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