Perugina Chocolate Factory

I left out of my Umbria posting our visit to the Perugina Chocolate Factory in Perugia. They make the very yummy "Baci" chocolates and many other delicious things. We watched a little movie about how they make their chocolate then looked around a bit. They also had a store that we could buy chocolate. We have especially enjoyed the hot chocolate packets I bought. If none of you have had Italian hot chocolate, it's thick, almost like drinking chocolate pudding, it's incredible!



Here is the biggest Baci, which is kisses in Italian, in the world.

Trip to Umbria

A couple of weeks ago some friends and I went on a 3 day trip to Umbria, a region in Italy. It was with ITR, which some of you are familiar with. We had tons of fun! We stayed our two nights a the Etruscan Chocohotel, which, as the name suggests, has a chocolate theme. Here is the three of us sitting on the bathtub filled with huge chunks of chocolate. Now, if you're asking yourself if it's real chocolate.... yes, it is!



In this picture, Colleen and I are taking a big bite out of the huge table made of, you guessed it, chocolate! That place smelled incredible!



So I hope that I do not offend anyone by posting this picture, but I just have to. This wall was in our room. This fine young man is painted diving into a sea of chocolate, or into Colleen's bed if he keeps going... After all, this is Europe.



The first little town we visited was Castiglione del Lago. A beautiful little walled city that overlooks a lake.







Perugia was the next town we visited,where the hotel was located. Perugia is a college town, a nice town, tons of college students everywhere!





A cool shot in Perugia.




We also went to the very cool and beautiful hill town of Assisi. Some of you may have heard of St. Francis of Assisi, this would be that Assisi. I LOVED Assisi!! There are many beautiful churches, stores, scenery, stores, buildings, more stores... Can you tell we shopped a little in Assisi?? They had an olive wood store that was incredible. I took home a beautiful chess board/set for Matt made of olive wood.



We visited San Damiano, it used to be a convent. Colleen got this great picture of the monks walking toward San Damiano. If I had listened better to our tour guide, I would know more of San Damiano's significance...



We saw many very beautiful churches, but Basilica di San Francesco (St. Francis.) was gorgeous. The grounds were very pretty, but inside the upper church, are 28 beautiful frescoes that depict the life of St. Francis. The lower church is where St. Francis' tomb lies. They liked to build churches upon churches upon churches.




Our last stop was the town of Deruta, known for it's beautiful ceramics. Here's a picture of what most of the buildings look like in Deruta.





We had a great trip, I loved Umbria and would love to go back...

Parmigiano-Reggiano

After I pick Ellie up from preschool, I always ask what they had for snack. Well, today she said, "We just had crackers and white cheese, but it wasn't Parmigiano, so I only ate crackers." We have known for a while now that she is a cheese snob. She LOVES fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano, by the spoonfuls if grated, or by the slice on crackers. I know it's going to cost us a little more to buy once we move back to the states...




All I know is that we'll never go back to this!

A Day in Venice

Yesterday Dana and I hopped aboard Tren Italia to spend a day in Venice.





As many times as we have visited Venice, I had never been inside any of the museums. So Dana and I decided to spend a day "inside" Venice.




Our first stop was the Doge's Palace. The palace housed government rooms as well as serving as home for the Venetian ruler (at the time) known as the Doge or Duke. For four centuries (about 1150 to 1550) this was the most powerful half acre in Europe. The Doges wanted it to reflect the wealth of the Republic, impressing visitors and serving as a reminder that the Venetians were number on one in Europe. It was beautiful inside.




This is a picture taken from inside the Bridge of Sighs. People found to be guilty of crimes were taken from the Doge's Palace to the prisons by way of the Bridge of Sighs. It's said that they would look out the window to catch one last glance of beautiful Venice, and they would sigh. We went into the prison cells, they were pretty dark and horrible, they had reason to sigh.




Here is a picture of Dana standing in front of the Bridge of Sighs.




Next we went into St. Mark's Cathedral. I had been inside a few times, but Dana had not, I was able to enjoy it this time without my darling children at my side. It is a beautiful cathedral with gold mosaics all over. The floor is marble mosaics, also beautiful.





We were also able to visit the Accademia Gallery, which houses some very big, very beautiful art. If I had to choose a favorite piece inside the Accademia, it would probably be the Procession in Piazza San Marco. Although I really enjoyed seeing all of the pieces.






We had a pretty good pizza at an outdoor cafe. And we enjoyed a gelato while standing on the Rialto Bridge watching the gondolas and boats down below. We had a great day, I really am grateful for this time we have had to live in Italy!

Book Tag

*Find the book closest to you with at least 123 pages.
*Turn to page 123.
*Find the fifth sentence.
*Post the next 3 sentences.
*Tag 5 people

The book closest to me that wasn't a coloring book is The Mist of Quarry Harbor by Liz Adair.

"I've got to go, Ricky my boy. Yes," she said laughing, "I see you can do it all by yourself. Uuuup in the oven."

I tag Lexi, Nancy, Peggy, Julie, and Tanya!