LV for Lago Verde! (not Louis Vuitton...)

What do you do when you're buried deep in the Alps, and it's a sunny day? You go hiking of course! At least, according to my dad, who decided to take us to "Valle Stretta" or "Vallée Étroite" or "Narrow Valley" in English, which is politically speaking part of France, but geographically in Italy, about 20 minutes away from Bardonecchia in the Piedmont region.

From Bardonecchia we drove to "Rif 3 Alpini" where you then have to park your car and continue by foot. We went up to Lago verde and then back.

Not being an outdoor-sy type at all, I completely ignored my mum's suggestion of packing a pair of sneakers into my suitcases. Now, I'd hate to admit it but I do kind of wish I did listen to her since I showed up "hiking" like this :

I have to admit, I love this outfit! But I guess it is more suitable to shopping in Milan than hiking! At first, when I arrived, I thought, pfft yeah whatever, hiking my asshole, it's a path on flat ground. NO PROBLEM! But I was so wrong.

It was more like climbing up/down rocks like this! We walked from Valle Stretta where we parked our car, to a nearby lake named "Lago Verde", or green lake. (See map above)

About 1 hour later, we arrived at "LV"! Yes, it is literally a green lake, which should be due to some algae or something. It looked like a nice place to have a picnic and chill, but we didn't bring food so we rested for a while and then turned back.

Overall I thought it was nice to take photos, as there was some beautiful scenery in the surrounding mountains and rivers and for people who like hiking or trekking this would be a  perfect activity on a sunny summer's day.  

Oh and Nature lovers would love this place as well. There are so many multicoloured flowers, green grass, butterflies (and horrible bugs). Obviously not really my thing, as I am more of a city girl (Hong Kong <3) but I must admit it was very beautiful nonetheless. 

After our long 3 hour walk,we were absolutely starving. We have heard that the polenta here is absolutely to die for so we decided to have polenta. (Not to mention that they only serve polenta at the only two restaurants there)

They have three types of polenta here : with sausages and meat, concia (which is with gorgonzola and fontina cheese) and also with porcini mushrooms. We decided to order a bit of each and try them all. I mixed my concia with mushrooms (as I do not eat meat). I must say, although I am usually not a big fan of polenta, this polenta tasted different from the polenta that my nonna makes and tasted really good. Only problem was there was a bit of meat in the tomato sauce and so I couldn't eat any, and I found a piece of meat in my mushrooms too and freaked out. 

I recommended that you make a reservation before you hike, as it is a very small family owned restaurant and a reservation is necessary if you intend on eating here.