This blog post is coming to you from 8,114 ft.
We're bundled up in quiet hotel, adjacent to a monastery on the Swiss-Italian boarder. Clouds are racing past our window as they blow through Bourg-St-Pierre into the Aosta valley to the south. It's 2 degrees out, we've got a "sweater weather" playlist running through Apple Music, and I'm desperately craving a mug of hot chocolate and my fleece pullover. It's hard to believe that less than 48 hours ago we were in muggy London, cursing the lack of AC in our hotel.
Dave turned to me today and asked if there was any place in the world that was consistently this climate. So you can imagine how he's adapting, with his super pale skin and aversion to sunlight. Switzerland has been a joy, and I'm a little sad to be leaving it tomorrow.
We woke up this morning at a reasonable time (meaning Dave slept for nearly 14 hours straight) and decided to explore the town of Martigny. We crossed town in 30 minutes, and climbed up a series of switch-backs to an old fort that overlooked the valley. Here are some photos from the summit:
 |
| The view from the Château de la Batiaz Martigny |
 |
| Our hotel was the small blue building in the centre of the photo |
 |
| Tired but smiling faces! |
Afterwards, we headed to McDonald's for coffee and breakfast. Dave has decided he's going to visit a McDonald's in each country. The interaction today, though, was less than stellar. An awkward French conversation with the cashier led to Dave ordering a quinoa- curry burger, which was predictably vegetarian. He still ate it, but was less than impressed.
 |
| The infamous quinoa-curry burger from McDonald's, Switzerland |
After breakfast we headed back to the Martigny train station and boarded the red and white St. Bernard's Express, which took us up the mountainside to Orsières where we hopped on a connecting bus that took us the rest of the way up the pass.
 |
| Boarding the train in Martigny |
 |
| The road up to Great Saint Bernard's Pass |
The bus ride felt slightly treacherous: our Swiss bus driver sped up the mountain along precarious cliff sides, not seeming fussed about the lack of guard rails to prevent us from plunging off the road. I took this opportunity to divert my eyes from the road and catch up on some work, keeping my attention focused squarely in front of me.
50 minutes later, we arrived at the Pass: 8,114 feet above sea level. The hotel and monastery are connected, and overlook a small lake surrounded by mountains on all sides. It was raining a bit when we arrived, and windy. Big gusts of wind kept sweeping clouds into the valley and we stood and watched for a couple minutes as they floated and drifted across the lake.
 |
| We made it! |
 |
| Looking back at our hotel from the road |
 |
| The view from our hotel, overlooking the lake |
After checking into our hotel we went searching for the famous St. Bernard dogs! The monastery kennels keep 20-30 of them here in the summer, as an homage to ancient times when St. Bernards were trained as rescue dogs to lead travelers through the snowy pass to the monastery.
We had dinner in the hotel restaurant, which came highly recommended on Trip Advisor. Dave opted for cheese fondue (again) whereas I chose the vegetarian burger. My burger turned out to be literally grilled vegetables, in between two potato patties—which was absolutely delicious—but was not what I expected. Now I can't stop wondering if the Swiss think a veggie burger is just vegetables arranged into a burger shape? If anyone has any insight, please comment below!
 |
| When in Switzerland do as the Swiss do: eat and eat fondue |
 |
| Honestly. This is not a veggie burger. |
 |
| Pistachio ice cream for dessert, yum! |
After dinner we retreated to our room, to warm up under blankets and do some quiet reading.
I'll leave it here for today: we have an early morning planned to explore more of the pass.
Cheers,
Heather
No comments:
Post a Comment