Italy Trip Day 7

May 18th

Sunday was a special day--we visited the Ragusa Ward, where Chuck had served as a missionary, and Pina and Salvatore came with us. Luckily there were enough American missionaries and/or returned missionaries who could speak English to help us ladies follow what was going on (Chuck, of course, didn't have that problem). We were impressed with the lessons, the talks, and the friendly people. Chuck was invited to speak, which was a wonderful opportunity for him. And a highlight of the meeting was when all the men in the congregation (more than half of everyone there) got up and sang "Ye Elders of Israel"--they really belted it out! (by way of comparison--in our little ward, the men make up much less than half of the congregation--and the vast majority of them don't sing!)

On the way home we stopped in the the town of Consenza (halfway between Vittoria and Ragusa) and found the apartment where Chuck had lived (definitely a far cry from the Ritz)

Back in Vittoria, it was time for another gigantic mid-day meal, followed by another mid-day nap (during which the kitchen fairies struck yet again). In the evening, the Ferraros offered to watch the girls, and Chuck and I had the chance to go wander around Vittoria on our own for a while. We headed toward the middle of town, with the town hall and theater. It was fascinating to see hundreds of swallows swooping around between the buildings.

Outside of the Church for Santa Rita, they were having an outdoor mass--it turns out that it was Santa Rita Day--a big deal for that part of Vittoria.

A little while later, the statue of Santa Rita (along with the priests, a band, and a throng of women who have recieved miracles at the hand of Santa Rita) paraded up and down the streets of Vittoria. At every intersection, the cart with the statue would stop, the band would play, and someone in the procession would give Santa Rita an offering of flowers. It was quite a festival--we hadn't seen anything quite like it.

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.

Italy Trip Day 5

Friday, May 16th

We woke up in the morning surrounded by beautiful Sicilian countryside.

After packing up, we drove south, and found a town with a bakery and a playground--instant breakfast! We also decided that we could easily get used to Sicilian pastries--with ricotta cheese filling--yum!

Our next goal was Agrigento on the southern coast, where we found our own private beach. Maybe the Sicilians thought that it was too cold to be playing in the water, but to us "Northerners" it was heavenly!

After cooling off in the waves, and building sandcastles, we made a visit to the Valle de Templi--where we saw several ancient Greek temple ruins.

We ended our action-packed day by driving to Vittoria, where we met (and stayed with) the Ferraro family. Chuck taught Pina while on his mission, and they have kept in touch ever since. We enjoyed getting to know Pina, her husband Salvatore, sons Angelo and Rosario, daughter Fabiana, son-in-law Fabio, and grand-daughter Sophia (grandma and grandpa also lived downstairs). They started off by feeding us an incredible (and very large) meal of home-made pizza and calzones. In fact, they saw to it that we were never hungry during our two and half day stay in Vittoria!

Italy Trip Day 4

May 15th

We spent practically the whole day on the ferry, in the middle of the Mediterranean . We whiled away the time by playing games (Clue, Slamwich), listening to Chuck read from the Lord of the Rings, exploring the ship, and playing tag on the helipad.






We finally spotted Sicily as the sun was starting to go down, and by the time they finally let us disembark (also a very unorganized process), it was quite late.


Once off the boat, we drove a ways outside of Palermo towards the middle of Sicily, through a few "less-than-inviting" towns, and finally out into the middle of farmland, where we parked the car, pulled out the sleeping bags, and hunkered down for the rest of the night.

Italy Trip Day 3

It seems that these entries get shorter as I go along.

Here are some shots we took in Siena. John gave us a grand tour of the city center, complete with the Cathedral, the Sant' Agostino Church, and the Palazzo Publico (where they were filming the new James Bond movie). Most of the buildings in Siena are a rusty brown color--which is where the Crayola Crayon with that same color got its name! To top it all off, he led us through the quaint alleyways to his favorite Gelato Shop--two scoops for everyone. Thanks, John, for the wonderful stay--you were a fabulous host, cook, and tour guide!


After leaving Siena, we headed across the Tuscan countryside to the small town of Vinci, where (you may have guessed it) a certain famous, dead guy named Leonardo was born. There was a small, sincere, kid-sized museum that contained many working models of da Vinci's most famous inventions--some favorites were a self-winding clock, weaving machines, wings made of wood and cloth, bridges, and pulley contraptions designed to construct cathedrals.

From Vinci we continued west to Pisa--where we had to make sure for ourselves that the tower truly was leaning. It was. We did, however, see if there was anything we could do to "help".

After having a tasty picnic of Italian bread, cheese, and meat--we hit the road again. Our goal was to find our ferry in Livorno that would take us on an overnight trip south to Sicily--which turned out to be no easy task. Even with our faithful "Navigator", Lisa, it took us a long time (and a lot of driving around some "not-so-friendly-looking" parts of Livorno) to find the right port. In true Italian style, the ferry was running a couple of hours late, and driving onto the ferry (in the midst of semi-trucks, campers, and shuttle drivers) was absolute chaos! But, we finally got parked, packed all six of us into a cramped cabin made for four, passed out the sea-sick medicine, and hit the hay.

Italy Trip Day 2

May 13th--

After leaving the Vaira's we headed south toward the Meditteranean. As we drove through Milano, we hit the nastiest traffic jam I have ever experienced (who knew that it is possible to fit four vehicles side by side, including semis, in 2 lanes of traffic). We got really excited when we made it to the peninsula and town of Portofino--and saw the water!

Our first order of business was to find some gelato. After that important item was taken care of we went on a walk, and found a small public beach--perfect for wading and skipping rocks. While we were there, Chuck had the unpleasant experience of making friends with a 2 foot long octopus. It wrapped it's cold, slimy self around his foot. And, even after he shook it off, it followed him around for a few moments before torpedoing back into open water.

After saying goodbye to our eight-legged friend, we left the coast, and headed back inland, driving past Florence (where we saw several marble yards--like lumber yards, except they have rows and rows of huge marble blocks and slabs) toward Siena, to stay with Chuck's cousin, John Ockey. John treated us to a fantastic meal--complete with bread, olives, salad, and (naturally) pasta. We all enjoyed staying in his "fairy tale" Tuscan cottage, and the kids especially liked his canaries, Blue Planet DVDs, and Carpenter's collection.