Sunday, April 11, 2004

Any Time You Want Delicious Chocolate There's No Need To Go Looking Very Far

As predicted, the weather was gray, chilly and drizzly today so we went to Hershey, which is about an hour from Hanover. The amusement park isn't yet open for the season (and my kids aren't big roller coaster fans anyway, the one being too small to ride and the other not liking being flipped around), but Chocolate World is free, both to ride the tour of the history of chocolate in Hershey and to walk through room after room of chocolate and paraphernalia. We made it out with only three bags of chips -- you can buy raspberry chocolate, cinnamon and special dark chips at the factory; four of the extra-large bars, two of which will be gifts to my parents for feeding the cats; a pound of fudge in Hershey-exclusive flavors; Cadbury Eggs on post-Easter sale, since apparently Hershey distributes them in the U.S.; and one stuffed bear, since the other son preferred a Chocolate World mug with his name on it.

After the "factory tour" we drove by the real factory, which was apparently open for business despite its being Easter Sunday as there was steam coming from the smokestacks, though we couldn't smell chocolate in the air, perhaps a function of the rain. In Hershey the streetlamps are shaped like Hershey's kisses and the roller coasters are visible from most of the main streets.


The Hershey factory as it looks today...


...and in caricature at Chocolate World, where there's also a miniature.


How the factory looked once upon a time, artistically.


Mixing chocolate, in a viewscreen on a model vat.


Kiss quality control.

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