Fagins' Travels: Up Up and into the Alps

Mario knew he was dealing with people who'd slowed down a bit over their many years, along with at least two way above average strong, aerobic specimens (Paul and Millie) ; so he did a masterful job of providing challenging rewarding hikes for all of us. Each day there was a hike of around 8 to 10km, always uphill first so that coming back felt like the easier part. (That is until ones knees take on a weary ache or ones toes hit the front of their boot, or seem at war with one another. ) If the altitude gain was greater, we didn't cover as much distance. Then he offered optional hikes for those who wanted to go further, see the beautiful lake up another two, three, six hundred meters. Paul, Millie and Mario always did the optional hikes, but Laura, Jim and I sometimes did them as well, or we gave it a big effort before sitting on a rock to survey the valley below and declare that we had come far enough.

There were two major motivators for patching our blisters and setting out each morning on the next uphill, thin-aired trek: 1) the scenery was just about the best anyone had seen- like ever, and 2) we knew there would be a magical moment 3 or so hours later when we rounded a bend to see Vittorio set up in a lovely sheltered spot with the best picnic food one could imagine: usually four delightful fresh veggie salads uniquely and perfectly dressed, meats, cheeses, sometimes a pasta, fresh bread, lots of wine, and often desserts. There was no way we could eat and drink all that tempted us and then continue with the hike.....and yet each day we did.

We will get to those beautiful mountains, waterfalls, alpine meadows of wildflowers and sweet cows soon, but first some of Vittorio's picnics.

Vittorio is still salting the salads, but plates are moving in.

The Music

Jim brought his magic flute and David the beautifully tuned and painted violin he hand made; both are life long talented musicians who can play just about anything by ear. What a treat to have our own lilting music right there in those lovely mountain meadows.

Jim, Mario and David performing; Millie, Danice and Frannie singing and cheering.

Hard to get moving after lunch, maybe just one or two more melodies.

The music sometimes drew passers-by. This photo captures one of life's more wonderful moments when a passing trail-worker, also named Mario, joined our Mario in singing "O Sole Mio" and some favorite opera pieces in beautiful harmonizing voices. Jim and David picked up the melodies to accompany them...

the audience was on their feet proclaiming bravos!

Laura and Jim celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary during the trip. So Millie wrote a clever song describing the events of their life, filled with double entendre, to the tune of "The Chipmunk Song", which we all sang loudly to David's accompaniment. Mario hid a bottle of Prosecco in the river of melted glacier water nearby. Fran and David gave them gold nuggets from Alaska, and we all had a merry time. We were all singing, so nobody got a picture.

But it wasn't all food, wine and song. We were amazed on each of the 8 hikes by the beauty of the open valleys and lakes, the huge surrounding glacier topped mountains, and the 360 degree vistas. No way Paul could capture all of that with his limited skill (his words) and point-and-shoot camera. These photos show such a small degree of what we were seeing, but they remind us of the grandeur through which we traipsed.

First the mountains and valleys:

And the waterfalls: You really have to be there since the sound and the movement of the water is half the fun; and the long falls only look like white lines down the side of the mountain, so mostly what we have here are the small falls or close-ups of the big ones.

And the wildflowers:

And the cows at higher summer pastures:

Villages:

Mario often led us to small, barely accessible old villages, some abandoned and some kept up by city folks who come back on weekends and holidays. Many were built with the nearby stones, including the roofs.

Others made use of the wood from the plentiful forests. Flower boxes bursting with color were requisite in any occupied home.

In this small village (mostly vacation homes at this point),

Mario had befriended a very charming local cheese maker.

Her husband and older son manage the herd of cows, bringing in hundreds of gallons of milk per day

which she alone turns into lovely cheeses, yogurts and butter for sale in larger towns down the mountain (while we were there some people had hiked up just to get her yogurt and butter). It's quite a lot of work. Five times a day each wheel is wrapped in fresh large sections of linen cloth put into wooden molds and weighted down with a heavy stone to slowly extract excess moisture.

Then she hand scrubs the cloths and hangs them to dry. Here her indescribably cute 2 younger children are bringing them in from the line.

She showed us one of her storage rooms in a nearby stone house:

The darker rounds on the lower rack to the cheese makers right were made by her father-in-law, who taught her the craft. They have been aging for three years, and are for sale to only special customers. Mario could not convince her to sell him one. She calls them gold.

The cows give milk every day and so she must work very hard every day. Danice asked Mario to ask her how she became a cheese maker; was she born into a cheese making family or what? She smiled and said, "When you fall in love with a shepherd..... you learn to make cheese."

The most exhilarating part of the trip was saved to our last hiking day. We traveled from Courmayeur in a Funivie (the longest cable car in the world) up to about 3842 meters for a breath taking view of Monte Bianca, known as Mont Blanc to the French, at 4810 meters. Despite clouds and fog the day before and the day after, the sun shone and the wispy veil of clouds hiding the mountain gently parted to reveal the majestic mountain top.

Paul, Millie and Mario descended from the platform to slide about on the glacier below

Millie took the shot of Paul and Mario

Paul has a strong preference for outdoor photos, and didn't photograph the group after we returned to our nice hotels, washed our dirty hiking outfits and cleaned our sweaty bodies. When time permitted we gathered for a glass of what we considered well deserved Prosecco before dinner. Soon Mario would arrive to take us to a specially selected restaurant serving delicious Piemontese favorites with lots of the great regional wines. Always a fun way to end a great day.

On the 10th day, Mario guided the van back down the valleys and onto the freeways to deliver our hiking buddies to train station and hotels, and us to our Torino home exchange. We were sad to leave our pack of friends with whom we had shared these incredible experiences, but hope we all stay fit enough to reconvene somewhere else in Italy to see where Mario and Vittorio will lead us next.

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BUT WAIT - THERE'S MORE!

Paul has more pictures of fellow hikers and things he noticed along the trail and in the villages he'd like to share.