Perugia and Assisi

It's that time of year again - Eurochocolate festival time in Perugia. This festival is dedicated to the culture of chocolate. Picture Charlie and the Chocolate factory - chocolate streams, never ending bubblegum, chocolate mountains, the whole deal...well, Perugia wasn't quite like this, but there was an incredible amount of chocolate on sale. The best chocolate from all over Europe, including chocolate keyboards, chocolate cigars, and chocolate moulded into every form and shape you can imagine. And, following Europe's biggest chocolate festival will be Dental Awareness Week 2010. Maybe not. It was difficult to appreciate how pretty Perugia was as the streets were lined with people. There metro system was quite futuristic, with the minimetro more like a space capsual on a rollercoaster. Who says public transport isn't fun? We stayed at a hotel called Hotel d'Alba, about 30 mins out of Perugia, our room overlooked the second biggest lake in Italy, a lovely sight to wake up to after 3 hours of sleep. Come night, we visited one of Perugia's most esteemed discotecas, reinforcing the fear factor induced by Italian boys "I love you, I love you" they say chasing you and trying to dance with you, so you take whichever friend is closest to you and pretend you are gay, but they just don't get the point that you are in no way interested. Dancing on elevated platforms in cages are "Cubista", women dancing in tiny tops and bottoms, with fully dressed men accompaying them.

We left Perugia, one of the biggest univerity towns in Italy, seeing very little of the town itself. It's only a short two hours away from home, so definitely worth another trip soon. Next stop, Assasi, famous for being the birthplace of the Patron Saint of Italy, San Francesco. It's still evident how deeply religion is embedded into this little village. I almost saw more churches than people in Assisi. It was a very beautiful town, and at the time we visted, the sky split open and heaven fell upon the Earth for a few precious seconds. It rained for the rest of the weekend there. I have to say, my highlight of Assisi was discovering a fence colourfully decorated by chewing gum. Just delightful.