24 March 2008

Post #50:  Messina-Taormina-Etna

We had intended to leave our Italy trip open-ended with the intent of catching a ferry from Pozzallo, in the south of Sicily when it was time to return to Malta. We knew we had many miles to cover, and that we had to consider how much time Nichole would have, after our return, to see Malta and Gozo.

With the weather taking a major turn for the worse, the ferries were cancelled until Wednesday. This meant our tentatively planned Monday night return, by boat, was impossible. Dave did a quick bit of online searching, and we ended up with two airline tickets on Air Malta for Monday evening. This was a much more costly way of returning, but there really was no other choice. We knew Nichole could make it to Wednesday, but that would give her no real time to see Malta.

We spent our last day of our “holiday” touring Sicily's northeast shore. We drove from Messina, to Taormino, where we stopped and explored this quaint tourist spot, perched on a steep cliff overlooking the boot of Italy. See web album for some great shots of this historic village and its surroundings.

Dave struck up a conversation with a guy from Colorado, when we'd pulled into a parking lot that had a scenic overlook of the coastal ridges. The guy suggested we go see the Teatro Antico, the Greek theater, up near Taormina Centre, and he said there is a free bus shuttle that takes you from a parking garage to the centre. So we jumped back in the car and followed them up the hill to the garage.

In the garage, we lost the group from Colorado, so we wandered to the shuttle bus, but we were unsure if we were getting on the correct bus. I heard some ladies speaking in English as we approached the bus, so I turned around and asked them. A short woman, smiled a rich smile, and then she said, yes, she'd find out for us.  She then broke into a very fluent Italian with the appropriate Sicilian dialect, and the bus driver engaged in conversation with her. Then she looked to us and said, “Yes, this is the one.”

We hopped on with her and her little group, and we learned that they were from the east coast and she was born in Sicily, and she was coming back to see the family in the old country. It was very sweet to listen to her speak of her experiences getting back to Sicily, and bringing extended family back to keep the family ties alive.

The Colorado group found us when we hopped off the bus, and we chatted with them as we took the three block walk up the hill to the theater. They were a hoot to hang out with. We joked with them about how us Americans stand out like sore thumbs! They were fun folks, and again, we just felt like we were hanging out with old friends. So cool.

From Taormino, we drove south and veered off the autostrade (like an interstate) to Linguaglossa, and then up the Etna Nord road. (north side of Mount Etna) There wasn't quite as much lava flow on this side as the east and south, but it was still a beautiful and interesting drive. The temps dropped dramatically as we finished the tour in an area where there was about five inches of snow on the ground and more falling. We wound back down toward the town of Giarre on the coast. Found our way back onto the autostrade, and headed for Catania and the airport there.

Our time in Sicily was dampened by some clouds late in the day, and Dave was disappointed that he did not get to see the summit of Etna as it was shrouded in a white fog all day. We're thankful for the time we did get in Taormina, as the sun shone beautifully there.  The camera battery died as we were completing our time in Taormina, so no photos from the north side of Etna.  Sorry!  Forgot to put the battery in the charger last night.

We had a lot of time to spare, and little interest in doing more exploring as the wind had picked up severly (hence big waves and no ferry traffic), so we worked on organizing our bags while parked by a roadside kiosk. We were on a 10:30 flight, so we had a long night ahead.  We went into the airport ahead of time and sat at the cafe inside, and had a bit of supper, while we waited to check-in.  We had leftover fruits, breads and beverages to consume because we couldn't take it on the plane, so it was good we had plenty of time.

John Passani, our friend from the Bible Baptist Church, met us at the airport. He has been such a sweet brother to us!  We enjoyed his stories on the drive back to Msida. He was very positive about our children and their behavior. He had taken them to the park, the beach, a movie and to church, so he'd seen a lot of them, on four separate occasions, while we were gone. He was also very impressed with how well the kids and Nichole got along. He respected her for the way she interacts with them. She clearly has their respect and they totally adore her.

Nichole did an amazing job with the kids. She kept a journal, documenting their behavior, both good moments and bad. The kids knew this, and so they desired to be well represented in “The Book” when we got home, so it was a great motivator. She had a “Surprise Suitcase” as well, with fun things for them to do, and yummy treats, like microwave popcorn and mac n' cheese...these kids haven't had either of those things for a long time, so those, too, were great reward items. We sure were blessed to have her rise to the call for a nanny. She's a Super-Nanny indeed!

It was so neat to sneak in while they were all asleep and peak in on their precious little angelic faces. We really are amazed we have all these kids! It's as much a shock to us, as anyone, that we'd end up with six children. Really. We had a sort of unofficial, pre-nup agreement that we'd have at least four, and possibly five. But six??? :) As you can see, from the photos, we just simply had to have that Baby Bobby. He's like the icing on the cake! A precious prize, as they all are.

Glad we were able to get to Italy, and see so much of that marvelous country! It's truly an impressive landscape, and we can only hope we'll get a chance to see the rest of it someday! Thanks for traveling there with us! Hope you enjoyed it, too. Note: If you don't want to be marked as an obvious tourist in Europe...leave the baseball caps at home!

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