Italy Trip Day 6

May 17th

Saturday was market day in Vittoria--and we were amazed at the selection. There were hundreds of booths of clothes, shoes, toys, household supplies, jewelry, and...food! They had more kinds of olives than I knew existed, nuts and beans, produce (like green peppers and eggplant), and some squishy things like snails and mussels (hmmm...no thanks).

Walking around the market in the sun got hot (it made us glad that we were there in May and not August!) So, Chuck introduced us to Chinoto--a sort of bitter Sicilian root beer drink. Most of us liked it (although truth be told, we would have prefered a cold can of Mug Root Beer if given the choice). Before heading back to the house for lunch (lotsa pasta!), we found a great palm tree shaded playground and saw the local church of Saint Rita, where Sophia had been baptized.

After another delicious meal, we were introduced to the Sicilian custom of the afternoon "siesta"--the whole family went to go take a nap. We weren't tired, and so we cleaned up from lunch and took the chance to read some more Lord of the Rings. Pina and Fabiana were amazed when they woke up an hour and a half later to a clean kitchen--and were even more flabbergasted to find out that Chuck had washed the dishes himself. I couldn't tell whether they were more impressed with Chuck because he would provide such a service, or more disappointed in me because I would allow my husband to degrade himself by doing "women's work".

After "nap time" we went for a ride through the countryside outside of Vittoria to see the hothouses where Salvatore grows beans, zucchini, herbs, and... tomatoes, tomatoes, tomatoes.

On the way back "home" we stopped at the beach in Scoglitti, just in time for the sunset. The girls had a great time at the playground there. Kira and Sophia especially hit it off. Although Kira was speaking mostly German, and Sophia only spoke Italian, they seemed to be able to understand each other amazingly well.

To end the day, the Ferraros took us to a Pizzeria for dinner. We all ate ourselves silly--again, but it was great. And we encountered some new and different pizza topping options--at our table we saw pizzas show up with peas, hard boiled eggs, and french fries.