We finally made it to Italy

It's been cool and rainy for the past two weeks and more is predicted for the week to come. We were a little nervous when we signed up for a trip across the ferry to the mainland for Saturday. It was cold when we got on the bus and we were all bundled up. But when we got to the ferry the sun came out and immediately warmed everything up. The ferry ride was amazing. Wind in your face, mist from the sea and all that. Our friend, Kelly, joined us on the trip and we all laughed a lot. We had a great time.

The city of Calabria Reggio has a couple of things to offer, a beautiful church and a museum with pottery, tools and bronze statues from the Greek era in Italy. We immediately saw the difference in the decor of the cathedral from those we've seen in Sicily. Much color in the murals and intricate carvings all around. Even the doors are carved to tell the stories of "the life of the Virgin Mary," the days leading up to the crucifixion, the travels of Paul, etc. We could only imagine how long it took to make each piece---and the building was full of alll that beautiful work, in wood, in stone, in marble.

From there we went to a castle in Scilla, a coastal town--beaches and palm trees for miles. What they call castles here aren't like the castles we imagine from seeing them in movies. More like fortresses. They're built on a hill and are made of rough stone. Basically places to watch for the enemy and have a high place to shoot from. They did have an interesting wagon, though so I made Bob stand beside it for a shot.

We've been busy going to work and back, doing little errands on the weekends and not getting out much. Shame on us.

So....we returned to the Gambino winery on a tour a couple of weeks ago and had a great time. The bus let us off at the bottom of the hill and some rode the shuttle to the winery. We chose to walk and quite a walk it was. About a mile straight up, or it felt like it. But the walk was worth it. The winery sits far up on the slope of Mount Etnea and on a clear day like we had the view is amazing. Little towns "nestled" in the mountainside and lands producing grapes, oranges and lemons as far as the eye can see until the land slips into the sea. So beautiful, but not 'capture-albe" with our camera. We did take a couple of pictures to share. Mr. Gambino was kind enough to pose with us for photos. Our friend Mary Jo went with us on the tour and joined me in the pose.

This week we've been doing errands again but this time we went to the Saturday market in Misterbianco. We found such a variety of things at the vendor's booths and wanted to buy a lot but held off. There were shoes, clothes for all ages, curtains, kitchen ware, bedding, a butcher, fresh fruits and veggies....just not much you could want that you couldn't find there. Such fun.

We're still waiting to see where we've been assigned for next year. Might be this weekend. If so, I'll see it on my school email Monday morning.

One more thing before I head for church....Bob and I think we could get jobs translating instructions from English to Italian or vice versa. We could do no worse than what we read on the lightbulbs we bought at the market yesterday. I think if you double click on this photo it will enlarge and you can read the directions. Good luck.