Ciao!
As I type this, I am sitting in a VERY hot, non-air-conditioned internet point in Firenze. I have 15 minutes left on my time, so I’ll have to make this brief. Can’t upload pictures from here, so I’ll have to wait till we get back to FL.
LA BELLA SICILIA:
Ah, Sicilia! After about a 2-hour delay from Philly to Rome, we made it to Catania. The car rental agency we used didn’t appear to exist, and none of the existing ones had heard of them or had a reservation for us, so we took a cab to our B&B. Luckily, we found a guy who didn’t rip us off — €20 to the B&B (exchange rate is about $1.25 per €1). Call Zib. Cold shower. Met them “at the elephant’s ball” at 6:00. Back to the B&B by the unholy early hour of 9:00. By the second day, we had gotten into the Sicilian rhythm: up in the a.m. to do stuff, nap (riposo) in the afternoon, dinner at 8:00 or 9:00 or later, out late, back to the room at about 2:00. Well, we weren’t up that late every night, but we were up late. Local market, the beach, Mt. Etna (couldn’t get as close as we wanted, the guys took an over-priced tour), Taormina, drinking Zibibbo….we had a blast. And then there was the spinning lesson! Yupp, I got a lesson in spinning. Once I’m able to, I’ll post a picture of me & my little hanklette. Zib, the Man, and Kiddo are wonderful. Zib said the second day or so that she felt bad, that they weren’t good tour guides, but as Hubby put it “Sicily is about friendship.” It was great to take an online friendship and into the “real world”. Apparently, despite some initial fears that we might be boring, weirdo “church people” a la some of the stereotypes (no names, but think young guys in suits and ties with name tags beginning “Elder”), we passed muster. We’re already scheming about the next trip with a week in a villa to the south. Biggest highlights of Taormina = yarn, and the bearded lady. For pics, see Zib’s blog.
TUSCANY:
OK, I’m nearly out of minutes.
- Siena - too touristy, too much English, but pretty; had fun getting caught in a thunderstorm
- Pisa - very touristy, but fun to get the classic holding up the tower picture
- Bagno a Ripoli - nice little small town with some amazing gelato
- Firenze - glad we took the bus instead of driving; the David is amazing; missed Jerry Springer by about an hour; got some cool yarn
Ciao!
