Fantastical Chocolate Festival

So at the end of the summer Facebook kept bringing up a Fantastical Chocolate Festival ad. Looked ahmazing, a bit scammy at first to be honest but it's touring the country and surely with the first few festivals word would get out, right? So we booked to go to the Birmingham one in October. 

I was expecting a trade show like festival. A place you would go stall to stall and taste + buy all kinds of chocolatey chocolate :) Wouldn't you? This is their description on the FB pages: Artisan Chocolate Traders 🍫 Tasting Stations 😋 Themed Walkabout Characters & Story Corners 📚 Singalong Entertainment 🎭

Sound great doesn't it? Especially with pics like these to promote it :) and no bad press on it  - quite a few events took place before Birmingham. Was super excited!!!!!

WRONG!!!

We got there and... :D Well first of all they screwed up our booking and put us on the more expensive evening wine and cheese festival, which was supposed to be the same as the day choc festival just cheese stalls added. OK not bad not bad at all :D I love wine and cheese, so an unexpected perk :) BUUUUUUUUUT when we got in there was 1!!!!!! YES ONE chocolate stall :D Basically any supermarket has a bigger selection... no artisan traders, or chocolate fountains or themed anything... Then in the main hall there was mostly wine... you could only taste a little sip at a time, otherwise £5 a small glass.... hmmmmmmm.... only one tasting stall so the queue was horrendous, one cheese stall, you could have a little taste of the cheeses, queue was horrendous... one stall to buy crepes and waffles, no tasting there at all, and one stall for paninis I think, didn't quite understand. 4 tables at the middle seating about 10 people each. A singer and that's it :D :D :D :D :D :D :D :D You call this a festival??????????????????? What the hell????? :D EVERYONE was complaining :D And the day just choc festival was no better apparently, some poor bugger bought tickets to both :D 

Yes, we got our money back :D

I still had a great weekend in Birmingham though, got SUSHI yum, chocolate form Debenhams, that had a bigger and more interesting selection :D Mr. Special actually said at the time I was choosing what to buy to don't be crazy we're going to a choc festival later, you'll have plenty of interesting things to choose from in there. LOL

Also there was a little FREE chocolate fair in Brindley place that we low key slagged off - Imagine if we had booked to come and see this... Lol it was better than the one we paid for :D

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...

I live in a quiet little town

Heartbeat why do you miss when my baby kisses me?

I remember this tune from my childhood since this British drama was shown on our tv at the time as well. And all I remember is that in a small rural town pretty much every week someone is murdered. Ludicrous we thought at the time. Fake News :D

Little did I know that 20? years later I would be living in that town :D Every time I tell my friends what's happening here they're like dude, for real? What the hell is that place I call home????

So one day I had just discovered Netflix and was sitting at home catching up on my Vampire Diaries :D Yes I know I'm wayyyy behind on the times. I blame the place I live in. Mr. Special had gone up to North Wales to sort out the problems in his pub and I was all alone UNTIL

HELP! HELP! HELP! knocking on every door in the hallway HELP! HELP! HELP!

A girl was screaming her heart out and I didn't know if she had run in from the street or from another block of flats (coz I'm the neighbour of the year), but I'm sure at one point she yelled Mr. Specials name as well. What tto you do in this situation??? I don't know if there's anyone following her and didn't want a fight in my flat etc... but at the same time I would want someone to help me if I ever find myself in that situation... Luckily one of the upstairs neighbours opened their door and I went to listen in. The hell is happening here?

Things had calmed down a bit (she wasn't screaming any more) but there was someone saying/threating the neighbour that things will end badly if police is called etc. That went on for a little while and then I stepped out and said I'll phone the police myself if you don't leave right now! "Goodbye!!!!!!!!" He did start descending mildly threatening me now that things won't end well etc. All I could say at that point was "Not for me mate, goodbye now!". For some stupid reason I'd left my door open, thinking I might need to run inside or something... and obviously he saw that... Cool another "threat" from him - "13, unlucky for some". :D Lol I'll be killed in my sleep tonight... fun... The girl left with him, although I said that she can stay if she wants, clearly she was trying to get away from him so I was confused now as to why are you going with him??? To make sure he leaves? Ok you do you. Then they went outside to argue... until the police came and escorted him out of our courtyard. And he's apparently banned from the whole area... I did hear a few days later that he did return to the flat that night (the girl had gone to a friends) and trashed the place. Luckily I survived :)

Also about a week before this happened their flat was broken into, trashed and some items stolen. At the time the guy "found" the thief and recovered the stolen items. OK??? Did you like tell the police? Now it turns out he staged the whole thing... because the girl was trying to break up with him.. 

Blaze

Woke up one Wednesday morning to texts in the group chat like is everything OK in Aber???? Heard there's a big fire and roads are closed???? WHAAAAAAAAT?

And yes it was all true, in the early morning a guesthouse on the promenade had somehow caught on fire and by the pictures it looked absolutely devastating, 12 fire engines from all around the county tried to tackle the blaze, took them about 12hours! 12 people were evacuated (kids amongst them) and 1 is missing!

That section of the promenade was shut for days - even the pedestrian bit! :O The fire had been so damaging to the building that it was structurally unsafe to enter (to potentially find the missing body inside) for weeks after! The fire happened end of July, about a week later a man was arrested for arson. About a month later, investigators and a rescue team were able to enter the building and indeed they found a man's remains in there.

They have opened a lane on the promenade by now (2 months later). Only single file though so a lot of chaos because most of the town is one way system anyway, and one main road from the promenade to town stays closed still. Wonder if they are afraid of the buildings completely collapsing? And what's happened to the people who lived next door? Because the hotel on the other side is closed and would stay closed for at least a year :O That's how bad it was...

Ttyl
Jazz....

Home trip vol 2

This home trip was full of family activities, nearly every day was planned! And spoiler alert! I got to swim in the swamp!!! Finally! That is now defo my favourite activity ever! And need to do it EVERY time I go back home.

So as Mr. Special hasn't been out camping, I mentioned that to my mum and she was like hell no we aint doing that! Nearly puked at the thought :D :D But she came up with something better! Last year they hired a little cabin in the blueberry woods near a beach. And luckily for me, they had a one night opening and we could all go together! That cabin also had a sauna (be weird if it didn't) and a pond where you can jump into after the hot hot hot sauna. Even my lil bro (11) who is usually very vary and frightful of nearly everything (he's a worrier) ran and jumped in FIRST! What a proud big sis moment! :)

Earlier that day we went to the beach and it was windy as! It is quite rare the sea in Estonia has any waves, so again another first (pretty much) for my family to play around in the waves (don't get too excited for the world wave standards those were still small :D ). It was COLD!! COLD!! but they all went in (mum and my 2 bros), and I couldn't miss the chance! So we jumped in them until our lips turned blue - and H still didn't want to come out!

So that's the cabin we stayed in!

Sike, no! :D I'm so funny :D Later that evening we went for a long walk to a nearby village and there was a little tiny harbour thingy - a small viking boat was there and a few abandoned buildings. Mr. Special and my tiny bro decided to go exploring one of them. Pictured! I didn't because I am very vary and frightful of everything, I am a worrier (see a similarity?). At one point they went out of my sight and I've seen way too many horror films to know what happens in abandoned buildings! Luckily :D they soon emerged unharmed, phew, and climbed back out of the window.

Then another day we went to the zoo to see the new polar bear habitat. And it was cool! Plenty of space for them to play in the water - not long a go they only had a little concrete box with a tiny puddle that they could jump into during the hot summer days. I'm so glad they have a new house to call their home :)

Snacks in my house! 

Following on the abandoned buildings theme we went to Rummu quarry, an abandoned prison, where some buildings are submerged and you can swim up to them and jump off to the blue see through water!

Next up on our daytrip to Padise monastery ruins, if you look hard enough, or are extremely lucky, you can find your way on to the tower as well! But it takes a little while to find the right door and room in that maze of different levels. We knew there was a way up there and did eventually find it :D

My sister lives in Helsinki this year and this was the perfect opportunity for Mr. Special to tick another country off his list and for us to have a place to stay to explore the city. And our first stop was  Linnanmäki amusement park! I've been there once with my sister more than a decade ago and the only thing I remember is that all of a sudden a burger fell out of the sky onto her back :D :D :D :D 

This years theme is how my tiny bro was super upset all the time that he was a few cm shorter than 140cm! and couldn't come to all of the rides me and my sis went on. He even tried to stand on his tiptoes but the attendant (rightly so) wasn't having any of it :D off he went super sulking to Mr. Special and bigger bro, who could go on the rides but were too scared.

Luckily for him the oldest wooden rollercoaster, built in 1951, was fun enough, and we went on it 3 times in a row (no UK style hours waiting in a queue there luckily). Of course he wanted to go a fourth and a fifth time but enough is enough :D

See those yellow tracks in top right corner of the park? The most scariest ride in there! It turns you on your head and then goes through the track twice 105km/h speed! And for some stupid reason the last thought in my head before these rides start is what if my safety restraints have a fault???? aaaaand phhuuuuu you're upside down with that thought... SCARY!!!!!!! And in front of us was a little kid, maybe about 10-12 who went on it ALONE! Jesus give me courage!

On the second day we went to Suomenlinna, a fortress island about 20 minutes by boat from Helsinki. Spent a good couple of hours exploring the few underground parts of the fortress, playing on the cannons, you can climb up on them and some are the usual but a few have a huge platform behind them as well.  That evening we went swimming in the sea... yuckiest sea that is... full of floating seaweed and sharp pebbles were digging into my feet... But kids wanted to go (they had crocs on, lucky), but not alone, so yeah... ew... :D We weren't the only crazy ones though! There were a few people who chose the same spot, in between rocks, not at the actual beachy part. The rocks were great for sunbathing and just sitting and dipping your feet in the water. I hate sand... But I hate sharp pebbles more :D

Last day we took a train to Heureka science centre. I remember when we went there as kids it was HUGE and full of things to do. Weird how perception changes :D Still a big museum full of a lot of interactive activities, we did get tired by the end... First thing the boys did was to build a tall tower out of wooden blocks, then you could build your own car and see if it'll roll down the track. Build a feather cap and see how high it could fly, we also got to put silhouettes of our faces onto coins. And again, the little bro was too small to go and try the bicycle on a wire up under the ceiling. And again the others were too scared :D My sister actually climbed all the way up there but was too chicken and climbed back down :D

Back home we did the compulsory stroll around old town Tallinn, visited my most favourite pancake place in the world: Kompressor and then went to look at the sunset on the beach. Idyllic

On our last full day home we went for a family trip in to the bog! And had a swim in one the cold cold lakes there! A memory I'll cherish forever! It was so cool, and literally took my breath away :D

After that dip was done, we went to a beach nearby and as soon as I thought hey, I'm deep enough to dive in, I hit my knee on a freaking rock while doing it! Awesome, so then the ice cream man came and I had to go out of the water and bleed in front of everyone there :D Fun times!

Last thing - it took us around 2 hours to get our hand luggage back from RyanAir! Since you are no longer able to bring it in the plane with you... 2 hours!!!!! Luckily our train ticket was an open return and we made it to the penultimate train that day... Wasn't expecting that :O

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...

Taking Stock vol 4

Haven't done this for a couple of years now :O But thought when I ever start reading this blog back I'd like to see what I was thinking and who I was back in the day y'know, instead of just where I've been. Although making these chitchat posts is always quite awkward and difficult for me. So a template I shall use :)

Making : (Jesus, I've already hit a snag and have to use the almighty Google to get inspo on what I am "making", Great Start). What am I making???? Nothing? Plans to go to Japan or America? Think we've left Japan too late though... I booked off 10 days at the end of November and still trying to figure out whaaaaaat we gonna do. Also kind of want to go to New Orleans. yes, because of the movies and tv shows, haven't actually looked into anything there yet, but would be a much easier choice than Japan?

Cooking : Fried some potatoes with lardons and sour cream. They stuck like ******* on the stupid pan! Sooo mad!

Drinking : Water mainly and also Green Relentless

Reading: Still trying to chew my way through the "Minu California", been on it for years :D Just can't find the time for it... and also too stubborn to start another book before that's done

Wanting: For people to first turn up to work, second take initiative and third do a good job! God why is it so difficult?? And guess who are the biggest whiners, when a new person is hired and "they now can't live off the small pay"

Looking: Forward to our big holiday in November, even if I don't know yet where we'll go

Playing: Sims2 (eternal love!)

Wasting: Time, literally al I do is sleep - work - sleep - work - sleep. What are cool hobbies or interests I could take up?

Wishing: I would finally take the plunge and move away!!!!! I'm stuck in this kind of ahhhh my life could be ten million times worse so why take the chance?

Enjoying: Tortillas with guacamole, I even went back to Tesco to get some more!!! 

Waiting: For a miracle to happen? A click in my mind to say "don't be so comfortable and scared of change"

Liking: The new layout of the living room - so much room for activities

Wondering: the person who didn't show up to work yesterday is still on his probationary and can I fire him, or are we stuck with a useless person... why did I let it go this far and didn't do it sooner?

Loving: My new Ted Baker bag, It's a pink kitty! :) Mr. Special got me another bag for last Christmas but by February that one had a big rip where the stitches were. So we took it back to the shop and they said no it shouldn't have gone like that especially so quickly. Refunded and gave me gift card that I just now cashed in by getting a new cool bag

Hoping: that one day I'll be brave enough to start driving :D Ha, the problem is I don't need to drive in this small town and that's what's holding me back. Yes, we do make the occasional trip to make sure I don't forget driving completely, but I'm scared to go into traffic and bored to just to the same easy road back and forth all the time... See my dilemma?

Marvelling: at the cake making skills of one of the Polish girls who made an absolutely ahmazing honey cake for our charity bake sale. Must get the recipe and make Mr. Special replicate it. It was yummy!!!!!!

Needing: To do something productive with my free time. Yes, I find it ridiculous that all I do is chill all day long and most days don't even leave the house :(

Smelling: Nothing really, the regular smell of home. I have bought a few Yankee candles and Joik candles that smell nice and would smell up the room nicely but I don't like burning them as then they'll be gone! Yes I am a hoarder at heart. I did use to have the scent diffuser, but I am very picky with these. I don't like strong smells and Next stopped doing the one I liked

Wearing: Comfy home clothes, shorts and a t-shirt

Following: A lot of blogs, favourite being Mallukas, because she always manages to get into some weird drama :D

Noticing: That there are a lot of weird things happening in this town as well! Latest being one of my neighbours running to the courtyard and knocking on everyone's door, screaming a heartbreaking HELP! HELP! They had some kind of domestic argument, so while they were arguing upstairs if police should be called or not, I got involved too and asked the guy to leave! I can't just sit in my flat listening to a girl pleading for help. He did eventually go, but before of course threatened me as well in case I decide to phone the police :D "13 - unlucky for some" - "Not for me mate!". I live in flat 13... So yes, first time ever chained my door just in case :D took about 10 minutes to figure out how it works though :D

Knowing: that I can't waste my life in this little town, and that I need to get out, but also it is my choice! and my initiative to make!

Thinking: Why am I so complacent?

Feeling: Unsettled (same answer as last time?) But feeling like there's more out for me but not really knowing what it is or what should I do.

Bookmarking: Masters programs, but they all need references... That's what's holding me back, afraid that I won't get the references needed... 

Opening: Messages from Mr. Special - he's stuck in North Wales, car broke down :D He's not a happy bunny

Getting: bored of this now :D See I should just write small snippets err day :D

Disliking: people, especially the ones who let the team down
Watching: The last few seasons of The Vampire Diaries, just got netflix about a week ago, so thought I'd use the chance and pick up where I left off a couple of years back?? I don't know actually? When did the show finish? Yes I am wayyyy behind with times... Wish I could say I've been super busy but I haven't :D Spent the last 6 months or so watching every episode of Criminal Minds :D and now following it up with NCIS

Listening: To Emeli Sande - Daddy at the moment. Will do a post soon (I use the term very loosely) with the top 5 new songs

And that's it for now... Toodaloo! 

Ttyl ;)
Jazzz...

Palermo

For some mysterious reason I keep going back to Italy. Look, basically, if there's a choice between Italy and anything else, there is no choice really :D This time our second (well third for her) girls trip!!! Wooooo! To Sicily. We had a choice between the two airports, one on either side of the island. At first we thought about flying into one and out of the other, buuut we only had 4 days and neither of us drives... Well we both have licenses but practice is a different matter :D So we chose the capitol: Palermo, home of the mafia dun dun dun. 

Let's just say the city was a bit underwhelming and maybe the south would've been a better option as there are more day trips around. We chose the city thinking there'll be lots to do in there + one day trip. The latter went wrong as well... :D LOL why? We had chosen the trip a long time ago but hadn't finalized anything yet, so decided to buy tickets separately so we wouldn't have to start converting euros to pounds for one of us to pay the debt to the other. All cool, until "whoops, no more places left for the day you want". F**** great... She could buy hers though! Got the last place... Just my freaking luck...

But she is a kind person and gave her place to me. Turns out we went in a minivan, only having room for 8 people and one stupid group was a family of 3 :( Americans... selfish

First we went to Erice, which is a frotress town on top of a hill. Main attraction is walking along the narrow streets, a huge park and castle ruins (thought it was more of a castle than just some rocks scattered around :( because on the outside it looks like a proper castle, but inside... open ground that I walked through 3 times in disbelief...)

Before that though a little tasting of all the Sicilian sweets. And they were sweet. mmmm Marzipan :) So sweet that I got to have more as one of the other people on the trip did not wish to have all of hers.

Looks like a proper castle right?

By the way, took me forever to find the entrance

View from the Venus castle

Cathedral

Then it was lunch time, included in the trip. Typical Sicilian food: tasted the local olive oil, yes we drank a shot. It had a spicy aftertaste after drinking but when having with bread no spiciness. Strange? Caponata, Gato di patete (sweet potatoe and cheese?), pasta alla Norma, couscous... There was plenty of food! All food that picky me would normally never order for myself but it was delicious! 

The local farm/vineyard where we had lunch also had 4 dogs that just laid about in the sun.

Then the daytrip took us to Segesta Archeological Park. A site that has a Doric Temple (overheard a guide saying that it was probably built only for show because they were instructed to build it. Because it has no visible entrance on any side of the temple)

Then you take the bus up (or walk half an hourish steep uphill) the hill where there's a big open air Theatre. I even was witness to a performance, one of the other group that was there at the time decided to recite a lovely poem while there.

Back to Palermo for an evening meal

Next day we roamed around Palermo, starting with the Catacombe, which were very hard to find. Walked through some dodgy streets and ended up on the road between two walls with no pavement. On the verge of turning back luckily the good people of Palermo helped us and said yes this is the (dodgy) way and it's just around the corner (if you don't get hit by a car first). So we went and ended up in a big square. Managed to find the cemetery and google maps said the catacombs were just where we were standing????? How, Where? After about ten minutes of absolute what the hell? We found the tiniest sign pointing to the tiniest door. What was waiting for us there is the creepiest room I've ever seen! And I've been to the Paris catacombs, Bone house in Austria, seen/smelt a dead body for med students. What waited for us downstairs was a basement, walls lined with mummified people! :O Pinned up to the wall, clothed. 8 000 of them! including babies. Some I believe still had skin on them... No photos as I don't think that's appropriate... Truly once in a lifetime experience though! Never forget!

Visited another disappointing castle (the only reason they're disappointing is because the ticket price does not reflect what you see/get in return). Didn't even take any pics inside :D

Then a quick lunch of the most popular street food - arancini. Deep fried ball of rice with mozzarella and ham inside, you can choose a different flavour. It was not nice :D :D :D

What was nice was the walk on the roof of the cathedral. We were the last ones up (day slot?) and took that many photos that the attendant was already motioning us to go down - she came down with us :D probably to go on her lunch break

Teatro Massimo - we spent one evening sitting in front of it, enjoying the hustle and bustle, there was music playing and people were just out enjoying themselves :) Grabbed a nice white choc cake from the cafe across the road :)

Giardino Inglese

Late night drinks

Third day we took the train to the Valley of the Temples. Not disappointing :D only problem was the heat. It is a big big valley! And her glass bottle of water was confiscated :D Security reasons! Very dangerous!

It has both temple ruins and a few full on temples :) and unfortunately some kind of park that you have to pay extra to get into! Why? Jesus it's money money money in this island.

The town where the Valey is, is also full of cathedrals and churches, whenever you get to one, there is a sign for the next one! Cute little streets :) I like cute little narrow streets

Our Airbnb was right next to this square

Last night drinks - I am now obsessed with dried pineapple!

The view from our Airbnb

Since our flight was late evening, we decided to take one last daytrip. Dropped our bags in the hold at the train station and hopped on a train to Cefalu, having decied between that and Monreale. But the ladder was only supposed to have the Cathedral as anything worth looking at while Cefalu was supposed to be bustling summer resort town. The weather wasn't on our side though :(

We ended up coming back earlier than expected as Cefalu was tiny tiny.

And I decided to go to the Botanical Gardens, Giardino Garibaldi in Palermo, just 10 minute walk from the train station

Ttyl ;)

Jazzz...