Jelly Ham and Cheese does Dallas

well mom and I have decided to save some $ and we are driving my car to Dallas this weekend. So please be thinking of us as we are driving. It will be around 12 plus hours of driving and about 850 miles…. so the VW is going to see the south!!!!

Lauren messaged me the other day asking if I wanted to fly to DC to meet up with her and then help her drive back her new car back to Atlanta..well we all know I am always up for a traveling challenge…So I took it and I am flying tomorrow to meet up with her in Baltimore, Maryland, to drive to DC to get the car, to then turn right back around and drive to Dalton to stay the night..then she will travel to Atlanta on Thursday. If I have any interesting stories, you will all be the first to know them….

Hey you all I just wanted to tell you that I am back in Dalton!!!! Or really Rocky Face, but I am here…after 12 hours on a plane….not to mention all the down time waiting on the planes….the plane not coming to get me in Charlotte… oh and loosing my luggage..spending the night in a hotel..getting up early early this morning to get back to the air port…I am finally here!!!! Thanks for your thoughts and prayers along this big adventure..I am going to keep up my blog with stuff, so stay tuned…loveya all, Gilly

I decided to take my last and final trip to Salzburg, Austria…mainly bc I wanted to get to Austria since I touching the country…and 2, bc I love love love The Sound of Music…I grew up watching it…I used to watch it almost ever Sunday afternoon if college with no alarm clock naps with April Baker (Welch), I love the songs and the soundtrack…so I wanted to see the famous land it was filmed on…in the time that I was researching Salzburg…I also learned that it was a true life story..sadly I didnt know that this whole time…Marie Van Trapp did exsist…which I love even more! She died in 1987, but her spirit still lives on! Sadly the people from Salzburg DO NOT even know about the movie or the family..They are living amongst a "Classic" and they dont even know about it….

I started my trip on Tuesday morning where Amy Page took me to the train station, I road on 4 different trains and after 7 hours I finally got there to Salzburg…it was already getting dark at 3:30 when I got there, so I asked Info how to get to my hotel/farmhouse…and they told me by taxi…So I took a Taxi and about 15 minutes later and 10 Euro later ($15 USD) I was there. I learned that the restaurant was closed for 2 days, and that there wasnt a shutle or anything to get down the big hill/mountainto where my hotel/farmhouse was…If you have ever been to my parents house imagine that times 10…or I was telling Emily Rice…with her parents driveway…imagine that about 5 times and that was how far it took me to get up that hill/mountain.  so it was way up there in the hills…but it did have a great view…

So I got to my room and just cried and cried…I was being such a baby….bc I have never really traveled alone like that…I mean I have been outside the US and I dont know all languages, so I was very scared to be in a country where I dont know the language at all. So after I got myself together…oh and I couldnt just pick up the phone and call my mom…I finally planned out my trip, right down to the hour! I had it all figured out and after 2 hours of planning, I was ready to set out on my journey!

here is my room/bed…and here is my tiny International shower…

Wed. morning, the tour guide for my Sound of Music tour, came and picked me up…

I went on the tour and it was so fabulous..we got to sing songs and see all the sights…we went into the mountains to see where the Von Trapps got married in the movie, we got to go inside.

 and I even got my picture made beside the gazebo (I am 16 going on 17)….

Here is the Palace of Leopoldskron where the family had pink lemonade on the terrace with the Baroness and Maria and the children were on the boat and fell into the water of this lake.

here is the Abbey of Nonnberg, the nunnery where Maria was when she was called to become the governess for the Von Trapp family.

if you notice in the left side oh this picture where that building comes to a point, well to the left of that is a small arch..that is where the children in the movie came to the Abbey and shook the gate door to find Maria after she had ran away from the house! pretty cool!

Here are the Mirabella Gardens and Fountain where the children sang "Do-re-mi-fa-so-la-ti-do"

Agriturismo, this is a farmhouse type restaurant where the owner grow their own livestock, garden and winery…They serve you the food from their own harvests!!!! Usually the whole family works there and that is how they make their $ for the year..This particular one had a winery…notice my pictures…I took advantage of the winery!!!! I went with a big group here from the Army Post, and we had a great time…I think I was awarded "the best wine taster" bc I tasted ALOT of wine…again notice my pics!

These were the ladies in my car:(The rowdy bunch)  Lisa, Sandy, Regina, Kristy, Heather, and me

Here is me eating my dinner (it was actually all good, except the chicken/pork liver… but even the noodles were handmade with the wheat/flour they grew..everything was so fresh! Even the plates were garnished with home grown produce. The bacon and sausage was my favorite!!! oh and the roasted potatoes and turnip greens were also very good! and we had sorbetto (a sherbert type drink in lemon flavor)!

You all know I have had a man crush on most of your fathers…well I found a "man crush" here as well! His name is Roy..he is actually part of the family that I had Thanksgiving with!

after dinner they had us try Grappa…Vicenza is known for its Grappa…Grappa is a fragrant grape-based pomace brandy of between 30% and 80% alcohol by volume (60 to 160 proof), of Italian origin. Literally "grape stalk", grappa is made by distilling pomace, grape residue (mainly the skins, but also stems and seeds) left over from winemaking after pressing.

Italians add this to their expresso and coffee’s all day long…It was said that it helped with digestion! but it was Yuck! eventhough it looks as though I am drinking the whole bottle, I only took a sip!

Here are just some silly pics of my with my favorite kind of wine..it was a frizzy wine!

and here is my and Heather…

It was a great night had by all!

So I took this ITR trip on a Saturday, just like I had with Florence and Milan…these trips worked out fabuolous for me bc they take care of everything and all I had to do was just be on the bus at the certain time..this time is was very early!!!

It only took us about 3 hours to cross over into the borders of Switzerland, and bc I was on a bus with about 50 other people they didnt make us get off and check our passports, so I was kinda sad that I didnt get mine stamped! boo-hoo!

On the way to Lugano, we did pass Lake Como (it was the lake that George Clooney found and loved during the making of Ocean’s 12, and he now has a villa in the mountains, but Lake Como was also in the movie)

While I was there, we went on a morning tour and saw some more chapels I will not bore you with that..bc actually I was getting bored myself…but I did find some neat pics of the city and of the moutains and the water…When we were leaving to go to a Chocolate factory, we saw a plane drop out paratroopers into the water and then small boats go and pick them up.  We also saw helicopters coming and using these buckets to get water from the lake and try to burn out a fire that was started, it was some sort of Military demonstration..

here are my pics: click on them to make them bigger

and here is my fav…this just goes to show you how much they try to be Americans!

That following Saturday I took another trip up to Milan…it was about a 3 hour and a half bus ride to Milan. Milan in Italy is known for its fashion industry. Giorgio Armani is from Milan and he started making and selling clothing at an early age, and he has had a shop in Milan since the 70’s. There is a whole section of the downtown that is dedicated to fashion and all the major stores are there: louis vuitton, prada, dolce and gabbana and many others that I couldnt even afford the paper they print the receipts on. I did find this luggage that any one of you can get me for Christmas:

 I’ve been good RIGHT????

we also went to see a nunnery and a church downtown and as we were going to go inside, our guide (who I dont think had washed her hair in weeks..yucky) told us we could go inside but a wedding was taking place…so guess what that makes us wedding crashers…. ha ha..we werent able to take pictures, but guess who is the rebel… haha

We also had the chance to see the Duomo of Milan…It was also beautiful. It is known as the World’s largest Church. here are some pics from the outside and the inside.

 here is part of the marble flooring that has been there since the 14th Century..and that is for my Phi Mu girls….KLTC….!!!! ha ha oh MMM……

if you notice in my picture of me outside the cathedral…I am holding an ice cream cone..well after 2.5 months in Italy, I finally found a McDonalds. So I was so excited, bc Lord knows I love a good double cheeseburger…well guess what they dont have double cheeseburgers…but they did have a McMac…AKA big mac…and instead of a value meal, it was called a "McMeal". Not only do they have regular fries, they also have potato wedges, but I went with what I know…and I asked for "sweet and sour", they looked at me like I was a crazy person…and I had to pay for ketchup…and it cost me about 7 EURO…which means it was $10.50 in USD… but next to us, there was this lady eating a salad…normal I guess except instead of shredded cheese they have huge slices of mozzarella cheese and some fruit…and then this lady added her french fries and then added dressing, which I think was tarter sauce if I wasnt mistaken..I was totally grossed out…so to make me get over that, I had an ice cream cone, and it was good! but $3….

Since I have been in Italy, I have been trying many different Italian foods and things dealing with their culture…Here is a canolli that I bought…but it was too rich to each…

and here is also a first…well a first since I was in 5th grade…this lady to the left actually had her jeans tight rolled and then rubber bands were placed over the tight rolls, I am guessing to make sure they didnt move…I had to take the picture I thought you would appreciate it…

all in all Milan was a very pretty city, but it was very cold..also for your art buffs, The Last Supper by Leonardo da Vinci, is located in an old church here in Milan but they only allow so many people to view each day, and we didnt make reservations early enough, so we didnt get to see it..but maybe next time right?

thanks, Gilly

I have been taking ITR trips here on post…For most of you that means, that the anagram stands for "Information, Tours, Registration". it is a program here on post to help you see Europe and other near by places…The trips are usually set up for one day, and you pretty much pay around $30- 45 per daily trip depending, and you get up early to meet to ride a chartered bus and that usually included an ITR guide and a guided tour in the city…This is how I have been traveling to near-by towns for a pretty cheap fare.

We had to leave post at 7 am to get on the bus to leave for Florence. Our ITR guide spoke broken English and it was funny to hear her say "this trip will be special", "you will have special rememberences of this trip", "it will be special", "I will find this to be special for you"…SPECIAL was her favorite English word and she used it whenever SHE thought she could sneak it in to a sentence..pretty funny I thought…

ok so to to good stuff. We got there after about 3 hours on a bus, not too bad I dont guess. We had some time to eat a quick lunch and then we were meeting up with our tour guide. We met up and she showed us the major touristy (spelling..is that a word?) sites and of course we all took pictures, but then she started to get very boring…but this trip was so "special"…ha ha I had to add that in…

Here are some pics of the Duomo (the Cathederal of Florence)

This is a very large cathederal with beautiful fresco paintings inside the "dome".

Around where we were walking there were these live moving statues..They freaked me out…People would get close to them and then give them $ and then they would start moving…I dont know why I didnt like them, but I didnt think they were "special".. ha ha did it again…it is contagious!

Here is also where I found a coffee shop/ cafe with my name..well kinda..notice above my head

as we were driving into Florence, our ITR tour guide asked us if we wanted a "special deal" I promise you that is what she said…but she was meaning, did we want to see something that wasnt on the original list of to-do sites..so we said, "Si, Si, Si", so she took us there, here is the beautiful few from our "special deal"

in downtown, there was a faux David, that is to look like Michelangelo’s David, but it was in a museum that we were not able to get inside because it was closed on the Monday that we went.

We had a great trip, and I did get to see so much! I may add more pics later…have a great day..Gilly

I am heading to Florence tomorrow, so hopefully I will have more pictures and more stories to tell..keep reading! Thanks!

I have been meaning to tell you about a chocolate festival I went to a few weekends ago.

 Me and Lauren and of course Danny and some ladies in our neighborhood went downtown Vicenza to a festival of chocolate. We got there and there were booths set up just like at Praiter’s Mill (for my Dalton peeps) and Gold Rush (for my Nuggets). It was booths after booths set up with tents and chocolate. Since most of them only spoke Italian, we just had to point and pay! Actually buying by the pound was pretty expensive. Lauren bought some individual wrapped pieces that contained liquir in them, she was going to sent those to Dan, and we had some with some great different kinds of filling, and they were yummy! But we decided to try the hot chocolate, so many people have told us how great it was, so we bought two cups full. They poured it into syrofoam cups and that stuff is thick, I mean THICK! just imagine making brownies and heating up the batter and pouring it into syrofoam cups, bc that is the consitency that I am talking about. Or the consistency of chocolate pudding that you cook on the stove..that is it. well try to drink that, and it was hot too. It was like you could feel it going all the was down your throat and sticking to your stomach and sitting there all day. I was tasting that hot chocolate for hours afterwards. I decided I was just going to stick to milk chocolate instead, and even after the festival, I started to feel sick. Until we decided to get a crepe made with nutella. If you know me, you know I love nutella! Here are a few pictures of us!

notice the nutella on Danny’s check!

here is a car made of chocolate!

Here is a chocolate booth!