I was a little bit nervous because I had a group of guests from Sweden for three days, and I was going to proof that autumn in the Alps is a perfect time for tourism. But, would they really enjoy my beloved valleys and mountains as I hoped?

Well, if nothing else, at least the spectacle of the mountains with the colours of fall and the crazy blue sky, would be enough to highten their spirits, unless…

Unless…

the weather is thick with fog, and we do not even see a hint of the 4000m peaks that only I know are around us, behind the white courtains!

But who cares? Here we are and fog is perfect for discovering the genuinity of the place and there was nothing else to do as to get along with the weather. When weather is bad in the mountains people sit inside around the fireplace and eat, drink and tell stories. I thought that it was exactly what we should do; so we ate much (meat and cheese – the precious cows again – not many vegetables to be found here), we drank local wines (and some beer), and we hiked to the ancient Walser villages of Monterosa, to tell their story http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walser. At one of those villages we even found our lunch restaurant in a beautifully restored building from the past, L’Aroula, which means the mill.

People in the Alps profit from the void of tourists in this time of the year, to fix all that needs before winter comes with ice and snow. So even the smallest and most secluded villages are full of activity in autumn. The fires are lit and the hummers are banging, breaking the silence of this time, tourist voided except for us.