Blogs from Aosta Valley, Italy, Europe

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Europe » Italy » Aosta Valley July 4th 2019

After a quick bowl of museli and a much welcome cup of hot tea ( it was now 11 degrees C) we packed up the hut, loaded the car and were on the road by 7.10am . We had a long day ahead of up as Stan really wanted to get to the Moto Guzzi museum in time for the tour at 2.30pm. It's on the banks of Lake Como so we wanted to explore the area before moving on to that night's accommodation in a mountain village. Despite the prospect of a long drive ahead within minutes we were stopping to take photos. The scenery in the early morning clear air was just stunning I braved the cold to get a photo next to the snow. Despite daytime temperatures of in the high 20s there ... read more
Mont Blanc
Mountain streams flooding under the road.
Snow. A cool 11 degrees at 7am.

Europe » Italy » Aosta Valley July 4th 2019

For anyone not interested in bikes.... You'll probably want to skip this blog! Stan was in his element taking the tour around the old Moto Guzzi factory site. I joined him for a while and tried to show interest but when he bumped into three of his Laverda club friends I left them to it. The photos tell the story better than me!... read more
Stan feeling happy that we made it time for the tour.
Famous sign. ( Apparently)
First Moto Guzzi ever produced.

Europe » Italy » Aosta Valley » Aosta July 28th 2018

Am Freitag ist die 7. Arbeitswoche in Bern erfolgreich zu Ende gegangen. Während dieser Zeit ist auch die Lohnabrechnung für den Juni gekommen. Dabei wurde nur eine niedrige Schweizer Quellensteuer abgezogen. Als Deutscher kann ich von solchen Sätzen nur träumen und wenn ich 181 Tage oder so hier bleibe, muss ich meine hiesigen Einkünfte nicht in Deutschland versteuern. Ich hoffe also, dass das ganze hier wie bisher weiter geht. Heute bin ich also nach dem Frühstück über die gerade renovierte Kirchenfeldbrücke zum Auto und los gefahren. Dabei kam ich am Genfer See vorbei und bin weiter Richtung Wallis. Bei Martigny habe ich die Autobahn verlassen und bin eine vor 15 Jahren zuletzt gefahrene Straße hoch zum Großen Sankt Bernhard-Tunnel. Damals habe ich ja von Montreux aus viele Ausflüge über diese Strecke gemacht. Diesmal hat es allerdings ... read more
Porta Pretoria.
Criptoportico Forense.
Bei der Basilica di San Lorzeno.

Europe » Italy » Aosta Valley » La Thuile February 16th 2018

La Thuile in Italy is a 2 hour drive from our home in Geneva, through France and then the Mont Blanc tunnel in the Aosta Valley region. I find it quite overwhelming how many ski fields are within a days drive from Geneva. We have such an amazing choice of fields in Switzerland, France and Italy. We had a lovely ski week (half term), where we were directly across from the local ski field. 3 magic carpets, 2 chair lifts, a gondola to many more fields in Italy and France. Also a huge slope for sledging, a half buried playground, a kids zone with 2 bouncy castles and a tubing tow thing. We were spoilt for choice. Charlotte was gifted a snowboard and I managed to get some cheap snowboard boots the week before our trip. ... read more
All the family on skis on the same piste
When in Italy, eat pizza
Char, Haylz and Muzz

Europe » Italy » Aosta Valley » Courmayeur July 10th 2017

I've been sick! Terrible head (some may say it's always terrible) and poor tummy that has really only tolerated liquids and gelato. I've had more nutrients from tablets than from Italian cuisine despite the fact that here the food is surprisingly good. Breakfast at the hotel have seen Julie setting a pace that I'm no where near! I did have some French onion soup that was particularly good last night. Julie had some ravioli flavoured with lemon and mint, again really good. The ham and cheese here is ubiquitous but again good, just a shame I don't feel like eating it. We've had a couple of days as tourists here so I'll drop some of the photos from the cable car to give some impression of the surrounds. In some places (the US and Scotland in ... read more
Look super carefully.
Expensive shopping in Courmayeur.
Out of the Skytrain and up, up, up to Hellbronner.

Europe » Italy » Aosta Valley » Courmayeur July 8th 2017

Back a couple of days, in order to make up for no wifi. A couple of musings first. I'm big on musing (they really only have to make sense to me!). When you are walking up hill you want to walk down hill. When you walk down hill you want to walk up hill. When it's flat you know it's going to change soon. Calling this entry TMB 3/4 is a bit of a joke (on us though) as there is nothing done by halves or fraction here. This is a full on walk. From now on anyone named Col has some automatic credibility. The 'cols' are the top of passes, not the highest points but the crossing between 2 ranges. The col de Seigne is the French/Italian border. Any 'col' is good as it means ... read more
Early day TMB 3.
Up we go, gently at first.
Well fairly gently.

Europe » Italy » Aosta Valley » Cogne July 13th 2016

How you could wake up wobbly here, with that view, I don't know, but I suppose it had to happen at some stage. When I think about why, it's Isabel's birthday so we are feeling bad we're not at home, we've been pushing the envelope to bursting for a couple of weeks now, and sleep deprivation and I don't go well together. So, anyway, I was in two minds about inflicting my mood on others on the walk and thought seriously about spending the day just relaxing at the hotel - not a bad option! In the end though, I pulled it together and went along, not wanting to miss the very last hike. I really stomped up those mountain trails at the beginning, making sure I was a distance in front of everyone and hoping ... read more
Cate and Greg, Gimillan hike
We walked down the hill to the river, then across the bridge and up up up.
Mick reading to everybody after lunch

Europe » Italy » Aosta Valley July 12th 2016

Those of you who know Frank well, know that he dances on the inside. It takes something special to get him up on the dance floor and today, the Hotel Bellevue was it. We all fell under its spell. Part of the magic was that when we first arrived, just after lunch, the whole area was shrouded in low cloud and light rain was falling. All the surprises were still to be revealed. It was our first walk in the rain so far, but the dampness didn't spoil the mood. The grey day changed the beautiful colour of the river, but I loved the wispy cloud that floated amongst to pine trees. We said goodbye to the lovely Hector and Courmayeur quite early (I can't believe we never learned his real name!) and after a short ... read more
Our first rainy walk
One of Jackie's delicious picnic desserts
Flowers everywhere

Europe » Italy » Aosta Valley July 11th 2016

Today I happened to get a good phone signal at one of the highest (and coldest) points on our walk, so it was too good an opportunity to miss. While the point of coming on a trip like this has been to get away from our phones and computers for a while, it has been tricky trying to connect with the children at exactly the right time on some days. The family is on three different continents at the moment. Hugo was quite impressed when I told him I was calling from the top of a snowy mountain pass, overlooking the glaciers, so I promised a photo. Here it is, Hugo! We had just picked our way through a patch of snow on the side of the hill and I was, unusually, at the front of ... read more
We have signal!
Walking through the snow
River crossing




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