeside Cafe told us that they didn't serve food, but that we were welcome to bring our own food from the supermarket and sit there to eat. Which is exactly what we did. 

Next opportunity will be dinner starting at 6pm at our hotel. Even though so far everyone speaks English, I notice how knowing some French would really help. I wish I could remember more from my one year of university French. 

Highlight of the day : getting here

Lowlight of the day : looks like I'm coming down with a cold. 

July 11, 2019 at 10:19AM

Just crossed the border to Switzerland. Alps, here we come!via Instagram

Prequel to TMB

3:45 - wake up

4:30 - drive Babushka, Dedushka and the kids to the airport for their flight to Malaga

6:30 and onwards - pack, clean, finish the last ToDo items

15:00 - drive to Mannheim (halfway between Berlin and the Swiss Alps where we're starting our hike on Friday)

21:30 - arrive in Mannheim hotel (see pic) and sleep... Zzzzzzz

TMB 2019

It's been a while since we posted here. Next week our summer holidays officially begin. While the kids will be enjoying the beach in the south of Spain with my parents, Jack and I will be heading south to Champex in Switzerland. From there we will attempt to walk the Tour du Mont Blanc circuit. We're both fatter than before, unfitter than before, older than before, and probably less determined than before. But we'll still give it a go and worst case we'll be sitting in a mountain hut somewhere, overlooking the Alps through the bottom of a beer glass. I'll try to write a little bit each day. So stay tuned. 

Springing into culture (somewhat clumsily) and travel plans

It's an irregular reality on this blog... But that's how life is right now.

Today was the first spring-like day. 13 degrees and sunny. And it's a Monday. And Mondays happens to be free entry at the Deutsche Kunsthalle (prior to this it was the German Gugenheim). So I decided to take the opportunity and go have a cultural exprience with the kids. I did my homework, I had a look at what's being currently exhibited and saw that the current exhibition ends this week, meaning it was either today or never. The exhibition looked interesting on the website, but turns out that I didn't do my homework properly...

I picked up the boys from their respective places of daycare, we had dinner, took our big red bike out of storage, drove to the bike shop accross the street to pump up the tires and made our way to the gallery. There we had to give up our helmets and backpack upon entry, but then we were set and ready for absorbing artistic expression. As I was reading the opening blurb with Tom on my arms, the words "male form" and "revolutionary gay" stood out to me. We procedeed to look at the first painting which had a lifesize naked man leaning on a balcony. There wasn't anything particularly alarming about it, so we went into the main hall.

On a sidenote - an art exhibition is a completely new domain for both boys. I had Tom by the hand, but Tim wanted to wonder around, so I explained to him that it's important to keep a distance from the paintings and not to touch them. So naturally after about a minute or two he calls me to take a look at a painting he found and what does he do - comes up and stabs his finger in the canvas!  Ooops... retribution came immediately in the form of a strict watcher-lady, who told him in a stern voice not to touch the painting and gave me a nasty look. hmmm ... parenting isn't always easy.

And so we proceeded. Shortly thereafter the stern lady came up to me again and said that the last room has "very free men" on display and that it's up to me to decide whether it's child material. When I asked her what exactly did she mean by "free", she said ... "well, naked". So I asked it it was paintings or photographs. She said paintings. And then added "I just wanted to tell you in terms of the kids... obviously it's up to you, whether you take them there or not". Obviously...

As we were going from painting to painting the inner voices in my head were having a conversation of their own:

Voice of a Conservative Mother (VCM): "The lady said that there is inaproppriate material for children in that room. Do you really want to take your children there?"
Voice of a Free Liberal Mother (VFLM): "They're just paintings. How traumatising can it be?"
VCM: "What if they're pictures of intercourse?"
VFLM: "Tom wouldn't understand that much and Tim has a very detailed book with pictures about how children are made anyway."
VCM: "But this could be gay intercourse. Do you really want to start explaining to your son about anal sex?"
VFLM: "But I'm a modern psychologist mother. I can explain everything to my children."
VCM: "Well... if you say so..."
VFLM: *confused why VCM gave up the arguement... feeling very insecure and uncertain.*

In the meantime we approached a painting of a naked man with his legs spread. Between the spread legs were 3 penises and what looked like two bananas. Upon closer inspection they were not bananas but actually 5 penises. The title confirmed the suspicion - "Old Man with Five Penises". Tim stood for a while in front of it somewhat confused. Tom looked at it, confused, looked at it closer and then asked what that was supposed to be. I couldn't come up with anything better than "Well, sometimes this kind of thing happens...". I was already trying to come up with various possible explanations including radiation exposure, phallic focus in psychoanalysis, but it all seemed like way too far fetched for 3 and 6 year olds. I also realised that perhaps I'm not that well equipped for spontaneous answers to these kinds of questions after all. And so we fled...

As we got home I wanted to read a bit more about the painter and stumbled upon an article in the Guardian about him. This is where I read the following - "Yet his depictions of arses and cocks don’t seem at all shocking or provocative, probably because his renditions of human flesh are so drab and vague. If you don’t believe in the reality of a painted body, who cares if it is naked? " At least the tires in the bike are pumped up and ready to go! And we took a photo at the gallery mirrored wall ...

How do you deal with things like this with your kids? Would you have continued with the exhibition or like me, walked out prematurely?

.................................................

In other news... We're going on our traditional annual (we did one last year, so now it's traditional, ok!) road trip. This time to the north of Italy. We'll try to do regular reporting from there, and here's the map of our planned route.

Strangeness in Siberia

So this Christmas / and new year we're back in (what used to be) the USSR - sunny snowy and only mildly freezing Novosibirsk.
It's only been really cold (-38) on the first couple of days - since then it's been between -15 and -8 which is much better for the kids, although I still haven't achieved my goal of cracking -40...

Random Strangeness:
Traffic here is terrible, so we were on a bus stuck in a jam. The driver *those of you who've been to russia should recognise th classic Bus Driver Man with all his charms sends the female conductor out of th bus to a kiosk to buy him tea. The tea is bought but traffic starts to move - except the bus. The conductor lady comes back, with a small old yogurt container full of brown liquid, almost pours it over me and gets it to the driver. The cars behind start to honk. Bus drivers response - "*various expletives* can't you see I'm drinking my tea". No my good man they cannot, because like all good Russian Bus Drivers you have decked your bus out in such an amount of carpets and doilies and frills to put an 80 year old granny to shame. I'm surprised you can actually see where you're going, although to judge by your driving style, you don't really care :)
Also this was the bus driver who continued to have a running commentary on the traffic, and various other topics. I sincerely believe he was discussing this with the monkey on his back. Polina suggested he might have a bluetooth handsfree headset - I very much doubt that this guy is bluetooth compatible :)

It's New Years Eve, you need a goose, where do you go - the carpark. I believe they keep the car running so the geese on the old carpet don't get too cold ;)

We're flying out again in two days. Perhaps more strangeness will occur in the meantime...

Update Strangeness in a Bar
What do you not expect the bar staff to ask, when you order two 500ml dark beers - "Would you like straws with those"!

Jack...

Balcony - two months later

So in the two months since we've planted our balcony paradise it has succumbed to mildew and has been attacked by some sort of little white insects. The invaders had a main culinary preference for raspberries but didn't refuse to try some blueberries as well. So Jack and I took a trip to the nearest hardware store and bought some organic insecticide and fungicide, which he very kindly sprayed on the plants. It has helped a little but we need to do it another one or two times.

So far everything has been surviving except for one lavender, which dried out and did not come back to life after my resuscitation attempts.

Kids have been very helpful picking out weeds, but haven't really shown much interest in actually eating the berries...

In the meantime there has been a little harvest...

Balcony - two months later

So in the two months since we've planted our balcony paradise it has succumbed to mildew and has been attacked by some sort of little white insects. The invaders had a main culinary preference for raspberries but didn't refuse to try some blueberries as well. So Jack and I took a trip to the nearest hardware store and bought some organic insecticide and fungicide, which he very kindly sprayed on the plants. It has helped a little but we need to do it another one or two times.

Kids have been very helpful picking out weeds, but haven't really shown much interest in actually eating the berries...

In the meantime there has been a little harvest...

18 meters of paradise... time will tell.

We bought our first flat in the end of 2007 and our second one in 2012, but only renovated and joined them together in 2013. When we put them together we also joined the balconies and ended up with one very skinny and very long balcony. For most of the year it's just a long grey space that collects dust off the busiest street in Berlin, bird droppings and dry autumn leaves. But in summer when the weather does pick up for a few months and when it's not too windy we do love to sit on it and see the city life go by.

So I've been cherishing the idea of having something green there. About two years ago I decided that vines or something such like would be great there.  I've done some research.  We even went with Emmi to look at some plants in the local hardware and gardening store two years ago.  Then nothing happened.  Last summer the desire picked up again in spring, but then nothing happened either.  So when the desire came again this spring I had a firm belief that it will come and go.  But no!  Given that we came back early from our road trip we actually had Thursday and Friday with Jack to ourselves while boys were at Kita.  We used Thursday wisely by just hanging out in a cafe by the river brunching and then shopping for new kids clothes.  But Friday we decided to be productive... first we took our car for a quote of repair, so that it can at some point be fixed.  While it was being looked at by the mechanic we went shopping for pots and plants and vine supports.  We first hit IKEA to see what they had... that took about 2 hours.  Then we went to pick up the car after the quote and drove to the hardware store next door.  That took another 2.5 hours.  While Jack was paying for and loading into the boot the stuff we bought there, I went to IKEA again to buy stuff from there that we were not sure of the first time around.  So a mere 5 hours and some couple of hundreds of euros later we drove home via a major detour due to a culture festival this week, needless to say in a less than happy and content mood.  To illustrate the mood we were in, here's a little sketch from KVN (sorry, Russian only)...




BUT... on Saturday with the help of the boys we put it all up and now our balcony looks a bit more like it should in my fantasy.  We bought five big pots for climbing plants and five types of climbing berries to go in them.  There are all the berries that my Grandpa used to have in his country house - raspberries, black currants, red currants, goosberries and blueberries (actually I think Grandpa didnt' have any of them, but in any case...). We also bought some lavender and a little olive tree in a pot, but it's already starting to look a bit sad*.  Here are some photos of the balcony as it is now...

 

* NB: I am not much of a gardener... the only plants that don't die around me are cacti and succulents. But I am hopeful... and there's Google to help.