Today might be considered a lesson in aged traveling. We stayed “in” all day; never left the hotel. We looked at our accumulated photos from our trip and reminisced to each other about remembered and misremembered sights and scenes and people we’ve encountered along the way. And we do this … why? Well, ostensibly to write the blog, but really it’s so we DO remember what we’ve seen and done, imagining, perhaps, a future time when we will struggle to recapture the very things that we do now to enrich our lives.

A little after five o’clock a thunderous peal shatters the stillness and the trees in the yards around us bend in a fragrant rain-driven wind. we get ice and pour some G&Ts as we finish up a few blogs and plan our hike and activities for tomorrow and the next.

Tonight is Ladin night: An array of hours d’oeurves in the lobby, waiters serving fresh raspberry-lemon-prosecco cocktails from trays, and a jovial accordian player playing … who knows … great Ladin melodies. We sit with Judy and Kathy for a bit and amble into a dinner that Cynthia declares “the best meal yet of the entire trip.” (N.B.: No photo because she ate it so fast.)

Remarkably, we return to our room after dinner instead of walking into town for “Gin Night”: a late evening of outdoor music with varieties of gin drinks being sold by streetside vendors and bars.

A drenching rain from the east soaks the valley at around 11 p.m.