Perusia

--quick break from talking about Greece to tell you about a random trip---

I had known for awhile that Denise was planning on going to Perusia for a chocolate festival with some girls who live down the hall, but I didn't think I was exactly invited and didn't want to intrude. Well, last night at ten thirty pm Karen came into the room to talk to Denise about the trip and looked at me saying, "You're coming, right?"

That was settled. I was going.

At FIVE FREAKING THIRTY the next morning, Denise and I were up and getting ready to leave. We had to catch the 6am-or-something-like-that bus to the train station. I really wasn't registering much at that point. The cool thing about joining a travel group later on is that you can just follow everyone around and follow instructions and are usually not responsible for much. It was a nice change.

We met up with Karen, Tasha, and Emily eventually and got on the right bus, etc.
The thing was crazy crowded and full of teenagers.

I don't like teenagers much, I decided. They are loud and obnoxious. Was I ever like that? Probably. I was such an idiot when I was in highschool......it always makes me laugh when I see the same stupidity reflected in the younger generation these days.

anyway, these kids were being all loud and moving around a lot. We all just huddled together and ate some egg mcmuffins (yeah we sprung for mickey d's) and waited to get some seats. By the end of the trip we were all sitting, but there was plenty of standing time.

The train from Rome to Perusia is only about 2.5 hours. When we got there, we all decided that it was about bloody time we activated our Eurail Passes, and started getting some discounted train tickets. We hadnt done it earlier because we weren't doing much train travel. Plus, we needed to save them for ten day.

From the train station in Perusia we caught a bus to the center of the town and easily found the CHOCOLATE FESTIVAL!

Nothing was free, unfortunately. It went sort of along the lines of "chocolate, chocolate, everywhere, but not a bite to eat".
I didn't buy too much over the course of the day. I was proud of myself. Mostly, I think that has more to do with the sick feeling I get every time I think about my quickly depleting bank account balance than anything else.

There were so many things to see---even a dude in a yeti costume!
Milka was sponsoring a good chunk of the festivities, along side other chocolate companies whose names I don't remember. Neuhaus was not present...strange....

We were all in heaven, and ambled up and down the streets looking into booths and seeing all we could. The center of Perusia is really a cute area, without the festival. There is a huge cathedral and the center is all the way on the top of a hill. The view was spectacular, and there were plenty of shops to pop into once the cold became too much.

Denise got really excited to find a Body Shop. I must admit, she is slowly converting me...I like their stuff.

It was SO COLD!! I am really worried that I didn't bring enough warm clothing to Rome with me this semester. I think by the time ten day comes around, I will be wearing every ounce of clothing I own. It is parka weather!

Mira was not wearing a parka.


Burr!