I Try to Tell Myself I'm Not a Chocoholic...

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So it seems that everyone I know here thinks I eat way too much. It is said that by the time I leave I will be at least 300 lbs. It is true, I do eat alot. ALOT. How many times have you heard me say I'm hungry -right after I've eaten. Second breakfast and elevensies all the time. My clothes all still fit and haven't really gained any weight so I keep eating at the same pace. So no one was really surprized when I took a day trip to CADBURY WORLD! It's just outside of Birmingham and basically the only thing to see there except lots of shops. Bournville is a town founded by the Cadbury brothers to have a place for the factory workers - how cool is that to have a town made for you just because you work for a big company. (Almost like Esterhazy in a way...) Anyway as I found my way there - walking from the train station to the factory I could tell I was getting closer because the term follow your nose came to mind. I literally did - as I was walking I could smell chocolate in the air. One building I passed was dark chocolate the next was white chocolate and so on. Strange thing was the barbed wire surrounding the factory - guess they didn't want any chocolate thiefs? Finally made my way in, bought my ticket and was handed three free chocolate bars. It doesn't get much better than that. The tour itself was pretty neat except the little school kids constantly running past us. More free chocolate and a picture with the Chocolate Chuckle Bean. Listened as they told us the history of Cadbury and then how they make chocolate and all that from the beginning to the end. One part is slightly interactive and they rock the benches and blow steam at you - if you have heart problems you are told to sit in the last row...When the tour of the factory is done you head to another building for the classic museum stuff - the old packaging and wrappers through the years, what the town used to look like and antiques from the area. Save the best for last you go to the last building to get the story of how milk chocolate came to be and then get a cup of warm liquid milk chocolate poured over candy of your choice to eat with a spoon. By this time I was so full up of chocolate I thought I would have to roll myself back to the train station. I went to the largest Cadbury store in the world and didn't really buy any chocolate because I was so full (for once).

After I left Cadbury World I headed back into Birmingham to have a wander - not much to see unless you love to shop. I do not. Wandered down some street right into the middle of a German Christmas Market - it was like a craft fair except outside - don't have those back home. Could you imagine us shopping outside in winter? Ha. So I tried a ham bun with secret sauce and sauerkraut. Great.

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Photos

German Market
Singing Moose? Are there lots of singing moose in Germany?