Oh, the Places You'll Go

You have brains in your head.

You have feet in your shoes.

You can steer yourself any direction you choose.

As I watched the kids ascend more than 1300 meters on a trail directly across from Monte Bianco, for some reason, the classic Dr. Seuss book kept playing in my head today.  Not for the first time, it dawned on me how incredible an opportunity this is.  To be able to take our kids to different parts of the world, to introduce them to different tastes, smells, customs, habits.  To be able to bring them up to just below eye level of Europe's highest peak, and introduce them to a field of grasshoppers and show them hanging glaciers and the water falls they rain into the valley below.

For Kohji and I, these are wonders.  For the kids, it's normal.  The idea of glacial peaks, procscuito and melon and Italian speaking bus drivers is part of the world.  It is not strange, it is not scary, it just is.  What this will mean as they get older, I don't really know.  Will it mean they will no longer be amazed by the wonders that the world contains?  Or will it mean that they will go in search of greater wonders, and do so with confidence and curiosity?  It really remains to be seen, but for the moment, I can't help but feel thankful that we are able to undertake a trip of this type, length and wonder.

After a wonderful night in a heated hotel room (yes, I'm still not quite over that), we headed down for a continental breakfast here in the hotel.  I would be lying if I didn't say warm peach filled croissant and chocolata to drink didn't make me very, very happy!  It was an excellent start to the day.    

Kohji made the point that if you try to take the cable car up Monte Bianco, you don't actually see the mountain.  So, we decided on a hike right across from the mountain.  In order to get to a starting point that didn't require too much of an up hill slog, we decided to take a bus to the trail head,  The start was a little confusing as the bus driver didn't speak either English or French, and by his tone, I'd say he thought we were a tad demented.  He tried speaking slowly and enunciated each word for us, but it didn't help.  Nor did our attempts at the equivalent in English.

Somehow, we got off at the right stop, though it wasn't an actual stop, so much as I think the driver was tired of us.  And we started our first real ascent since arriving here, and probably the steepest ascent the kids have ever tried, we had the trail pretty much to ourselves.  It wasn't long before the mountain came into view.  The total vertical was going to be 1400 feet, and so we came prepared.  For about 500 feet or so, Kohji managed to stretch out the telling of Little Shop of Horrors, complete with a few refrains of Feed Me Seymour.  

With each step, the mountain grew grandeur and grandeur.  We had a clear day and while there was some cloud shrouding, the mountain stayed largely clear and open.  It was a real treat to see the full peaks in all their coarse and rough majesty.  

The day was so clear, we could make out dozens of glacial waterfalls spilling down the cliffs and scree fields like wild ribbons coursing across rock.

After a couple hours, we found ourselves at the Refugia Bretaine, which was quite a surprise.  At the trail head, the sign indicated it was a 2 hours and 15 minute trip to the Refugia, which we assumed to be an adult pace. Somehow between the promise of hunting grasshoppers (of which there were a crazy number) and the story of a demonic man eating plant, the kids kept pace at least with me!  It really made me think that someday soon, they will be outpacing me and waiting impatiently for me to reach them on the trail.

Lunch was a two hour affair.  We arrived a little before 12, but restaurant service didn't start until 12:30.  And so we hung around.  Or rather, Kohji and I hung around.  

The kids were very busy.  They spent our entire wait building a coliseum for grasshoppers and collecting unwitting tenants.  I mainly people watched, taking in the Italian teenagers, French families and solo travellers and inventing wonderful stories for each new arrival.

Our trip down was managed thanks to a couple of sticks.  At the beginning of the 2600 descent back into Courmayeur, the kids found sticks and spent about 1500 feet defending the forest from unseen bad guys.  There were grand sword fights, dramatic shoot outs and fairy magic force fields that carried them almost the entirety of the way.  It meant Kohji and I could walk 100 or so meters ahead of them and still hear them moving along.  Interesting, it also drew a lot to "ciao" and "Hey Messi" from passersby who happened upon the kids.  

Arriving back into town, they even hit a playground for a 1/2 hours here they made a friend over the zip line.  I was tired just watching them, but they make the energizer bunny look like a snoozing sloth.

Dinner was at a local pizzeria. We've come to appreciate that pizzerias and bars are the best places for dinner.  The food is tasty, service fast, patrons informal and music from the eighties (I don't know why, but it's been pretty consistent).

The parting shot for tonight shows a little Italian.  Good night from Courmayeur.