This Post Will Make You Hungry

Welcome to Perugia, Italy’s

EUROCHOCOLATE FESTIVAL

My roomates and I hopped on a tain to Perugia on Friday, to visit the major chocolate festival taking place. We bought a 5 Euro Choco-card, which allowed us several free samples. Check it out!

Free hot chocolate sample…..thick as pudding!

Lunch: Pita with sauteed vegetables and cheese

Chocolate covered banana!

Chocolate covered cookie bar

Annie and I taking a rest in between tasting

There was chocolate EVERYWHERE. I purched a large chocolate covered orange peel and fig, which were eaten immediately. We were also lucky enough to get 2 free chocolate bars and a Lindt truffle.

Views of Perugia

So, are you hungry yet? Go get yourself some chocolate!

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Bonjour, French Riviera!

CIAO!

Last weekend I enjoyed two days in the French Riviera, and LOVED it. Check out my journey!

Monte Carlo, Monaco

Lunch was enjoyed at a little creperie

Crepe with cheese and mixed vegetables

Dessert crepe with sugar

Monaco was a beautiful little country, with a 0% unemployment rate and virtually no crime. This is where Princess Kelly is also buried. We were lucky to witness the changing of the guards where the Prince lives.

Later in the afternoon, we headed to France.

Nice, France

We wandered narrow streets, filled with bakeries, candy stories, meat stands, and spice markets.

When we passed this bakery, we couldn’t resist stopping by.

I enjoyed 2 macaroons – coconut and strawberry.

After some more exploring, we headed back to the hotel for a much-needed nap, and later enjoyed a traditional French dinner.

Niquois Salad with tuna and hard-boiled eggs

My vegetarian request 😉 Pasta with olive oil and mixed vegetables

“Glace” – ice cream

After some delicious local wine and a full meal, we headed out for some dancing. It was such a great night, but we had to get to bed at a decent time for an early wake up call.

St. Paul Vence, Cannes, and Ez

We did a lot of shopping, jam and mustard tasting, and picture-taking.

Cannes – home of the film festival. We saw ‘handprints’ of  many stars, such as Julie Andrews and Bruce Willis.

Lunch in Cannes: Panini on a LONG french baguette with goat cheese, mozzarella, tomatoes, and pesto.

Our last stop was Ez, where we toured a perfume factory. Look at the homemade duck soap!

The trip was FABULOUS. I loved France, and would love to go back!

Check in again soon for some more pictures!

Ciao~

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OKTOBERFEST RECAP!

CIAO!

As promised, I have quite a post for you on last weekends trip to Munich for Oktoberfest. But truth be told, I think the pictures need to do most of the talking.

After an 8 hour overnight busride, we dropped our bags at the hotel, swiped some makeup on our faces, and headed to the beer tents at 10 am.

We didn’t waste any time ordering steins of beer (10 euro each) and large pretzels (4.50 euro).

Of course, a sweet pickle was devoured.

View from inside the Hofbrau House – it holds over 6,000 people.

After about 4 hours and 2 steins of beer (one regular, one mixed with lemonade!) we headed outside to scope out the food and rides.

Delicious crepes with cinnamon and sugar.

View from the ferris wheel.

We headed back to our hostel around 3pm, took a 3 hour nap, and grabbed dinner on the street.

Apparently we had to have Italian food in Germany.

The second day we woke up at 6am and headed to the beer tents at 8:30 am. We were literally herded  like cattle into the tents with thousands of other people.

Somehow made it in, smiling.

After a beer and some more pretzels and pickels, we decided some order some traditional German food.

Potatoes in gravy. These were interesting – they had a gelatonous texture,
but tasted like a mixture of potatoes and cornmeal.

Of course, another crepe was enjoyed.

At around 3pm, we tried to leave Oktoberfest, but it took us almost an hour to get out. There were so many people! Thankfully we made it home for a nap, and got ready for a night out in Munich!

6 of us at the Hardrock Cafe in Munich!

Veggie Burger!

Free birthday dessert for my roomate’s 21st!

Our 3rd and last day, we woke up to take the train to Dacau, one of Germany’s biggest concentration camps.

 

What a sad, eye-opening experience. We were allowed to walk through the bunk beds, gas chambers, and work rooms.

Later in the afternoon, we explored Munich.

Of course I found chestnuts.

And live music.

The bus ride home was less-than-desireable….8 1/2 hours later we arrived safe and sound back in Florence. The past few days we’ve been in full school-mode, as we prepare for an upcoming weekend in the French Rivera!

P.S! You don’t think I left Munich without this, do you?

1 of 3 Starbucks. YES.

 CIAO FOR NOW!

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