Well yesterday was another hiking day for me while Cindy recovered a bit from her ailments. All in all, I think she’s recovered, so tomorrow we’ll set off again on the trail. Yesterday was about 3,000 ft of climbing and about 10 miles – but really the last six was pretty much on a downhill road. The scenery was excellent and it wasn’t super hot. It seems you basically start the day around 3,000 ft in town, then are journeyed (bus/taxi/etc.) up to about 5-6,000 feet, and then proceed to do your hike. I met up with Cindy yesterday in Courmayeur and today was a rest day at the spa – very awesome.

Yesterday my hiking was actually pretty fast, although I realized about half way thru the climb that my breakfast choice of a peach and bowl of corn flakes wasn’t cutting it – not to worry gentle reader as I have plenty of snacks along for the ride – sort of a requirement when hiking with Cindy 😉

You start out in a taxi – the driver of said taxi is a bit nuts – going up/down/winding road to get you to your destination. I was in the third row of the van – and was calling for ‘more air’ please from the people sitting in the front – not a fun feeling. I was super relieved when we got there. After the crazy taxi, laced up and was off – it only took about an hour 45 mins to get to the top – and then basically sat down had a snack and started the journey back down the hill on the other side. It’s much further going down – over 3,000 feet back down.

On the way down however, the scenery is amazing – some definite peaks and you can clearly make out the glacier history cut into the rock. There are some great Refugio’s along the way – nestled high up into these great valleys – once the snow starts flying – all this is closed down until next season – and the end of season is in about two weeks. Generally there are a lot of people doing the hike and it seems like every 4th person I meet is from Colorado, or for sure has met someone from Colorado on the trip. I guess folks from Colorado are just adventure loving at heart.

On the journey down there was this great herd of cows – with very large bells attached to their neck – pretty amazing – they just stood there and we walked right through – they didn’t care, but I did notice their horns.

Today was our rest day in Courmayeur – and it was great. Unfortunately last night, we had another incident of “bugs” close the door to the outside – 2 hours later Cindy gasping for breath – getting out of bed saying “must have air…” so she opened the door to the outside patio. It was pretty hot in our room (I have to admit I was awake thinking this sort of stinks…). Cindy even then took a shower to try to cool off. One thing about some of these hotels – they just don’t know how to build a shower that holds water. Yesterday my shower was the size of a telephone booth – door didn’t close all the way – water everywhere. This hotel – there’s no door and it’s just a flat pad with a drain – so well the water just runs off the end to the mat… Maybe you’re supposed too turn the water on/off and Navy shower? Not me – I have to get the conditioner out of my hair…

Ok, back to the sweat lodge – new travel requirement was established by on high – thou must haveth a fan else feel the wrath of the princess on vacation. To much luck and success this morning was bestowed the gift of cool from the God of Phan from the hotel – so alas there will be airflow and said princess will be sooo happy.

Today we did end up spending about 6 hours at the spa nearby – however getting there we were supposed to take the bus – which was packed with tourists – nope we don’t do that (princess) – so taxi to the spa. It was awesome though – they have these great bars in the water that you lie on and they blow air bubbles everywhere. We hung out, read books, generally relaxed, tried some stretching moves for the legs and then went and had some meat/cheese combo plate that we couldn’t finish. I have noticed Cindy has been eating so a good sign for the rest of the trip. I am suspicious of her ear and think (thank Claude) she has a middle ear infection sort of happening but we’ll make it through and get it looked at in the states.

Courmayeur is basically like a tourist / ski town – feels like Beaver Creek to me (or Vail i guess). Most of the places are closed up, but the mountain sporting shops are open, as well as the Rolex store so if you need that cheap $25,000 watch it’s always available. Fun fact – in Geneva when religion was the driving force a priest “John Calvin” forced folks to dress very humbly, work hard, etc. (Total Depravity) So no jewelry whatsoever – except for watches – which you use to get to church on time – and that’s why Geneva is the watch capital of the world.

Another 2,500 foot day tomorrow, about 9 miles. Of course forecast for rain and heavy rain so pictures will be interesting.