Fontina! I know that one.

Thursday, July 14, 2022

Rest day in Courmayeur

We didn’t have high expectations for a good night’s sleep after we got here last night.  The room was quite warm, with no A/C, and only a sheet on the bed.  Also, we judged the bed to be quite firm…but after a hot day’s hike and a bottle of wine between the four of us, there was no problem.  The Benadryl I took to help with my stupid mosquito bites didn’t hurt either.  We both passed out hard and were sleeping soundly when Nathan’s phone alerted a reminder at 6 am –  Poor Fibs needs his Heartgard and Nextgard tomorrow and we’ve completely forgotten because we never travel this time of the month.  Whoops.

Well, now we were up, so we took our laundry off the clothesline and showered, prepped our bags, and set out to find breakfast. 
Easier said than done.  Initially, I used my cellphone to google breakfast near me, and set off to follow our dot on the map.  Only our dot never moved, and we walked around growing hungrier and crankier with each step.  Walking around we also realized that nothing was open and the Italians must all still be sleeping, tourists be damned.  So, we found a place that opened at 8:30, and hung around until they did.  Pat and Andrew joined us shortly thereafter,  and we enjoyed coffee and pastries.

After breakfast, we all split up to take care of housekeeping items.  Pat and Andrew used the laundry, and Nathan and I set out to find him a beard trim, and put together a sack lunch for tomorrow.
The beard trim was easy enough.  We found a barber shop, next to the pharmacy,  and walked in.  An older gentleman was cutting a man’s hair, and we spoke in English, pointing to Nathan’s beard, and he answered in Italian that he’d be able to do it in 10 minutes.  After the haircut was done, he cleaned up and gave Nathan the most detail-oriented and precise beard trim for 12 €.  Also, the most expensive beard trim we’ve gotten in our travels. 

Next, we went to the tourism information office to ask how to catch the trail again to Refugio Elena.  She said it was a long walk, and encouraged us to take the bus.  I asked how many kilometers, and she didn’t know but said it would take 6 hours to walk.  I think she thought we were trying to get there today.  So we took the map and left.

Onto the sack lunch, which oddly enough was the most difficult task, but we managed to get bread, meat, and cheese for a sandwich.

At 1, we met back up with Pat and Andrew for a long, leisurely lunch, then back to the hotel for a siesta. We each took a short nap, then went outside to the shaded terrace outside the hotel.

At 7, we met up with Pat and Andrew to get last-minute lunch supplies and enjoy a leisurely dinner. We have a long, hard climb tomorrow and we want to be ready to leave first thing in the morning.