Incentive Trip Day 3

CIAO BELLA!!!

OMG we were in Italy at 10 am !!! Friday morning after yet another delicious breakfast served on the terrace we found ourselves taking a 30 min. train journey into the beautiful sea side town of Ventimiglia in Italy.
A charming and very popular town in the Summer with those holidaying on the French Riviera.
Me and Dawn enjoying breakfast. I cannot tell you how much I loved spending some time with this lovely scottish girl. Her giggle is famous and infectious and her style impeccable. I think by the end of the trip we agreed that she had no less than 10 bags with her on that trip, I think she bought 2 as presents though, she is so funny and I love her to bits.

 Once on the platform in Ventimiglia I couldn't resist taking this photo.

The street market that takes place every Friday pulls in even more people than normal so it was certainly busy that day . Boy was I glad I decided to go!within minutes of arriving we reached the food market and the smell was SO GOOD. While Monaco smelled of expensive perfume everywhere you turned this market smelled of good and fresh food, I did preferred this smell for sure.

The stalls looked beautiful and very colourful, I was so excited and on the spot decided that I would buy a few special ingredients to treat hubby to a special breakfast and a special lunch on Sunday( this was going to be his present LOL). I got some cheese, a piamontese special dip made with anchovies and garlic, some yummy sausages, some chanterelle and porcini mushrooms ( they were really yum simply sautéed with garlic and parsley on toast), a truffle(which is currently flavouring some eggs yum,yum), a huge melanzane a round shaped aubergine minus the millions of tiny seeds the long variety have ( this was lunch). The guy that sold them to us even gave us a recipe and I couldn't help but thinking of the similarities with a SU demo, we sell our stamps to customers but we also show them how to use those stamps just like the Italian chap selling his melanzane. Here is Paula our country Manager looking very glam in her lovely Karen Millen dress and matching bag with her huge aubergine.

She is a doll and we are really lucky to have her, I enjoyed spending a bit more time with her on this trip.

Here you can see the lovely Catarina a tiny and very lovely Italian lady she looked after us so well, you can also see Dave Baugh the Vice President of Stampin'Up! International, being a foodie as well he was really enjoying this experience.

Faced with such an array of beautiful fresh foods we quickly decided to buy some special treats and have a picnic on the nearby beach. The views were stunning from every angle and I wished I had a bikini with me so that I could try the inviting sea just like the locals were doing. Look at that sky

Me and Paula, on the bridge behind us there was a guy playing on his violin, we could hear him from where we were sat and it sounded so very romantic. 

Myself and the lovely Michelle, gosh I defy anyone not to fall in love with this lady, she is funny and warm and so very beautiful, you know that natural beauty no need for any make up beauty. I loved spending that day with her, and you must check out her BLOG for more fabulous photos of this trip (I really missed my big camera seeing her lovely photos) and the funniest text message she received from her hubby, I never laughed so much what a fun couple they are.

We headed back and popped into the Hospitality desk for a chance to spin the wheel. I got some lovely goodies. woohooo. Each minute that passed I was more in love with SU if that is even possible. They really 

made us feel so very special.

  

Back to the room my feet were killing me after 2 days of walking in constant heat and I had to look forward to an evening on 6" heels eek!! so for the time being I was enjoying these LOL.

After I unpacked everything ( my room was smelling like the Italian market by now), I decided to take some pictures of my room as the first thing I did after checking in was to jump on my beautifully made up bed and consequently I messed it all up.

My bed all nicely made up to the left of the picture there was a window and the desk. The turn down service every night was a nice touch, they used to place a mat on your side of the bed along with the slippers all ready for you. They also left a healing crystal on the pillow( no chocs to rot your freshly cleaned teeth in Monaco thank you very much LOL), each night a different one. It truly was such a treat to experience all those little details.

This was the seating area with more windows and luscious red taffeta curtains, there were three layers ( a blackout, a sheer layer and the sumptuous taffeta), the view was splendid too

The walls were lined with cream damask fabric, the room was so quiet you couldn't hear any noise at all.
The bathroom next

Poor photos, it was luxurious with lots of marble and expensive hard wood. One thing I noticed ( can you tell I inspected every nook and cranny? LOL) was that the grout lines in the shower were covered with a silicone like finish to prevent lime build up I should think ( this is such a fascinating piece of information for you all, isn't it?)

The shower took me a while to work out.With a few taps to choose between I really didn't want to turn on the big waterfall head and get my hair wet. There were jets coming from everywhere.
The door on the left was where the toilet and bidet were, I wish I had the luxury of a separate loo in my bathroom at home.
And the vanity unit complete with a magnifying lit up mirror.

A big mess with all my junk on there. The toiletries were fantastic and exclusively made for the hotel with Ginko Biloba extracts, I was glad I didn't pack any with me this time and I lavishly used them every day. The beautiful smell will be something I will remember for a long time.
I changed into my swimwear next and headed round the pool for a few hours of relaxation and a dip. I loved that time chatting with the French and German demos while Shelli and Sterling were enjoying a bite to eat at a nearby table. So relaxed and casual.
Ok I will stop now as this has gone on forever.
Cocktail dinner and the last gift next. Till then BIG HUGS xxx