Italy Trip Day 8

May 19th

Monday morning, we packed up the car and said goodbye to the Ferraros. One last minute hitch--as we were getting in the car, Salvadore presented us with an entire crate of his tomatoes. Just so everyone knows, when we go on a trip in the car (especially one that involves camping in the car) getting the whole family and all of our neccessary gear to fit is a major feat of planning, engineering, spatial relations, and (occasionaly) brute strength. But, despite the laws of physics and geometry, we couldn't say no to his generous offer. Luckily, Kira is still quite short, and strapped in a kid seat (for only another month or so, as she reminds me often)--and so the crate o' tomatoes ended up under her feet. Now, I am not a raw tomato kind of person. But, I must admit that these ones were delicious--the best tomatoes I have ever eaten! By the time we had made it through four more days of eating foccacia bread and provolone cheese (which just happen to taste great with fresh tomatoes)--we didn't even make it home with enough tomatoes to make a batch of spaghetti!

One more note--before we drove out of Vittoria, we decided to buy some stamps to send a few postcards. Easier said than done, it turns out. By the time we had visited two cigar shops (where they also sell stamps), both of which didn't have the RIGHT stamps, we finally found a post office. It was the most haphazard, chaotic postal experience I have ever had! For starters, they had these special "security doors" that only let one person in and out of the post office at a time. Since the doors weren't quite working right, it took about 1 minute (which can seem like a REALLY long time) for each person to get from one side to the other. When you multiply that by a family of 6, it is a REALLY, REALLY long time. Once we got in, Chuck noticed that the "take-a-number" machine was broken. He got in a line. It didn't move. He got in another line. It didn't move either. He then went straight up to the counter (which noone seemed to be put out about) to ask for help. The guy at the counter stopped helping the customer he was with, and decided to help Chuck instead (which, again, noone seemed to find out of the ordinary). Unfortunately, not only did that postal worker not have the right stamps, but the other register was broken, and couldn't be opened. So, after taking another 10 minutes to get us all back out of the post office, we finally went back to the first cigar shop and spent 2 Euros extra for the WRONG stamps. It was quite the adventure, a lesson in patience, and a reminder that I should be VERY grateful that I live in an organized country where it doesn't take me half the day to buy a stamp.

From Vittoria we headed north-east toward the ferry at the Straight of Messina. Before we leave Sicily, here are just a few pictures that (I think) capture the flavor of a disorganized, but sometimes beautiful place, that I couldn't help but feel that time has somehow forgotten.

At the straights of Messina, we drove onto the ferry (and saw a train drive onto the same ferry!) It was not a long ride, but pretty choppy--we were feeling rather queasy by the time we got off at the toe of Italy's boot. While on the ferry, we got to go up front and watch the "captain" at work. We also ate a tasty Sicilian treat, Arancini--which are fried rice balls, filled with meat and/or vegetables.

Once back on the mainland, we headed up the west coast, enjoying the scenery--scouting out for a good place to spend the night. Since it wasn't tourist season, we were able to find a deserted beach, put up our deluxe lean-to accommodations, and call it a night.

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.