Whale Rock, Val Verzasca, Switzerland

We have written below about our familiar haunts in southern Switzerland, in particular the Val Verzasca, which we first visited with our parents almost 50 years ago. This valley lies north of Lago Maggiore, and holds a large reservoir and numerous villages as it rises into the southern Alps. Of course, an aqua stream cuts the valley, and reveals ancient limestone folds that once were sea floor until pushed high up into the arc of the Alps by Italy's inexorable movement into the belly of Europe.

The stream diminishes in winter as the snow accumulates on the peaks and deep drifts in the high valley. Come late spring and early summer, the torrent of melting snow and ice is a natural and unrelenting force that continues to erode limestone into diverse shapes under scattered lighting that reminds one of, well, one's imagination can find almost anything, including this sperm whale bresting the remnant of last winter's snows.