| We were amused and excited to come home from work one day to find the Piazza opposite our house had been covered in fake snow for a photo shoot/filming.
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| They had covered everything in large rolls of cotton wool giving a surprisingly realistic effect.
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| And they covered everthing. Cars, scooters, the public loo!
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| What was even more amusing was that by 7am the following morning, the city had been covered by real snow!
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| The city looked magical in the early morning before the city swiftly and efficiently cleared the snow out of people's way.
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| We didn't get a photo of it, and it probably wouldn't have worked, but I can assure you that the real snow covering the fake snow was a particularly silly sight! They then had to clear the snow off the snow in order to roll up the snow and take it away again!!!
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| For Al's birthday, his parents came to visit for a long weekend. It coincided with a bank holiday weekend in Italy and we had a lovely few days together. His mum somehow managed to get a fully iced birthday cake through customs and across Europe! Like many other little boys, it featured Lewis Hamilton's championship winning car!
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| We celebrated the day in one of Turin's finest restaurants - the Michelin starred "Vintage 1997". They were kind enough to write congratulations on his plate in chocolate amid the 3 desserts.
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| We enjoyed playing with the light installations in the city centre.
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| For the long weekend, we headed up into the Val d'Aosta - a semi-autonomous region of Italy, to the north of Piemonte and well and truly in Alpine territory. There, we discovered that the snowfall had been somewhat heavier.
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| More than enough to build a snowman.
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| Unfortunately the snow was very powdery and he ended up a little smaller and dumpier than intended.
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| We stayed in a bed and breakfast halfway up the side of the valley, with a splendid view out towards the mountains, and a rather icy journey up and down from it.
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| For Carolyn's birthday on the Saturday, we surprised her with a trip to a health spa near Mont Blanc, with thermal baths. We spent the day pampering ourselves in an amazing range of pools, saunas, water massages, relax areas, sensual experiences and all day buffet.
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| The highlight was the natural thermal pools out of doors. It was snowing heavily the day we were there and the sensation of bathing in hot water while the snow falls on your face was marvellous.
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| The dash from pool to sauna obviously gave opportunity for quick snow ball fights in swimming costumes (a new experience!).
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| The Christmas tree in the village centre was possibly perfect - a large, well shaped tree with simple white lights draped around it and a thick coating of real snow.
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| The following day we headed up the mountain, to the ski slopes.
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| Not to ski, but to join the very young children on the sledging slopes.
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| (Aforementioned very young child.)
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| A hearty meal was just what we needed and the Maison Rosset provided wonderful cooking - no menu, they just kept bringing you food all evening. A great, homely atmosphere, and one of those meals when you are shocked at how small the bill is!
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| Our last day and we visited the Fort of Bard. An old Fort which has been converted very well for modern tourism - panoramic lifts take you up to a well equipped multimedia museum of the alps...
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| ...and give you commanding views of the valley and medieaval village below...
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| ...which had an exhibition of nativity scenes. The most unusual of which was the underwater one... we weren't sure about the theology of it, but it was certainly eye catching!
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