Casa del Cioccolato e Carnival
Chocolate.
That's the beginning of my weekend. Early Friday morning, I was on a train heading to Perugia. Not many people would choose to spend their early morning anywhere outside their bed cacoon. However, when chocolate calls, I can't help but answer.
At the factory, we were greeted with free chocolate and more free chocolate. Much of it found its way into my purse. Most people that have spent a day at Hershey are familiar with the famous Hershey Chocolate Tour. In the tour, when you're still a beautifully naive child, you believe everything you see. Once you grow up, the illusion is shattered. This is not the case at Casa del Cioccolato. You are taken up through a small passageway above the factory where you can gaze down on real chocolate Easter eggs being made and wrapped by a worker-machine partnership. Oh, the Easter eggs, let me tell you. They are GIANT. Holy gracious, I have never been so excited for Easter.
After the tour of the factory and buying all the chocolate I could allow myself, my friends and I made our way back to the city. Not knowing how their metro system works, we stayed near the train station. First, our hunger led us to a small restaurant for lunch (you would think we would be full after all the free chocolate, but you are dealing with college girls). After one of many best meals I've had in Italy, we roamed the streets, making friends with a 2-month-year-old puppy along the way.
That was Friday.
In the early, inhuman hours of Saturday morning I was off to the train station to embark (what an epic-sounding word) on a 8 hour bus ride to Venice for Carnival. Yes, the bus ride was long, but the bus ride was one through Italy. I spent hours mesmerized by sleepy Italian towns revealed by beams of sunlight shining through the morning fog.
Once we arrived, Venice greeted us with cold rain and wind. We started to question whether the bus ride was worth it. After maneuvering through crowds and finding ourselves in a small, tucked away restaurant, life became a whole lot better. We were warmed up with a most delicious meal of pasta with cuttlefish ink sauce and then delectable calamari.
With our bellies full and smiles on all of our faces, we braved the weather once more, finding the rain to have been put on pause. The glass shops and mask shops entranced us. Once we had all picked a genuine Venice mask, we made our way back to the main square were we mingled with masked Italians and danced under the stars.
The bus ride back seemed endless, but when I remember the food, the water canals, and the enchanting streets, it was definitely worth it.
Next up: Tuscany
That's the beginning of my weekend. Early Friday morning, I was on a train heading to Perugia. Not many people would choose to spend their early morning anywhere outside their bed cacoon. However, when chocolate calls, I can't help but answer.
At the factory, we were greeted with free chocolate and more free chocolate. Much of it found its way into my purse. Most people that have spent a day at Hershey are familiar with the famous Hershey Chocolate Tour. In the tour, when you're still a beautifully naive child, you believe everything you see. Once you grow up, the illusion is shattered. This is not the case at Casa del Cioccolato. You are taken up through a small passageway above the factory where you can gaze down on real chocolate Easter eggs being made and wrapped by a worker-machine partnership. Oh, the Easter eggs, let me tell you. They are GIANT. Holy gracious, I have never been so excited for Easter.
After the tour of the factory and buying all the chocolate I could allow myself, my friends and I made our way back to the city. Not knowing how their metro system works, we stayed near the train station. First, our hunger led us to a small restaurant for lunch (you would think we would be full after all the free chocolate, but you are dealing with college girls). After one of many best meals I've had in Italy, we roamed the streets, making friends with a 2-month-year-old puppy along the way.
That was Friday.
In the early, inhuman hours of Saturday morning I was off to the train station to embark (what an epic-sounding word) on a 8 hour bus ride to Venice for Carnival. Yes, the bus ride was long, but the bus ride was one through Italy. I spent hours mesmerized by sleepy Italian towns revealed by beams of sunlight shining through the morning fog.
Once we arrived, Venice greeted us with cold rain and wind. We started to question whether the bus ride was worth it. After maneuvering through crowds and finding ourselves in a small, tucked away restaurant, life became a whole lot better. We were warmed up with a most delicious meal of pasta with cuttlefish ink sauce and then delectable calamari.
With our bellies full and smiles on all of our faces, we braved the weather once more, finding the rain to have been put on pause. The glass shops and mask shops entranced us. Once we had all picked a genuine Venice mask, we made our way back to the main square were we mingled with masked Italians and danced under the stars.
The bus ride back seemed endless, but when I remember the food, the water canals, and the enchanting streets, it was definitely worth it.
Next up: Tuscany
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