Another beautiful sunny day. Perfect to explore the village of Waterbury this morning and Stowe this afternooon. I had the quaintest map of the town which I'd been given at hotel reception. An old-fashioned type with sketches of the main buildings. Cafes, grocers, many of the shops and attractions were all marked and very easy to find. It wasn't to scale but the clarity and detail more than made up for that. Apart from chocolate and ice-cream, you all know I am an avid tea drinker so my first stop had to be the Vermont Tea shop. There were only two types of tea to taste - rooibos which I hate, and a very nice black tea from China. Before I had a chance to buy a box, the man disappeared outside with two other customers to taste his nasturtium flowers and some other flowers in his garden. "Nasturtium flowers are delicious," he said to me as he walked out the door. "They taste just like radish." Not being a radish fan, I decided to leave. From here I walked about a kilometre to the information centre where there were several coffees to try. I'm not really the right person to give an opinion on coffee but I didn't mind the plain coffee, just not the flavoured ones. A tiny toy shop and a few little boutiques and cafes then back to the car for our 15 minute drive to Stowe. Larger and far busier than Waterbury, Stowe still has the same quaint charm and style. Stowe is where all the tour buses come as this is where the Von Trapp family from 'Sound of Music' fame set up home after escaping from the Nazis during the Second World War. We did drive out to have a look at their Austrian style lodge on our way into Stowe. Stowe is home to maple syrup and cider tastings and we did both. But only after I spent half an hour in the Stowe fabric and Yarn store where beautiful craft items made by local women is sold. Children's clothing, patchwork quilts and napery was displayed all around. I bought a washable cloth book with pictures of cars and tractors and trains for the twins. Across the road was Cafe on Main where we had a delicious lettuce, tomato, cucumber and grated carrot on whole wheat bread sandwich. We hadn't had such a good sandwich since we left home! Now it was time for serious tasting. Stowe Cider was closed but Laughing Moon chocolates was open. The next stop was Stowe Maple Products. The lady here explained that there are three grades of maple syrup - light, medium and dark in colour with the light colour being the sweetest. I really liked the dark which to me is very similar in east to golden syrup. I bought a 100mL jar to try in my next batch of Anzac biscuits! That's if I don't eat it first!!! Next on the list - Cold Hollow Cider Mill. There were free tastings of apple juice which was nice but I learnt that in the US, cider is non-alcoholic. Alcoholic cider is called hard cider. I tried some next door at Applecore but prefer my Irish Magners. Last stop was Lake Champlain chocolates. They also sold ice-cream so, instead of sampling chocolate, I sampled ice-cream!! I decided to go with almond butter ice-cream - absolutely delicious!!! Colin had hazelnut. We'd left just enough room for another dinner at Arvada Grill and Pub in Waterbury. Salmon grilled perfectly with garlic mashed potato, green beans and fresh avocado washed down with another IPA beer.