Un Viaggio in Montagna

Today was a transit day, with lots of new exploration! 

  

We started in Milan and headed over to the train station. There is a really cool sustainable housing project very close to the train station called Bosco Verticale that we tried to see but it was a little too dark at 7:30am. Here is a pic of it in the daylight.


We first took the train to Torino and met up with one of Livia’s aunts friends, and then took the train up to Oulx, a little village almost to the border of France. This little mountain town is super small and cute. We took a passagiata around the town for a little while while we waited for Gaia (Livia’s sister) to finish working, and then headed to Briançon. I think I was offered coffee more than 5 times that day! I accepted twice… the coffee is so delicious. It is funny to hear the stereotypes about Italy and France. Romans do not trust pasta from the north, unless it is stuffed pasta, because they say it is overcooked. The northerners say that Romans are messy and unrefined. And then the French don’t even try to speak Italian, they will speak English first. 





Briançon is a city that is up in the Alps. There is a big city that is more modern and also a little medieval hill town that is just adorable. It is part of a series of hilltop fortresses in the Alps that make us a UNESCO world heritage site. This old town is the part of Briançon that Livia will stay for the next 6 weeks. It is the most perfect historic Alpine hill town, I just love it. It is also super popular for skiing so the winter is when it is most crowded with mostly people from Paris or visitors from Italy, although to me it looks like it would also be amazing in the summer.




Once we settled in to Livia’s apartment we went to the ski rental place (which was a shocking $27) and then we drove down to the modern Briançon for dinner. We found a lovely restaurant with a climbing gym on the second floor and wifi, so this will like become Livia’s new office. There was a lovely waiter name Bastian who will also become Livia’s friend! He moved ip here from Paris 3 years ago to be in the mountains for climbing, skiing, hiking, and just loves it. We ordered pumpkin soup that was amazing, with this merengue sort of whip on top of the soup. We also got a beef stew called carbonade to share, and wine was so cheap! Ultimately it was I think €60 for the whole meal. We ended with a digestif which was a thyme flavored liquor. 

       

By the time we were done with dinner it started snowing, and was so beautiful. We had parked in a parking lot next to an amazing abandoned building. Apparently it used to be a silk factory but had a major fire and had been abandoned for years. Livia was saying that projects in Europe take a really long time to get funded and envisioned, but I was all over it- it could be a great hotel! I guess it’s an economic issue… 





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