We awoke to the most beautiful sounds a parent could ever hear from their 5 year old. A sharp intake of breath, followed by,

“It’s Christmas, it’s Christmas!” I was confused at first, not just because it was 730am, but because it was not Christmas. Then it dawned on me that it must have snowed overnight. And snow it did. It looked like a pastry chef had gone mad and decided to cover the city with 15 cm of pure white icng. It looked exactly as we thought it would – incredible.

Once the excitement subsided enough to have breakfast, the reality of the snow started to sink it. Rod was going to have to get the snow off the car and then drive down the snowy street. However, it all went to plan and I enjoyed a coffee whilst Rod and Hamish had a bit of a play outside, then cleared the car and part of the footpath.

Hamish’s pants were drenched by time we left, so we had to get some dry clothes from the packed car to dress him in. His excitement had not died down: big wide eyes, pink cheeks, huge grin. He told me he had tried to make a snow angel, but Rod had wrecked it. The only thing I saw was him try to throw a big chunk of snow at Rod.

The drive to Mestre (mainland side of Venice) took us 5 hours including one stop. The roads were in excellent condition due to the full time activity of Mr Plow (one for the Simpson’s fans). Italy has given us many ‘wow’ moments and today was no exception. The scenery through the Alps was unbelievable and we really did just keep saying, ‘oh wow!’