Friday, July 9, 2010

Courmayeur

Courmayeur is sometimes called the "Italian" Chamonix--in many ways, however, we prefer it. It is more compact, less developed, less touristy. The Chamonix valley on the north side of the massif is broader, longer, the slopes less steep. On the south side of the massif, in Italy, there are two valleys, the Val Veny (west) and the Val du Ferret (east), meeting at Courmayeur. The slopes are much steeper, precipices mostly. And, from the Val du Ferret, Mont Blanc looks like the the monarch it is and not merely the super-sized snow hill one sees from Chamonix. Plus, the cuisine in Courmayeur is fontina cheese-based, which is lovely, if possibly not very good for your health, except in moderation, which is ridiculous. The only draw-back we observed is that the retail shops all take a 4 hour lunch break, noon to 4. Seriously.
After negotiating the one-lane mountain road
of Vicki's worst nightmares, we arrived at the
Campeggio Aiguille Noire, where we stayed
3 nights; the Aiguille Noire is sort of the
Italian Aiguille du Midi, except far more
steep and no cable-car; maybe two miles
from Courmayeur
















Our camp-site; 15 euros a night









In Courmayeur, the Penzione Venezia, where
we stayed three nights in 2005; after a week
in refuges and the tent, horribly cold and
windy and wet weather, the incident with
the red fox, we thought the Venezia was
paradise; price for a double has increased
from 42 to 50 euros
















I have a favorite liquor store in Courmayeur: it is the one
that sells the wine in bottles with little historical vignettes
--dozens of them--the owner avers there is nothing political
going on here; apparently all the FDRs, Trumans,
Wilsons, et al., have sold out; not to worry, however,
plenty of Mussolini, Hitler, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Che, and
others remain















I wonder what Churchill would have thought of being
displayed with Lenin and Che












We also have a favorite restaurant in Courmayeur, the
Viele Pommier, which features fontina extravaganzas










View from our table, gazing up at the
massif, the Dent du Geant, and the
Grandes Jorasses













First course, for me, the crepes du Monte Bianco (crepes
in fontina cheese, cream, ham); for Vicki, the canneloni
with wonderful red meat sauce; the second (veal, ham,
fontina; frites) and third (myrtille mousse for Vicki,
lemon gelato for me) courses are not pictured because
we were too far into gluttony for photography













On the Piazza del Monte Bianco in
Courmayeur

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