AKA the place I might want to live forever.
Last weekend, my friends Nell and Zack and I planned a pretty spontaneous trip to Northern Italy, in the Aosta Valley. Its right on the border of France and Switzerland, and the region itself is Italian/French bilingual.
Our plan was to take a late bus and arrive around midnight on Thursday, then go hiking on Friday and take Saturday to explore the town. We would then take a train to Torino (Turin) and spend Sunday there before carpooling back to Florence. We ended up switching everything around and a bunch of rides were cancelled, but we made it back safely and still got to hike (all I cared about)!
From Aosta, we took a bus to Fènis, where we visited a castle and also found some new animal friends of all varieties. There aren't many castles in Central and Southern Italy as the Romans preferred palaces, but in the Alps it seems like there is one on every hill.
We also took a bus to Courmayeur, a famous ski resort in the winter. This is where we hiked and enjoyed awesome views of Mont Blanc, the third highest point in Europe. We also had some very good food from the closest grocery store.
Of all the places I have now been, this is the one I would most like to return to (second place is Switzerland). However, there is still time and I plan to see two or possibly three more countries before my time here is done, so who knows what will end up in the top spot!