Courmayeur

Today we had the traditional big walk into the mountains. After the Angelus in the carpark out front of the hotel, we drove to a town up the Aosta Valley called Courmayeur, in the foothills of the Monte Bianco (Mont Blanc) massif, hitching rides in tha cars of other CL people. The view from the foothills at Courmayeur is amazing:

The mountains are almost free of snow, except at the peaks. We walked along the slopes, with strands of conifers and scrubby beech-bushes broken up by glades of grasses, bluebells, dandelions and daisies, and mountain lilies of various kinds.

The walk took us up to the shoulder of the mountain, looking across the valley to Mont Blanc:

We had a packed lunch up there, and a bunch of people sang the traditional mountain songs:

Here is the panorama of the Mont Blanc massif, seen across the valley. Somewhere in the clouds are the peaks. I've stitched it together from 3 photos:

A pretty amazing day, finished off by Mass and sharing from the VP of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, and one of the CL priests from Madrid.