Val d'Aosta!

Ciao from Courmayeur!!  I hope you are all well & prepping for a fabulous weekend! I am sheltering from the rain in the cozy town library to fill you in on my rural Italian life.  Up here in the alps it is cold & definitely feels like autumn.  Since I have been here I have seen the trees change from green to yellow, orange, red... feels like it's been a while since I have been able to observe the changing palette of fall.  I've been continuing to work in the garden, harvesting veggies to freeze for the winter, chopping wood, reading books, etc.  

I was able to take a trip to Chamonix in France which is a totally cute mountain town.  It's a pity that it's not ski season yet because this area is a winter wonderland!  Also, the other day I went to Torino to see some world class museums.  Yesterday I took a steep hike to catch a sweet view & then killed my poor knees on the way down.  I also read a wonderful book, The Elegance of the Hedgehog.  Have you read it?  It has been out for a while & I heard it has been now made into a movie.  Anyway, it was so good!  I found I could relate to the characters & it was such a touching story.  Enjoy the beautiful moments in life, people!  :)

Here are some maps & photos, I hope you will enjoy them.  Lots of nature pics this time.  

my view of the mountains as I walk up to the chalet & garden where my hosts live.  not bad!!

could the chalet in the woods be any more quaint?  this is the home of my hosts.

and this is the view of Mont Blanc from their balcony.  SWEET!!!  

My hopes of scaling Mt. Blanc (the highest mtn. in Europe!) were dashed when I found out it would cost about E900, because you need to go with a guide to travel over the glaciers.  Also, I have no equipment with me & would have had to rent all this stuff.  I tried to talk to various people who are in the know about outdoor adventure here to see if I could find a group or other guide to go up the mountain but, no one seemed to really take me seriously.  Telling me, you know, you have to train for like A YEAR to climb Mt. Blanc.  I would tell them that I have a good idea of what's involved but, they would point out some other easy hikes that I might be happier with.  Oh well, it was worth a shot.  Really, you don't even have to camp the night on the glacier to ping Mt. Blanc, you stay in a rifugio (where they give you beds & hot food!).  This makes the whole ordeal of having to get up in the dark to start for the summit seem so much more doable.  Anyway.....  another time.  

one of the glaciers of Mt. Blanc.  another time, i said!!! :)

Val d'Aosta is the smallest & least populated region of Italy!  It is very mountainous with many small towns tucked into mountain valleys.  

the tiny brown bit

you can see Courmayeur in the upper left.  just across that pink border is France!

The biggest town in the region is Aosta, I have done some exploring there.  There are a lot of interesting Roman artifacts!  The day I was there museums were free so I was able to see two art exhibits.  One was of Kandinsky, who I absolutely LOVE, it was gorgeous.  The other was of Girgio de Chirico, another guy I like a lot.  He founded the school of metaphysical modern art!  So, I enjoyed the arts of Aosta.  

ancient Roman arch in Aosta

this was COOL!!!  an Aostan inventor, Inocenzo Manzetti, had built, in 1849 this automaton that played the flute.  Crazy!  Did you see that movie Hugo Cabret?  The automaton?  I loved that movie.

an example of Chirico's work.  he is famous for these characters with dressmaker's dummy heads.

Aosta

raining..... in Aosta

arty editing

this was amazing!  the ancient, now underground Roman cryptoporticus

dahlia season!

we take our coffee out on the balcony 

these purple green beans are yummy!!!!!

look at all this stuff i harvested & painstakingly cleaned!

I am also cleaning these dandelion roots!  so healthful!

typical many trail markings on rocks & signs.  the tour du mont blanc, a backpacking trail that circumnavigates the mountain passes right by here.  i was wanting to do that trail....  next time for that one too :)

lots of lovely Larch trees around here, reminds me of the Cascades.

Courmayeur valley

the traditional slate tiled roof

cows, nearly ready to move down to the valley for the winter

mt. blanc cloaked in cloud

more glaciers, more mountains...

so bored right now.    ha ha.

found this place of pagan ritual in the forest.

fall zinnias!

my hosts have some really cute, healthy & well taken care of hens.   one lets me pick her up!  cute!

here is my wood zone where i toil away :)

the garden.  we have covered some stuff in plastic to combat frost.

Aosta again

an ancient chiostro with ancient decoration, different on all the pillar capitals.

And viola, there you have it.  I am having fun.  People have been asking when I am coming "HOME" to the US.  Well folks, I will be back on November 25th.  I will have to take some time to put my life in order & do some planning but, I am feeling ready to settle down again.  There is only so long one can ignore responsibilities of adult life it seems.  It's a pity but, even irresponsible folk like myself have to face the music at some point.  And, I look forward to new challenges :).

Next week I'll travel down to Tuscany to do an olive harvest with my American pal, Erica.  Looking forward to it!

Happy weekending :)

xo

Andiamo a Cinque Terre e Milano!!

Ligurian coast near Manarola

Buongiorno tutti!!

I'm back to share photos of the glorious Cinque Terre & Milan!  Today I am enjoying sun & warm temps in Courmayeur.  I had planned to go to France today, Chamonix & on to Lyon but...  botched my transport plan due to reduced number of buses as of October.  Whoops!  Fortunately, through my months of travel I am able to adapt to plan failures easily.  So, I will just do a small hike today & visit the mountain town of Chamonix tomorrow.   It will be a nice daytrip to the other side of Mont Blanc in France, a country I have never been to!  Surely I'll get a feel for the country in one day.  :)  Too bad it's not winter because it is a virtual ski paradise here!  And that's what is going on with my travel planning today.  

In other news, I am really enjoying my time here working in the garden of a wonderful older couple.  Yesterday I cut & split wood in the morning (a good workout), managing to slightly smash my finger with an ax.  (no worries, just some light bruising).  That is one satisfying task, especially when you get the hang of it.  Then in the afternoon, I harvested a billion yummy pears using this extra long handled fruit capturing basket.  Awkward but, fun times.  It reminded me of doing the wonderland backpacking trail around Mount Ranier in Washington & having to hang the food bag for the night up on this tall hanger using a long handled thingy, equally awkward.  Anyways, I do amuse myself.  

My host Daniela is an amazing biodynamic gardener & cook, she knows everything about wild greens & herbs & I am learning a lot!  On top of that she is unbelievably agile & inspiring, I can only hope to be so fit at her age!  I prepared some wild kale for us for dinner the other night & what to me was yummy, was hard & unedible to these Italians.  I told them this is how we do it in America & they looked at eachother as if to say...  this woman knows nothing about food preparation.  They told me a story about an American guest who, at dinner time, took an artfully prepared risotto & salad meant to be eaten separately to experience the flavors & promptly mixed them together.  They were horrified by this but accepted the guest by acknowledging that she was an American.  And now my attempt at kale is a good joke, they humor me.  :)

Here are some photos taken the other week:  ENJOY!

enjoying some evening spumante by the sea in Riomaggiore!

looking fabulous!

the cute town of Manarola, clinging to the rocks

ciao tutti!!

the infamous rocky coastline

 There is a very famous hike that we had been wanting to taking along the coast between the five small towns of the Cinque Terre.  It was perhaps the main reason we had come here, to continue our hiking theme.  Wouldn't you know it, it had rained the day before causing some landslides & helicopter evacuations of Australian hikers &....   the entire trail had been closed to hikers!  Damn the luck!  So, we opted to take an overland route from Manarola to Corniglia, which turned out to be awesome.

what is this plant?

taking a break from hiking for a glass of vino :)

olives getting ready for harvest

pretty views from the terraced vineyards

these dudes are harvesting their grapes & hauling them up using this clever little train

up go the grapes!

coast from Vernazza

here in Vernazza we took advantage of the afternoon sun for a swim in the chilly waters.  refreshing!

vernazza

self indulgent yoga shot :)

last year there was a huge storm that filled the streets of Vernazza with mud!  a year after they seem to have recovered well!

ah, cinque terre...

enjoying an aperitivo in Monterossa!

cat in basket

Then, we hit Milano for a day to see the great Duomo!  It was fabulous & I couldn't stop taking photos of those statues & flying buttresses!

Duomo with Milan youth

piazza del Duomo

shopping galleria

it was rainy all day but, no matter.  voila, il duomo!

inside

excellent stained glass

what a muscular statue

 We climbed the stairs to the roof!  Of course there was some restoration going on of the very top up there but, still nice views & photos :)

could not stop taking photos...

 By a stoke of luck & cleverness we managed to score cheap, last minute tickets to opening night of Puccini's La Boheme @ Teatro La Scala!!!!  Perhaps the most famous opera house in the world!!!!  It was awesome!  Despite having to stand for the performance to see the stage it was a magical evening!  

La Scala!!

Kim got new shoes for the occasion so she didn't have to wear her classy flip flops :)

 And sadly, the next morning my friend Kim returned to the US, leaving me to visit Leonardo Da Vinci's Last Supper alone.  There is an intense reservation process & I had to get up early to hustle for my prenotazione.  It was worth it!  Sublime!  Rather than a wet fresco Leo used a dry method which caused the colors & painting to degrade rapidly.  It has been a long restoration process to get the painting to this viewable state & the painting (more of a mural on a church wall) is now in a climate controlled environment.  You are allowed in for 15 minutes in groups of about 30.  You aren't allowed to take photos so....  these are of a poster just outside :)  just imagine the real thing.

it was possible to stare at this lovely painting for a long time :)

the fabulous ceiling in the neighboring church

and these reliefs were amazing!

dome designed by Bramante

the outside of the church

I also went to the Brera Gallery to experience some religious art, it having been a while since I had immersed myself in many paintings of Madonna & child.  It was a great gallery!  Then...  I took a long haul bus north to the mountains where I am now.  I really enjoyed Milano!

Until next time...  xoxox!