This is why. This day, this complete weather surprise, this beauty, this pace, this blueberry tart eaten outside, stripped of jackets, caps, mitts, this afternoon, sunshine streaming in from the west. This leisurely walk en famille that racks up steps as if they were bunny rabbits set loose to mate. This is why days like yesterday -- full of waits and flights and transportation hurdles are worth it, because the day like today is so very good!
We catch up on sleep (and would have caught up even more had Snowdrop's alarms not kept going off all night -- the girl keeps a schedule of what happens when via her watch and somehow she managed to keep these logged in, set to disturb, even in Europe, which functions with a seven hour time difference).
We wake up to a day that hasn't any cloud hovering near out terrace. Indeed, it's looking pretty good out there! And the view!
Oh, that mountain view...
Breakfast, the three of us...
... with so many favorites to choose from!
And now it's time to explore the village of Saint Martin de Belleville.
("we're ready!")
(our hotel is near the top of Saint Martin de Belleville)
(down below...)
There is a tiny and empty tourist office, which is helpful. I consult about walks in the area for later in the day. For this morning? We walk the narrow streets and seek out the shops. Just out of curiosity. There is a bakery, a butcher, a cheese monger, a very small grocery store with very many bottles of wine, and one shop that I would say comes close to being 100% souvenirs. Immediately the girl spots a penguin stuffie with a Saint Martin de Belleville scarf. There are no penguins in the French Alps -- we remind her, but it doesn't matter. Why even argue. That penguin will be coming home with us.
We concentrate on the old blocks of the hamlet (or is it a village?).
(restaurant long closed: family has moved on...)
And they are old, as are the farm-style chalets that line them. This is the charm of the village! This is why you want to ramble right here, rather than on the busy streets of Chamonix.
(snowball fight!)
(followed by ice cream cone. before lunch.)
Our lunch is at La Voute. It's a place of typical mountain comfy food, but of course my daughter and I are still digesting our breakfasts from this morning. Nonetheless we sit down at noon, because we have to be back and ready for Snowdrop's ski lesson at 1:30.
We (like the handful of other French people -- grownups all, the kids will descend here in February) choose a table outside.
I love it when the sun is so strong that you can eat outside, and even take off your jacket because it's just so beautifully warm. Snowdrop complains that it's too warm. Way too warm. Her mom lends her sunglasses because her gaga didn't think to bring them along to lunch.
She eats pizza, we eat salads with melted mountain goat cheese. Heaven!
And for me, there's that dessert that I love in Savoie -- the wild blueberry tart.
(ready for a close up?!)
We walk back satiated and I swear Snowdrop could have done with a rest -- we're still a tiny bit shell shocked from the time change, but she has a ski lesson scheduled for 1:30, so promptly at that hour, we meet Mathieu downstairs. (Matheiu was born in St. Martin, but his mom is English, so he speaks a lovely English with a variation accent -- somewhere between British and French!)
I walk with them toward the ski lift and here at once I see how convenient the Lodge is to skiing. Perhaps not for experts -- you have to take gondolas or drive further to get to the difficult slopes. But for beginners and intermediates, the skiing is literally a five minute stroll from the hotel.
And she is off!
Her mom uses this time to shop (in that one souvenir shop!) for the boys and I take one of the walks suggested by the Tourist Office guy.
[The town that you see just below the snow covered mountain is the end of the line for this valley -- it's Val Thorens, a big ski destination, lacking the charm of the hamlets, but surely giving you every skiing option imaginable. It is the highest Alpine ski resort and perhaps the most modern. On the other side of the mountain there is another road, with a tunnel leading south, to Italy.]
The trail itself is good, but I sure am glad I brought my cleats! It's slippery! They had some rain last week and the snow has a nice slick surface to it! But the views are stunning. And the only sound is that of the rushing waters in the valley, and of dogs barking. (On the other side of the river, there is a dog track. Can you see the huskies and the sleds? )
I walk all the way to the next hamlet -- Saint-Marcel.
I want to vary the return trip and here I get lost. In a fairly nice way, as I get to see some more more Savoyard homes. And Savoyard people.
But I'm stumbling a bit with the routing. There are too many paths and too many dead end alleys!
(a barn with the distinct smell and sound of cows, producing milk that is then made into award winning cheeses)
Eventually I pick up a trail again. It's icy! Back to the cleats.
In the course of all this hiking, I make a decision about tomorrow. (Which I will inform you of ... tomorrow!)
In the meantime, Snowdrop comes back from skiing. You can't get her to tell you the details of it. "It was good! He threw snowballs at me and took a video. I wasn't great." That's it. The report of a ten year old.
I thought for sure she'd be tired. Walking, skiing, still not caught up on sleep. And so when I throw out the half hearted offer -- want to go swimming? -- I'm shocked when she says yes.
(it's not a large pool, but it's a warm one. with a view!)
I go in with her. She loves pool playmates and she has me to do the best I can in that role. After a while, I suggest we maybe should be done, and the begging begins: five more minutes! three more minutes! one more minute! I give her all of them.
We eat dinner at Restaurant Montagnard.
It's a cozy place and it probably has excellent specialty dishes, but my daughter and I are itching for a fondue, made with local cheeses. (Snowdrop opts for fish and chips.)
It's predictably wonderful. All of it.
A day like today checks off all those boxes, all those questions you have back home -- is it worth it, does it suck up too many resources, will we manage, will the place live up... Today was grand. Even if the weather, the skiing, the food, the moods all fall apart tomorrow, we will have had this day. I am so grateful...
with love...
