The blue heart of a glacier

About 10 years ago, on a summer vacation in Chamonix, at the base of Mont Blanc, I did the tourist thing and took the little mountain train to Montenvers and from there descended into the heart of the Mer de Glace, the Sea of Ice glacier.

Every summer, a grotto featuring an enormous bedroom, dining room and more, is carved out of the ice where the temperature remains just below freezing. Although it was certainly an interesting side trip,  what has really stayed with me is the color of the ice: the purest, most luscious turquoise you could imagine. Its intensity was so mesmerizing it's as if I wanted it to absorb me. As the climate warms, adventures like this may be hard to experience.

Sometimes, on nature programs that feature calving icebergs, you get a glimpse of it.

Yes, this all very far from Florida's environment (at least until the sea level rises) but I came across some gorgeous photos of rare, striped icebergs in Antartica on The Daily Telegraph's website. Check them out and you'll get an idea of what I saw in the heart of a sea of ice.