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Published: June 14th 2017
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Geo: 46.1445, 8.72654
Dawn doesn't occur until after 7.30am, which takes some getting used to. We had breakfast, rugged up, and (after looking at Tino's daini (the deer)), we drove back to Ronco to try to catch Martina (who also prepared an apartment for us!) and quickly saw Floriano.
We grabbed some supplies in Tenero, were stopped on the road whilst a man detonated acharge, and then drove up the Valle Verzasca. Always stunning! The kids loved the dam, Tom especially because of its connection to the James Bond movies, and to Laverterr####, where the Ponte Romano can be found. It was so beautiful, but this time, there could be no scrambling on the rocks - they were covered in ice and snow!!! We crossed the bridge, took the obligatory photos, then wandered through the village, which we had never done before. A hot chocolate stop was required!
From here, as we went up the valley, there was more and more snow by the side of the road and in the fields and on the roofs of the stone houses. It is clear that this is a summer tourist destination - lots of places have signs up saying closed 1/11 to 1/5! The road
was empty and judging by the few houses with smoke from their chimneys, so were the villages. The kids loved the suspension bridges to reach villages on the opposite side of the river to the road, and the cable baskets to pull supplies to those houses up high in the mountain.
Sonogno was deserted. There were 3 kids getting onto the school bus, and lots of snow around, but no shops. Our kids had lots of fun playing in the snow - here, it was fresh and crunchy, and perfect for throwing up into the air, or smashing against rocks. We found a hockey puck - a good souvenir, and were amazed by the frozen waterfall and the sheets of ice in the river, where it has frozen. The air was heavy with the sounds of goat bells in the hills around us, though we couldn't see them. This is such a pretty place!
It was too cold in Sonogno, which had returned to the shade after an hour or two of sunshine per day at this time of year, so we drove to Frasco, back down the valley, where we had a picnic lunch of bread, ham and Camembert in the
sun at the rear of the church. Listening to the river roaring, the sun warming us, and surrounded by 200 year old Stations of the Cross - a perfect luncheon. But the sun disappeared behind the mountain, and the temperature plummeted, so back into the car and down the Valle Verzasca to Tenero.
We decided that Georgia and I were going to get wet feet, with all this snow, so we stopped at the shopping centre and bought boots for the girls - and daddy! The shop assistants think it is so cute that our children speak English!
Back to Il Monte, for some rest for an hour, then back down the mountain to Ronco for dinner with the De Bortoli family, for Zio Luciano's birthday. Everyone was there - Zio and Zia, and Danny and Sandra with William (15?) and Yasmin (12), and Martina and Floriano with Andre (16?) and Daniel (11?). It was a great night, at the pizza restaurant in Ronco - it is very hard for the kids, who don't share a language, but Georgia is understanding lots of Italian this time, and Matt smiles and talks regardless of whether they can understand! And apparently photos of monkey's
bottoms is universally funny for boys!!! Tom struggled last night, but he is always the one who feels the tiredness the most.
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