We knocked off on time that day. The American guys were bringing big boss to a brewery for beer, while the American colleague who had brought us to the Amish tour would bring my subordinate and i to visit Hershey town.
Uh huh, we went to "The Sweetest Place on Earth", or the "Chocolatetown, USA".
This town was originally called Derry Church and the name was changed after the chocolate brand Hershey got famous. The world-wide popular chocolate brand was originated from here. As Hershey produces mainly milk chocolates, it was ideally situated since there are ample supply of fresh milk from the Amish community.
It was an one hour drive from Reading to Hershey town. The plan was to visit the Hershey's Chocolate World and then have dinner at Hotel Hershey.
I was very amused when i heard of this town, and was reminded of a TV commercial where everything was made of chocolate, including the people in the ad.
Anyway, we had a scenic drive to Hershey town. When we reached there, i realised why this town had its name changed. There were a theme park, a garden, a concert hall, and also a school that was built for the poor, all named after Hershey.
The founder of Hershey chocolate, Milton Hershey, was a man with a vision and a good heart.
The Milton Hershey School is a beautiful place. It stands on a very huge compound and i didn't manage to take a picture of it.
Our first stop was to visit the Hershey's Chocolate World.
We queued up for the free Hershey's Great American Chocolate Tour ride, which took us through a ride detailing how chocolates are made.
Here's a very blurry video clip i took during the tour.
The Hershey's website provides a more precise clip on the chocolate making process.
As we exit the tour, we were given a Hershey's chocolate bar for tasting.
Before we left the Chocolate World, we of course spent some time shopping for the chocolates and some souvenirs.
There were quite a lot of flavours that are not sold in SG/MY. I bought 6 packets of the famous Hershey's Kisses and a packet of dark chocolate. The plastic bag was also shaped like Hershey's Kisses.
Next, it was time for dinner. We headed to Hotel Hershey, which was a high-class hotel for some high-class meals.
The driveway up Hotel Hershey
The ancient looking hotel
The lobby
The corridor of the hotel rooms (kinda reminded me of the scenes in horror movies!)
We went to the restaurant in the hotel, which was decorated in European style. Even the way that the waiters and waitresses spoke was also very high-toned.
My subordinate and i decided to share the meals, as we realised over the past few days that everything in the America is served in big portion.
Here are what we had for dinner:
Bread and butter
A complementary appetiser that we couldn't tell what it was, and smoked salmon.
Seafood chowder
Chicken cooked in two ways
Dessert (and of course, all desserts on the menu are of chocolate flavour)
We had an enjoyable time chatting and savouring the food. By the time we left the hotel, it was already 10pm+. The American colleague told us that she would drive through the downtown of Hershey, so that we could have a look at the street lights, which were shaped as Hershey Kisses. Too bad that it was very dark and we couldn't see the lamp at all.
I wiki for the town and saw the picture of the town. It was really cute that not only the lights have special shape, but even the streets were named as "Cocoa Ave" and "Chocolate Ave"!
Personally i think this is a place worth coming back. Our trip there was very time-pressed because we only had a few hours after work before it got late into the night. There sure were a lot more to look around in this cute little town.
Labels: travel
