Valais

We spent a little time at the hotel gym this morning after breakfast, but were careful not to overdo it so that we were fresh for the main activity of the day -- a guided hike.

Our guide met us in the hotel lobby at 11, and we were thrilled to see that he was bringing his dog along for the hike. In fact, he introduced her (named Shooki? Jeuqis?) as our guide for the tour, which we initially took as a charming comment, but indeed, she ended up leading the way for the majority of the hike.

We hopped in in the guide's van and rode about 25 minutes east until we pulled off and parked on a treacherous roadside cliff. Soon we were off. He spoke little English, which was just fine as we took in the views and watched our doggie guide plop down into every water source to cool off, before shaking off the water and running ahead to resume her guide duties. She made the hike all the better, as we also thought fond thoughts about our own doggies at home.

We were pleased that our guide evaluated our fitness as above average, and so elected to take us on the longer and more challenging loop. We stopped near the top of the climb for picnic on a large flat boulder, and simple (but gourmet) selection of bread, meat, cheese, and pickled veggies. In total we hiked a bit over 5 miles, with many enchanting waterfalls spotted along the way.

Once we got back we collapsed into bed for our now-standard afternoon nap, and then enjoyed the rest of the afternoon again at the resort pool and sauna.

We loved our dinner so much last night that after evaluating our options we decided to go back to the same Italian restaurant. It proved to be the right choice, as the owner was thrilled to have us back and delighted us with freebies of amuse bouche, pallette cleansers, and grappa/amaro. We got the same Gorgonzola gnocchi to share, and Laura doubled down the chicken dish we shared last night, while I branched out and had the pork belly with ratatouille. We made sure to save room for the dessert we had to decline last night, and enjoyed the 4 flavors of sorbet and home made glace.Read more