Author’s note: This post is a continuation on my travel series hiking the Tour de la Vanoise. Somehow or another I had started this post and forgot to finish it! How dare it! This post should have occurred the afternoon before we arrived at our last refuge, Refuge Peclet-Polset, and should have been placed after my post titled “Into the Mystic”. 

Have you ever been in a place that felt like it was out of a fairytale? A place that brought back memories of being a child lost inside some fictitious fantasy land? Well that is how I felt when I climbed over the low-lying hill and descended upon our picnic place for the afternoon.

As I walked over this hill….

This is what I saw….

The most breathtaking, mystical pool of water set high up in the top of the mountains. It was truly serene.

The clouds began to play tricks of hide and seek on us. One moment the rocky mountains completely disappeared.

And the next moment the sun burst through the low-lying clouds and cast brilliant, gleaming light across the aquamarine lake, making everything sparkle like a million diamonds.

The lake ebbed and flowed each year after the early June glaciers melted and retreated high up into the Alps. The water was frigid, icy cold. But that didn’t stop a few brave souls, including our guide Mark and our fourteen-year-old companion Jonty from taking a swim.

After the swim, it was time for our picnic lunch in paradise. I couldn’t think of a more beautiful place to be than here.

The water mesmerized me. It was so pure, so real and so delightful. When the clouds would lift, a gorgeous tapestry of the mountains would reflect against the glass-like, crystal clear water.

Just as it was time to pack up and leave, the clouds returned leaving the place blanketed once again in mystery of the beauty that was hidden behind the clouds.

“See how nature – trees, flowers, grass – grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence…we need silence to be able to touch souls”. – Mother Teresa