A snow holiday in Valnontey, Italy

We took a little holiday to the Italian Alps in the first week of February.

We wanted a family holiday. One where we didn't have to put the kids into crêche/daycare for us to ski and one where we could all get out and about together. (The mister has been spending considerable time away from home with work during the week, so we were all keen to do a lot of 'together'.)

I find the downhill ski scene rather hectic, honestly. Plus I have a dodgy knee so cross-county skiing sounded much better to me.

We stayed in Valnontey - a quiet little village (maybe a dozen buildings, all hotels/cafes) in the gorgeous Gran Paradiso National Park.

It is a fantastic location for cross-country skiing - plenty of amazing scenery and nicely groomed ski and walking tracks all around the area. It's also very popular for hiking/camping in the warmer weather.

This is the small, family-run hotel where we stayed (basically old farm buildings that have been converted):

The staff were lovely, especially with the kids. We also went for half board (breakfast and dinner) which made it super relaxing for me. A well priced three course meal every night? Yes please!

The cross country skiing was good fun - the kids would do a small loop with me in the mornings (while the mister and the littles followed on the walking track).

Then in the afternoons the grown-ups would take turns doing a longer trip (to burn off those three course meals). Just before dinner the kids would go out for tobogganing and general snowy shenanigans.

Speaking of snowy shenanigans, there were alot of ice climbers in our hotel.

Pray-tell, you ask, what is an ice climber? Someone who climbs frozen waterfalls.

Have you ever heard of anything so scary/dangerous/crazy? One German fellow told me you have to watch out for the white waterfalls - this means lots of air bubbles frozen in the water that shatter when you embed your ice pick in it. Insane.

Wee little ice climbers on the left there.

The Gran Paradiso Park was originally created as a protected zone for the almost-hunted-into-oblivion Alpine Ibex in the 1850s. This ibex population is now flourishing as are many other alpine species who live within the Park's 700 square kms.

The Alpine Ibex. Nice rack. 

I looked everywhere for that darn ibex. I scoured the hills whenever we went out. I knew they were out there as we found tracks all over the place.

One French couple told us that one came right up to a walking track.

The closest I got was these mountain goats, who I couldn't even yodel at because they were so far away.

Can you see them?

I found this goat in the hotel dining room. He was kind enough to hold very still for my photo.

Nearly every Italian in this region speaks French (and many speak English too). I took a skiing refresher on our first day (with the kids) and we all had our lessons in French. Two non-native speakers makes for a nice conversation - both parties speak slowly and don't use any high-fallootin' vocab. I also felt like an international woman of mystery, speaking French with Italians.

So, if you're a fruit-loop ice climber or a family in search of some snowy goodness, I would heartily recommend the cute little village of Valnontey (or any of the other little towns in the Aosta Valley).

We had a relaxing stay with just the right amount of physical activity, food and ibex seeking.

The next travel post will give you a quick tour around the neighbouring village of Cogne.

A bientôt!

Friday, Friday, Gettin' Down on Friday

Mister to eldest: So, how's that sore tooth going? Is it starting to wiggle yet?
Son: No, but I think it's getting ready to wiggle.

You can see why I've been a bit slack on the Tooth Fairy sewing front, we're still only in the pre-wiggle phase. I'm wondering if this has all been a bit of a false alarm... time will tell.

Meanwhile, Salley forwarded me another cute tooth holding device option here. I like this as it means no fishing around under the pillow, which a few of you have kindly warned me about.

Annick reminded me that the Tooth Fairy doesn't even come to France - they have La Petite Souris, a little mouse instead. She also sent me a link with lots of interesting global info on the Young and the Toothless.

What else is going on this fine Friday?

The cold snap has left Provence - I think all the snow in our yard will be gone by the end of today.

No more snow olives

Or berries

Or swimming pool.

Well, I'm still chugging away on photo edits, like this one:

I have finally, finally, finally sewed my Chasing Chevrons quilt top together. Boy did I make that harder than it should've been.

Except my chevrons are no longer chasing, they're flocking. Flocking Chevrons. That might become my new swear word.

Tomorrow, all going well, I'll be heading in to the Tendances Créatives Craft Fair in Marseille. My third year visiting, I feel like a local! My write up of last year is here, and I just found a good 5 min video of it on their site here.

I wish you all sunny skies and lots of time to craft this weekend. Need some inspiration?

Here's some colourful goodness from the latest issue of Marie Claire Idées. If this doesn't get you going you're officially dead.

Friday, Friday,  gettin' down on Friday. 

Flocking Chevrons, now I'll never get that out of my head.

Briançon, France

We chose to break up our recent trip to the Italian Alps by staying overnight in the French town of Briançon, 20km from the Italian border.

At an altitude of 1326m, Briançon is a ski town in winter and sees a lot of hikers and bike riders (sometimes the Tour de France) in the finer weather.

Briançon is a fortressed town, being so close to the border (fortifications designed in the 17th century by Vauban, a very clever fellow who helped King Louis XIV consolidate/defend France's borders).

When we arrived I quickly took some pictures from the ramparts in the day's dying light.

We stayed almost smack-bang in the centre of the Vielle Ville (old town). I took this photo from the kitchen window of our apartment:

See, really central. That's the Collégiale Notre Dame et St Nicholas.

Just around the corner was the town's main street, La Grande Rue. Also known as La Grande Gargouille because of the stone drain down its centre.

This is the second time we've found an apartment online in the old part of a city (first time was Antibes). It's been fantastic on both occasions: we've scored a nice, fairly roomy apartment with kitchen, right amongst all the restaurants and museums/attractions of the city. And they were both reasonably priced - but I can probably tell you why.

The downsides:

1. No parking. These old cobblestoned areas are either 'no car' or 'resident cars only' zones. That's what makes them so nice to walk around. So you have to park outside the walled area and carry your luggage in.

The lovely gate we carried our bags through.

2. Late night noise. I know I said one of the benefits was being close to all the restaurants and attractions, but it's also one of the negatives. The bars all turn up their doof-doof music at around 10pm and this will continue until midnight in the off season (apparently 2am in the high season!). If you are a hip couple this won't bother you as you'll be down at the bar anyway. We also found it wasn't too bad for families with young children - our kids are fast asleep by 8pm so they didn't stir when the music started. It just meant the grown ups slept a little later than usual.

Some disadvantages to be sure, but it is just amazing to stay right in the heart of these ancient cities. And with young kids, being able to nip out and see things without packing the car, planning for a whole day away from your apartment, makes for a relaxing holiday. Just thought I'd let you know something that's worked well for us.

Anyway, back to Briançon. We stepped out for a meal that night and found the city is even more beautiful in the evening.

With the holiday lights still up and the snowy mountain backdrop.

The next morning I was up early feeding the baby.

Street lamp on the cobblestones.

Then it started snowing! I like snow, but I love the act of snowing the most - it just seems magical and everything gets kinda hushed...no doubt my snowless, Australian upbringing contributes greatly to the allure.

I ducked out to get pastries and coffee from the boulangerie 10 steps away (another benefit of the heart of the city).

The city workers were already out and about, sanding and salting the roads and paths. The 2 yr old fancied himself an apprentice.

After our breakfast we took a quick walk through the city...

Down to the ramparts again.

The kids frolicking in the snow, Fort du Château in the background:

We followed the ramparts around to a lookout point southeast of the city, over the Pont d'Asfeld (Asfeld Bridge).

Then we realised we had only 15 minutes 'til checkout so we freaked out and raced back to the apartment. Well, I freaked out. The mister's pretty unflappable.

Looking back on the city as we left.

We drove out of Briançon and had to stop about 10 minutes later to put on the snow chains.

Make sure you practice putting those puppies on in the comfort of your garage before you get out in the field, with snow in your eyes and ski gloves on. With two engineering degrees between us its embarrassing how long we took to figure our chains out the first time we fitted them.

The snow delayed our trip over to Italy but made it oh-so pretty. But that's a story for another day.

Have a great week everyone!

P.S You didn't think you were going to get away without chandelier photos did you?

Taken in the Collégiale. 

Bwahaha!