Saturday afternoon in France

It was Saturday morning, and we woke up to grey skies over Torino. Looking North, I couldn’t see the Alps. A quick check online showed the forecast was rain in the morning in Torino. However we decided to brave the weather and stick to our plan to drive into the Alps and to France for the afternoon.
Later in the morning the sun peeked out as we were on our way. The views were fantastic, only some very high places were obscured by fog. The first beautiful surprise was within a few kilometers of crossing into France. The fog rolled back and revealed a jewel of a lake. I love high mountain lakes and this one is especially beautiful. We drove on past enjoying the scenery and then down, down, down the other side of the mountains. We stopped on the side of the road to let Delta roll in the clover and romp! She needed it. The air was cool, and the sun warm and the color of the fields and trees so green. The sky was a brilliant blue, and the air was fresh. I felt invigorated. It was nice to be out of the city.
We drove on to Modane, but found no restaurants open for lunch! We turned back and ate in a small village named Lanslebourg. This town was charming! I can almost promise that every window had a window box cascading with bright flowers, and everything was so clean. And strange to my eyes, there were few people walking around. It was so quiet.
While window shopping I found some things I had to purchase, and so went inside the store. As I went to pay, I suddenly realized that I should speak to the clerk in French to at least say: “Here is my credit card, my ID” , and “thank you.” How was I going to do it? I don’t know any French. I smiled a lot, and said, Grazie, Arrivederci! She smiled back at me and said whatever it was she said in French, and off I went with my purchases. So, it worked. Now, whenever I feel nervous about speaking Italian to Italians I shall try to remember this moment! At least I’m able now to have a conversation, albeit basic conversation in Italian.
On the way back to Italy we stopped at a dairy farmer’s shop and bought some cheese. Then we continued on and decided to stop at a small village called Moncenisio. M said that some years ago he knew that it was the smallest comune in all of Italy. It was beautiful. Still and quiet. We took another small walk there and then decided it was time to go back to Torino.