Practicing Heliolatry atop the Alps, OH YEAH!

My word. Three weeks in the Alps and nothing to say for it?? C'mon Allie 'The hills are alive with the sound of music'!! No but really....they are...there is a 'stage de trompe' going on and there are little forest gnomes frolicking in the woods playing their french horns at all hours of the day. haha! .......but not so haha first thing in the morning.... but more so haha cuz you swear they really are gnomes when looking across the river at them from the balcony, and more haha cuz you swear they're following you on your hike through the woods, just to prove you won't actually get away from them if you tried. Everything though, feels like a toy in this valley, obviously made that way by paling in comparison to the enormity of the spectacular mountains. And so I watch gleefully as the tractor and semi trailers load up with boulders from the river, and giggle to myself how they look like the toy trucks my young cousins used to have. I want to reach out and brrbbrbrrb.....pick them up and turn them around and drive them all over the little miniature winding roads, stopping to let the chou chou train pass through the hills, winding around little toy homes....But I digress.

Being back in the mountains is exactly where my nature loving spirit needs to be. Back to a vast expanse of rugged, wild nature with views that I could only imagine a fraction of. But more than just the green of a new summer, it's the literally icey blue glaciers and snow covered monoliths around me that are so breathtaking...everyday. The mesmerizing waterfalls and white noise of rushing rivers that echo through the valley of, dare I say, cute! little mountain homes (sorry, my London-town friend I'm staying with rolls his eyes every time I say cute, he thinks I think everything is cute....which it is...dammit! So there. But see, I love the way the homes are built on the hillsides here! This ain't no eyesore British Properties a la West Vancouver, where it's clearcut straight lines, totally defacing the mountainside. No no, they are little mushroom huts scattered in droppings in a totally organic way on the hillsides, that I often wonder "How do you even get up there??!" There are no grids, no road lines that suggest
an obvious way in or out, but then again, that IS the case in some areas I've seen...ski-in, ski-out baby, you're in the Alps!)

Chamonix-Mont Blanc is situated at a perfect junction with la Suisse et l'Italie that you can start your ski day in France, dejeuner en Suisse puis terminer la journee avec le diner en Italie...what a life eh? I managed to hitchhike to Martigny, Switzerland the other day and hike (yes hike, not walk) beautiful mountainside vineyards...I don't know that it gets much lovelier than that, but I'll report back apres mon adventure en Italie - whatever that will be! The train ride back was so sketch though mom...you would not have enjoyed it. Oh my god! That's it! It reminds me of the famous wooden rollercoaster at Playland...rickety ol' thing. But place that waay high up on a cliffside with a complete vertical drop off right under your nose...no really, my nose pressed up to the window, squeezing a look over the edge, with nothing to see below me because it was such a straight drop.

Yesterday held such grandeur for me yet. The sun has succeeded over the rain and Allie got out to play! One epic six hour solo hike later, and my legs happily hurt. It was a total and utterly zippity doo dah, my oh my what a wonderful day! Plenty of sunshine...and mountain goats, heading my way! Wait, I know there's something about a bluebird in there isn't it? But no no, goats I tell you! With horns! haha. So lo and behold, Allie the capricorn goat meets these fellow creatures, enfin. How unexpected - especially when I turn round the corner of a big boulder and bam! I startle backwards 'cuz we've both just caught each other totally off guard...me whistling as I bounce along the path, him just munching on a mid afternoon snack, obviously a bit perturbed as he snaps his eyes up at the sight of me and squeaks "Pardon me ma'am, do you have any grey poupon?" to which I replied "but you squeak? Not the sound I'd imagined...."

It took me the six hours to hike because I had to stop and marvel at the goats for a good while, but mostly because I had to catch my breath at the view so frequently, my god! At the top of my escalade, I cried for the second time since being here in Argentiere (the little town just outside Cham where I am living). I cried as I sat contemplating and appreciating this magnificent valley, with its little toy towns and their certain 'je ne sais quoi' french mountain flair, looking across at this unbelievable view, feeling completely atop my world; remembering how my mom once told me about a friend of hers from the prairies of Canada who felt 'claustrophobic' in the mountains of west coast Canada, and I just can't comprehend that sentiment at all. I feel the total opposite, like all the space in the world is here to explore! Nothing but grandeur and endless territory for me to discover. ....everywhere is BIG and BEAUTIFUL, reminding me that hey...size and beauty DOES make a difference! hahahah
Oh god, sorry, was that a sentimental moment that I just ruined there?! C'mon Allie.

Well, perhaps that's for another day. And so, I sat atop that mountain yesterday, singing happy birthday to my mommy dearest, wishing she was there with me, but knowing damn well that wouldn't have worked...the ladders (yes, ladders!) and sketch vertical faces I had to clamber up would not have fared well with my height sensitive mother. But I salute you on this glorious day mom, and to everyone a beautiful, Alps sized hug!!

Love Allie
Happy summer solstice from the sunnnny alps!! Bring on the sunshine.....