Deine Welt sind die Berge

This entry is part 22 of 33 in the series Pasta, Passes and Passions - Italy 2010

Italy, France, Switzerland. All in one day.

We were up early. We really only had one stab at seeing Monte Bianco.That’s if the weather would play along. And so it did. We took the Autostrade to Palud, where the Funivie Monte Bianco is. There are a series of cable cars that can take you all the way across the mountain to Chamonix on the French side, but wind conditions meant that we could only go as far as Punta Heilbronner. We had planned to drive through the Monte Bianco tunnel to France, so Punta Heilbronner was perfect for us. Perfect in every possible way. Well – Niel probably would have preferred for it to not be as cold.

The views are spectacular, with only some scattered clouds that only added to the beauty of it all. It’s quite remarkable to see how a glacier can cut through a mountain the way it does. We stayed out on the deck for us long as we could handle the cold, then went for a cup of true Italian coffee, waiting for the feeling to return to our frozen hands before venturing back out again. Every time you looked at one of the peaks, it seemed to look different. Down on the glacier we could see some people walking across the patterned snow. I started looking for a notice offering employment. How wonderful it must be to be working on such a beautiful mountain every day.

We reluctantly made our way back down the mountain, stopping at each station to take in some more of the views.

From Palud we drove through the Monte Bianco Tunnel to France. The Wows simply didn’t stop. From the villages, to the golf club we stumbled upon, to the ever-present mountains, the wows just kept coming. We drove from Chamonix, across the Swiss border to Martigny. Here we stopped at the St Bernard Museum. I cannot think of too many dog breeds that have a museum in their honour. They also had some dogs who seemed to do what St Bernards usually do – laze around. That’s if they weren’t up to some mischief.

From Martigny there is only really one road that would lead you back to Aosta. Well, for someone that comes from generations of petrolheads, that is. Col du Grand St Bernard is the oldest pass through the Western Alps, with evidence of use that dates back to the Bronze Age. At the highest point (2473m) you pass the Great St Bernard Hospice that was founded in 1049. It is here that the St Bernard dogs were first used for rescue operations.

The Italians are really good at preserving things. It is obvious that the St Bernard pass is taking lots of strain. In some areas, half the road has fallen away, but they are clearly in the process of fixing all the problem areas, with completed areas looking really beautiful with wooden barriers and good tarred surface.

The pass is not quite the road you should be taking when you are in a hurry. But that’s the thing. We tend to spend our days rushing through life. I’m very pleased to have driven such a beautiful slow drive today. It made me realise that we should spend more time taking our time about things.

One phrase that I kept on using over and over today: Oh Wow!

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