Oh what a lovely day!  We went up to Pragelato, a ski area an hour away, known for being the training and competition area for cross-country ski in the winter Olympics here.  Now it is half a common man's ski resort with emphasis on cross-country trails, and half the club-med where all the Russian mafioso have their ski places.  The town is divided in two with the "Italian" side on the left; one little lift, a tiny log cabin bar, another log cabin rental shop, and the "Russian" side on the right:; club-med gated community with huge, gondola lift, big lodge with a restaurant and bar etc.   We made the mistake of cruising around, peeking in (tinted) windows, and walking into an outside buffet "for members only" and were quickly sent away by a big, burly guy with a heavy accent.  Lots of long, black cars with dark windows and body guards, very out of place in suits and ties.  But sticking to our side of the tracks, it's great.  The area borders a national park and there are miles and miles of maintained trails for skiers and snowshoers.  Grace brought a friend along so we dropped them off to ski and GP and I headed up the snowshoe trail to the refuge at the top.  It took two hours to get there and about half that to get back as was quite steep and very icy.  It was a beautiful, sunny day so we puffed our way up, surrounded by mountains that are layered like sharks teeth, going on and on the higher you get.  At the top, (1915 meters or 6,283 feet!), we got to the refuge that's open October through May.  It has 40 rooms to rent, a bar and a restaurant that only makes polenta and stew, and has nice clean bathrooms.  We had brought sandwiches (baguette and prosciutto of course), and drank mountain spring water from the fountains along the trails, but I got a coffee and we sat in the sun and rested.  When I went in to use the facilities the sun was still peeking over the mountains and we were nice and warm.  A few minutes later the sun had gone down and it was freezing.  We made it back down very quickly.  If I can figure out how to download the photos from my phone I'm going to put some pictures on for all to see.  I am sitting enjoying a wonderful glass of red wine, a blanket over my legs and my husband cooking.  Ahhhhh.  xxoo me