seeing a lot of Sicily......from a bus

Bob and I went with a tour to Palermo yesterday. Same-o. Same-o. If you've seen one seventeenth century church...... Really, just kidding. The church there was beautiful and the tour guide explained about the fact that there were several ethnic influence in the making of it.

One thing I learned that really impressed me was that when you do see the ancient cathedrals and the mosaics or paintings seem to shine from the walls it's because they mix glass powder with the paint. When the light hits it, there is a beautiful shine. They do it in only the part of the painting that they want to emphasize like a scroll or lettering, or a sword, or halo, etc.

That particular influence came from the arabs who invaded Sicily. The cathedral had beautiful mosaic tile floors and we got lots of pictures that we're not going to put here. However, I just can't end this blog without including a picture of one of the many statues. We know there's a reason for this statue but can't come up with anything. Any ideas?

two kinds of people.....

Mike wrote on our blog that there are two kinds of people, those who like olives and those who don't. Well, I say he's right, there are two kinds of people but it's those who trust GPS systems and those who don't.

Bob bought a handheld GPS for finding places in Italy and we took off for parts definitely unknown--our principal's house for an open house. She lives about 15 miles away---you would think "anyone can find something that close". Fifteen miles here deserves hazard duty pay if you are routed through downtown Catania...and of course we were. Fifteen miles also takes from 30 minutes to an hour to drive anywhere.

The Italians have really fallen in love with the Round-A-Bout .. and just can't build new ones fast enough ... well at least they are building them faster than they are making GPS maps of Sicily.
(Read "bout" literally...as in brawl...as in 45 cars going in all different directions at once--with no defined lanes.)

Well, Bob's GPS did a fine job but with much nerve-racking, swerving-to-miss, cutting-in-front-of, brake-stomping episodes .. all while trying to Guess which exit might be the correct one since the GPS never heard of the three particular Roundabouts we had to travel through. To add to the mayhem, we had people trying to follow us. To add even more, there was a fender-bender we had to maneuver around bringing six (unofficial) lanes into one. [the followees lost the followers]

Okay, to confess, an additional distraction was me beating Bob on the arm yelling, "Pull over so they can catch up." (He says pull over doesn't happen in Catania). Or...me saying (again yelling) "turn that stupid thing off and use Nadine's directions---We'll never find it."

However, we did get to Nadine's house in under an hour, in fact, we were the first ones to arrive at her party. And...our friends who got lost even found it with me on the phone reading them the directions.

So...there are those who trust GPS systems and those who don't. Guess who's who.

p.s. Bob says I have to write that coming home, we just let the GPS guide us on a different route and we made it just fine (even in a half hour).

For any who come.....

The real place to see is the Saturday market in Catania. I've never seen anything like it. Food, clothes, shoes, kitchen wares, housewares, curtains, bedding, more food, and on and on. Many city blocks of vendors. What fun. You can buy furs next to the place to buy cheese, next to the place to buy fish, etc.

And tables filled with bunches of kinds of olives, tables with every kind of fish (and a few questionable items). Butchers and cheeses more than you could imagine. Just had to show some pictures.




It's artichoke season here and, boy, are there artichokes. Every farmer's truck is full of them. I even saw a station wagon with the back closed, artichoke leaves squeezing out the edges, artichokes tied on top and on both sides. As we drove by, I wish I could have gotten my camera out quick enough. But, alas, it will just have to be a memory.

The Godfather.....

Since we've been here people have asked, "Have you been to Taorimina yet? It's beautiful there." Well, we finally made it and they were right. It is beautiful. The shoreline, the town, the Greek theatre/Roman Ampitheater (there's a story behind the slash too long to tell right now)...no, on second thought here it is.

A few hundred years ago, the Greeks built huge theatres in Sicily and put on their plays (tragedies). When they were pushed out by the Romans, their interest in entertainment varied a bit from the Greeks. They tore out half of the theatre and made it into an ampitheater with holding pens at the side for the lions--(and maybe locker rooms for the gladiators). Anyway, the same place served both groups at different times, thus the slash. Here's a picture of what it looks like today.

We were fascinated by the town and actually did a bit of Christmas shopping there (oops, let the cat out of the bag)------we don't have a cat-----Anyone need a puppy?

The place that really fascinated us, though, was Savaco. A tiny little town with probably four big churches. A path went between the churches and the town (what little there was of it). They have very few tourists in that little town but those who come there have the opportunity to see the very church that Al Pacino and company walked out of in "The Godfather" movie. The wedding of the Pacino character was done in that church and the procession went out of the church and down the pathway where we walked to a little bar that was also in the movie.
Bob rented the movie yesterday and, sure enough, there was the church and the path. We could say, "We were there."

Aside from that, the town is quiet and picturesque with many places for great pictures.

Lava and Snow on Etna

I know (Jae) that's it been awhile since we posted anything. We have several things to put up and a couple of stories to tell but will have to do that this weekend. (Probably Sunday)

A teacher who lives closer to the volcano than we do sent this picture and I thought I would forward it on to those of you who visit the blog. Now I can see how they can have a ski resort on the mountain.

On a side note........do Italian puppies understand English or even Italian? A couple of days ago we were driving down our long driveway heading for school and found a box with four puppies in it. They were scared and hungry and huddled together. Of course we took them home and fed them. They don't seem to understand, though, that we are nice people. They run away from us and don't trust us at all. Would it be better if we spoke to them in Italian?

I think we'll have to find a truck so we can sit outside the comissary and give them away from the back of the truck. Just like at Walmart.