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Cocoa's Travels

Hi my name is, Cocoa Bean

Cocoa Preps for travel Italy & Switzerland 2024

Cocoa is so excited to meet new friends and explore Italy & Switzerland. Cocoa will start her first trip by flying on an airplane from America to Italy.

She is excited to share what she has learned, as well as discovering new foods and beverages. This little sprite was sent on her travels with a travel tote bag and an adorable apron, in hopes that she can eat and cook some new dishes.

Her host, tour guide and photographer is blogger from @stressfreeglutenfree. Cocoa is going to come back with new discoveries about wonderful lands as well as about gluten free, and allergy safe food.

Cocoa has landed safely and has been greeted by her new friends from the blog @stressfreeglutenfree.

First leg of the trip starts in Italy. Cocoa was very excited to start her journey riding the Italian Metro, the "metropolitano."

Metropolitano in Milano (underground train) -rapid rail with 5 lines and 113 stations.

Napoleon's Royal Palace in Milan -This royal palace has ancient origins. It served as the city's government for many centuries, and now is a cultural center.

Piazzo Duomo & the Galleria Emanuele -both located in the city center, also known as "Cathedral Square"

Torre Velasca -Iconic 1950s skyscraper with a mushroom-like shape featuring shops, offices & private apartments.

Dolce & Garbanna collection at the Bialetti store in Piazza Duomo - Signor Alfonso Bialetti iwas an Italian engineer that invented the moka express coffee machine.

Napoleon's Villa Reale -Elisa Bonaparte, Napoleon's sister and short-lived ruler of Tuscany, once lived in handsome Villa Reale (dates back to the middle ages)

In this video our Brook Sprite Gilbert is back home at the Dabbling Brook headquarters. He put together a slideshow to share pictures he has received from Cocoa.

It seems like Cocoa loves her apron so much, she is wearing it all around town. Her trip has just begun, and she has already seen so much beautiful architecture and art.

Summer is here and Cocoa's adventures continue!

Cocoa got to attend the Festa Contadina in Cornaredo, Milano - with its fully-restored ghiacciaia (ice depot) and the San Rocco Church, dating back to 1200 a.c

Cocoa's first cooking lesson!

Cocoa cooked a homemade Gluten free meal with her host from www.stressfreeglutenfreeofficial.com.

Recipe:

You can also follow them on social media:
Instagram- @streefreegf
Facebook: Stressfreeglutenfree

Cusago (Milano) and its castle and church.

Cusago is a comune in the Metropolitan City of Milan in the Italian region Lombardy.

Around town in Milano

Magenta, Italy

Festa Della Repubblica 2024

On June 2, Italians celebrate La Festa della Repubblica, or Republic Day. The national holiday commemorates the date when Italians voted to form a republic.

Crema, in the province of Cremona: a hidden gem in the Lombardy region, with so much to do and see! We climbed up to a total of two bell towers, visited a very interesting Civic Museum, admired amazing churches, and enjoyed a wonderful gf pizza.

So many different cheeses in the Iper supermarket, they even had chocolate cheeses!

IPER. Inside the shopping centre of Arese (Milan), the biggest mall in Italy

https://imoon.it/en/project/iper/

Cocoa and her hosts visited a gluten free bakery and toured the birthplace of the famous Italian writer Alessandro Manzoni. They completed their day by walking around the town center.

Cocoa took a ride to the Arcadia Park, and decided to stop at a cafe to escape a storm, and what do you know ?! They had the best apricot jelly gluten free croissants ever!! What an unbelievable surprise!!

Arcadia Park is a park in Bareggio, Metropolitan City of Milan, Lombardy. Arcadia Park is situated nearby to the village Roveda and the town Sedriano.

The Thousand Miles

The Mille Miglia, or "Thousand Miles," is a grand tour from Brescia in northern Italy, down to the capital city of Rome, and back again.

Started the day with cappuccino and gf croissant, and ended it with an awesome free tour of the Certosa di Pavia.

The Certosa di Pavia is a monastery complex in Lombardy, Northern Italy, situated near a small village of the same name in the Province of Pavia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Certosa_di_Pavia

Sirmione, on Lake Garda

Sirmione is a resort town in northern Italy. It’s known for its thermal baths and Rocca Scaligera, a medieval castle overlooking the lake. The Archaeological Site of Grotte di Catullo encompasses a Roman villa.