Life in and around S.S.F.

Firenze today. Got up early and read for a while. Drove and parked in the town we’re staying in, Bagno a Ripoli. Hopped on the bus to Florence. Got off on the wrong stop. Walked around for a few minutes, got back on the bus and found the correct stop for all the good stuff.

The David is very impressive. I can’t say much more than that, you have to see it for yourself. We also visited Davinci’s museum. That was very cool. His ideas were so ahead of his time. Just basic stuff we take for granted now. Worm gears, machine guns, tanks, cranes, odometers all kinds of other stuff. Grabbed a bite to eat and found this internet spot. Off in a few minutes to see the Science museum. I’ll provide links to pictures once we get back to Florida.

 We leave for Roma tomorrow. The flight isn’t until noon so we shouldn’t be too rushed. Type at you soon.

Got up late again, had a long Q.T. and headed to Pisa. Took the autostrada again. It’s getting really easy to drive and feel normal. Pisa was a lot better than Sienna. The tower is really cool to look at and get “the picture”. Then you stand around and watch everyone else get “the picture”. I payed the €15 and went all the way to the top. The memory card was full and only got a three second 360 view from the top. It was well worth it, just like paying to get to the top of the Eiffel Tower. We hung out for a while longer and started feeling tired. Took the autostrada back. Hit the sack for an early day in Florence (Firenza).

BTW, I got a fine for going through the Telepass on the autostrada. €40 is not that bad I guess. All part of the entertainment. The good news is that it can get payed for at the post.

Woke up late and off to Sienna. Did a lazy drive through the Chianti region. Just like going to Napa wineries. We got to Sienna and ended up inside the city walls. That’s a no-no for tourists. Grabbed a quick pizza with buffalo motzarella, quite good. Found a free parking spot and started walking around.

I prefer Catania. It’s just way to touristy. The only thing I really enjoyed was watching all the tourist run out of the rain. Got a few really cool pictures of rain draining from the roof tops. Can’t post anything till we get back to Florida. Took the autostrada back to our place. Found a really great place to eat outside of town. It was very packed with people, everyone was Italian. They didn’t understand English so we felt like it was the place for us. I don’t know if it was the place to take people on their birthday or just the place to lie and say it’s your birthday. Their were at least six “birthdays”. The waitress brought out a cake with a sparkly candle and they played different Happy Birthday songs. It was really funny overhearing the table next to ours try to imitate the song with their accents.

It was very hard to say goodnight and good bye to Lucky and Wendy. We left their flat around 11pm. Got a little lost on the way back to the B&B. A few lucky turns and we started to recognize things. The wake up call never came and we woke up about a hour and ten minutes before our plane was scheduled to leave. No showers, everything tossed with out thought into the luggage and off to the airport. I got turned around a few times with that as well. All said and one we were just in time. The flight to Rome-Florence was without a problem. Got the rental car and made it to the new place problem free. It was a real benefit to be with locals for a few days in Sicily before being off on our own.

The “old farm house” has an exterior that looks old enough. The interior has basic amenities, but no phone or T.V. We’re O.K. with that. The view is fantastic except for the power lines and autostrada below. I can’t see as many stars as I had hoped.

We caught dinner at the local restaurant and called it a night.

We went to a true Sicilian restaurant last night. The anit-pasta was awesome. Kind of like a buffet with lot’s of fresh mushrooms, olives, eggplant etc. Secondi was penne pomodoro and lastly I had grilled swordfish. I took some pictures of the fish market the other day. I can’t post until we get back to Florida. We went back to the steps to get a picture of all the people hanging out but since it was so early there were only a few people. Early being 10pm. Got some more euros from the ATM. That was a relief because when I went to Scotland two years ago I was never able to get the ATM to work for me. On the way back to the B&B we stopped for cannolli. Having the real stuff gives new meaning to the line, “Leave the gun, take the cannolli.” I picked up a rental car from the aeroporto this morning and now we are off to see the volcano. Ciao!!!

We got to bed a little later than other days. I believe it was about 2am. We went to the beach. The water was really warm and comfortable. Saw a few local people clamming. It’s more like dredging. They just pull a shovel like thing through the water. A net at the back side collects stuff. My guess is they mostly get garbage. No one seems to care about litter. Stuff just floats by. Mostly harmless stuff like bottle tops, plastic items ect. Erica did see a sanitary pad though. Very gross!!! Lucky said that some ships pass by and drop their garbage in the water. That’s a pretty small percentage because every where you look there is trash in piles or drifting in the streets.

We are hooking up with Lucky and Wendy in a bit. Supposed to get some good dinner then hit the bed a little earlier. I’m going to take the bus back to the airport and rent a car. Some how I’m supposed to drive it back and get everyone for a day trip to Mt. Etna and some other town north west of Catania. Our flight takes off at 0710 so it should be easy to drive back to the airport.

Overall it’s really fun drifting around watching people. I feel really safe and people are respectful when they interact with me, an American. Not as many people know english as I had hoped. We struggle through communications but everyone is patient with each other.

I woke up at 1 a.m. and couldn’t fall back to sleep. Might as well get started on the day. Shower, quiet time and out the door. Erica had no problem staying in bed. O.K., I’m wide awake, it’s 2 a.m., I can’t communicate with people so what should I do. That direction looks dark, not going there, every direction looks dark, I’m staying put. I stood on the side walk for about an hour as people raced around town in the middle of the night. I figured it was closing time for most bars and discos and made for a lot of entertainment on the streets. At about 3 a.m. a guy pulled up to the newspaper stand to get something. He went to leave and his car wouldn’t start. Click, click, click, click, click, click. He didn’t know what to do. He sat in his car for the next 1/2 hour trying every so often trying to start it. The old guys at the newspaper stand told him to open the hood and they poked around. They had no clue. I knew it was the starter motor not engaging. I went over and tried to communicate that but it was difficult. It was an incredibly compact engine and very little light. If I could find the starter motor and bang on it, I would look like a genius to these guys. I couldn’t find the starter motor so I suggested we pop start it. Every one agreed and sure enough it started right up. Dude asked if it would start again if he turned it off. I said maybe, maybe not. Give it a try. Yes it started. Hey, gratsi, Hey prego and off he went. I milled around for a minute and went back to my spot on the street. Newspaper guy calls to me, Hey sit down over here. Gratsi. Now I’m a tourist hangin with the locals. Very fun feeling there with my legs stretched out in one of two chairs at 3:30 in Catania, Sicily, Italy. I start to show the guy pictures we had taken the day before. We struggle through a few hours of small talk. This place nver sleeps. Cars and scooters are driving back and forth all night long. I went back up to the room about 6am or so and Erica was up but not ready for the day yet. I fell asleep for a short time and we were ready for breakfast. Met up with Wendy/Zip lady and walked around the open market. I especially enjoy seeing all the produce, meat and fish in a raw state. They were cutting up meat right there in the open. I got some great pictures of various animals at different stages of butchering. Erica will post them and I’ll link later. Fingers are tired now from this keyboard. I post more later.

We got off to the airport without too many tears. Grandma probably cried more than the girls did. We were able to pray and give farewell hugs to ensure good thoughts and a safe return. The flight from Ft. Lauderdale wasn’t a problem. However, the Philly to Rome flight was delayed for two hours. First the catering was late. Then a thunder and lightning storm passed over the airport while we were taxiing for take off. The system moved over fast enough and we were the first to take off. We could see fifteen plus planes waiting on the ground. It could have been a lot worse for sure. The delay actually worked to our advantage as it shortened how long we waited in Rome. The Rome to Catania flight was fine, only ninety minutes. I’m now walking around a foreign country. The car rental thing didn’t work out. Thank GOD!!! These people are crazy. We took a taxi from the airport to the B&B for e20. That’s about $30. We would have never found the front door of where we’re staying. The entrance is in an alley next to a square area. We hear cars and scooters beeping all night and day. After a quick shower we decided to walked around for a few hours to get oriented. First stop, gelato. I had strawberry, Erica had white chocolate. Very creamy and tasty. We met up with Erica’s friend and her husband and daughter. Hung out at an outdoor cafe for cappaccino, walked around for a bit more and grabbed a bite to eat. I ordered the 1 liter beer. I forgot how big 1 liter of beer was. We each ordered a pizza. We should have split one. It was the size of a medium. It was thin crust so it didn’t fill me up to fast. Erica was feeling a bit loopy from sleep deprivation, cold medicine and wine. We headed back to the B&B at 2100. I pretty much fell right to sleep. Of course Erica had to read for bit first. We are both having a ton of fun walking around observing the culture and peoples habits. Everything is old and run down looking. Peeling paint, chunks of stone walls missing, rusty metal. It’s easy to forget this is an island. It’s not like S.F. where you smell and feel the ocean. It’s very warm and humid in contrast to the rolling fog.

Mom and Gil have to work today. I let Erica have a lazy morning by getting the girls up and feeding and dressing them. Since no one seemed interested in heading out to the beach, I went golfing again. I shot a 92. I know I can do so much better. A couple of approach shots that land the green or a few wedges that land near the hole and I’m down to a 88 or so.

 Since we will be out of the country for two weeks, Erica finally decided to have someone check out her cough and other symptoms. The outcome was fine. She just needs to treat the symptoms. The clinic we went to wasn’t that bad. People appeared professional and courteous. It took about 40 minutes. That’s pretty good by most standards.

Last minute packing for Italy. Got wills signed and authorization for medical treatment so mom can have the girls treated in case of an accident.

I love being on sabbattical. It’s like a never ending Saturday. I’m a bit weirded out about how early I get up though. I thought I would sleep in more. I feel so relaxed even though we are moving about a lot. This is only the end of the second week with eight more weeks to go. I wonder how much I’ll forget about my job by the time I get back. Oh, well. I’ll just forget about that for a while…

The girls did stay home with Grandma and Gramps while Erica and I went to church. Several signs were missing from the storms last year so it was hard to find the place. They have their own building and of course Erica found their book store. Leave it to Erica to stiff out a spiritual book store. The message was about being a war horse for God. Their is a verse in Ezekiel where God says he will turn his people into war horses. Typically we consider ourselves sheep gone astray. That is before baptism. Afterward we are suppose to be on the offensive. Good stuff. I met the elder, John. I will be able to email him and set up a golf day when we get back.

The rest of the day was casual. Just hangin around watching the girls have fun with mom and gramps.