24 Hours: Les Arcs 1800 — La Thuile, Italy (Terri and Finn’s European Adventure Day 16)

After an incredible parapente (paragliding) experience the day before (Day 15: Les Arcs 1800), we had a quick bite to eat in the room before meeting our friends Terry and Michele to drive to Italy for dinner.

I was exhausted from the adrenaline crash after paragliding but I’d committed to driving the four of us so off we went. I knew it was going to be a strenuous drive down to the valley floor and back up the mountain on the other side of the valley, across the Italian border, into Italy for dinner, and then the same but in reverse.

We’d discussed hiking somewhere on the other side of the valley which, fortunately, we didn’t have enough time for given our late start. I didn’t want to drive back, in the dark, on the twisty-turning, narrow mountain roads. It was great fun to drive on the way to dinner but the way back took brute force to power through.

We drove down into the valley of Bourg-Saint-Maurice before ascending the mountain on the other side toward La Rosiere where we looked for a hiking spot that Terry and Michele were curious to explore.

We didn’t find what they were looking for (thank goodness) so we kept going, stopping periodically to take pictures. The views were irresistable.

We stopped at Col du Petit Saint Bernard (little Saint Bernard pass) at the French/Italian border to stretch our legs, take more pictures, and appreciate the magestic beauty of the Alps.

Earlier in the week, Terry and Michele had hiked from the nearby hostel (Hospice du Petit Saint Bernard) and we could see quite a few other hikers enjoying the incredible location.

We zipped across the Italian border and saw some World War II relics (maybe bunkers) but didn’t stop to check them out.

Despite the wind, we were all comfortable in short sleeves.

The wind did nothing for our hair!

I couldn’t get over the beautiful contrast between the green-ish hills and the rock-like mountain formations in the distance. Mont Blanc was somewhere in the distance but either we couldn’t find it or I can’t remember where it is.

We drove past a ski lift that takes skiers from Italy to France. The lift went over the road we were on.

At every turn, there was a new and spectular view. We stopped a few more times to take pictures. Fortunately, Michele was just as interested in taking pictures as I was and Terry and Finn supported our cinematic efforts.

This didn’t even look real in person and looks less so in a photo. Finn, of course, wanted to don their harness, grab some lead lines, and attempt to ascend to the top.

And then we were in La Thuile, Italy. We drove around this super cute village on a very active river until we found a parking lot a short walk from the town center.

We walked along the river into the main part of the village. Michele and I lagged behind Terry and Finn as we stopped to take even more pictures.

I was exhausted and needed some sugar and caffeine to carry me through dinner (and the drive back) and the Miramonti (in yellow) seemed like the perfect place to enjoy a little bit of Italy.

We walked upstairs to get a table and enjoyed a relaxing beverage out on their terrace. Terry and Michele wanted an Italian coffee (the coffee in Paris is not as good) and Finn had a hot chocolate despite the warm weather.

It was thick and delicious as hot chocolate should be. Definitely not your Swiss Miss hot cocoa (or as Finn refers to it, Swiss Miss instant piss)!

Michele is originally from Turkey but has lived all over including the US. He’s lived in Paris for the last 18 or so years so he speaks multiple languages, including a smattering of Italian, which was helpful as we ordered our beverages.

We visited one of the local churches and as we walked around, we looked for places that would be open earlier for dinner (closer to 6/6:30) so that I could avoid driving back in the dark. I didn’t want to accidentally drive off the road because I hadn’t seen any lights on the road on our way over. And there was this cow…

We dined at La Maison de Laurent which opened at 6:30 and appeared to be a very local hangout not only for diners, but for workers wanting to enjoy a beer after work. The food was really good and this was the view from our table on the terrace.

It was so nice dining with two other people because we could order and sample more dishes. We ordered two starters thinking one was a salad. It wasn’t. One dish was a sliced meat like a roast beef and the other a cured/dried salmon so the opposite of salad. So much for Michele’s Italian!

We had two pasta dishes, one with prosciutto and pesto and the other a spaghetti carbonara. Yum!

Then there was a trout in a sage butter sauce, grilled veggies, and my favorite, a veggie pizza.

It was getting late so I ordered an espresso and we walked back to the car which turned out to be in a perfect spot near (but across the river from) the restaurant.

The sky was beautiful and once again was a stark contrast against the mountains and hills.

This ended up being one of the funniest moments of our trip when we saw a cow walking by itself on the side of the road as we were driving back to France. I am so glad that there was still some daylight because I think we would have been in pretty bad shape if we’d hit it.

Despite being absolutely exhausted, and the difficult road, we made it safely back to Les Arcs 1800 and dropped off Michele and Terry at their place.

Sadly, we said our goodbyes as we didn’t know when we would see them next. I hope to see them when I am in Paris in May with my other child Adam after his college graduation. I love spending time with Terry, my Parisian American ex-pat (from Houston) friend and it was a delight to get to know Michele. He’s a lovely and fascinating human being.

We got back to our hotel, eventually fell asleep (I don’t think we ever fully adjusted to the timezone differences). In the morning, we packed up, checked out, and go back on the road for the last leg of our trip: Lyon.

More of that in Day 17: Les Arcs — Lyons.

Terri Hanson Mead is the multi-award winning author of Piloting Your Life, Managing Partner of Solutions2Projects, LLC, and an advocate for women through all of her platforms including YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and this blog. Terri is the mother of two college aged kids, is based in Redwood City, CA and in her spare time, loves to travel, cook, play tennis, and fly helicopters around the San Francisco Bay Area, especially under the Golden Gate Bridge.