We're off to see the Marsala

The fortified wine, Marsala, is made on this island. We're at the northwestern part of Sicily, Marsala is in the southwestern part. We woke up at 6:30 this morning. We are soooo over jet lag and back into the middle-aged restless sleep that we feel just like we're at home. Cefalu sits at the base of La Rocca, a piedmont thrusting onto the Mediterranean surrounded by the frozen tufa of a forgotten eruption. The bougainvillea and oleander are in bloom,the green comes from thistle, cactii, and arbor vitae instead of softer grassesn and blooming cherry trees of Seattle. We're up before the B&B breakfast will be prepared so we'll go down our 67 steps to the piazza below, order cappuccini and eat the Sicilian croissant. These are not crispy as much as they are like a very soft roll. There always seems to be some surprised stuffed in them. We still haven't gotten the phone situation figured out. Sunday was Sunday and only jewelry, clothing, shoe, and jewelry stores were open (yes, the duplication of "jewelry" was intentional. There are that many jewelry stores). Yesterday, once we finally found a store, we realized we hadn't brought a passport. So, we are a mess - and what else is new?

There are 67 steps up to the B&B we're staying at. That's after you get to the top of the hillside portion of the town. This charming B&B has another 12 steps to go to get to the terrace overlooking the Mediterranean. Cefalu is a resort town for Italians, Sicilians, French, Germans and all the rest of the world. It's nestled at the base of a piedmont, perched atop volcanic runs frozen into tufa from some long-ago eruption. The town has charm and it knows it. Yesterday, Sunday, was confirmation day for many of the town's children. Dave & I sat in the piazza sipping cappucini watching the small procession go by. There were more relatives, friends, and family than tourists. It was the kind of event every tourist hopes occurs while they're in a town, the local event which enwraps family and strangers alike. The children, dressed in long white cassocks, carried white daylilies singing about Jesu being alive. Their families carried baskets of rhodedendron and left them on the church steps. The brass bells rang noon.

Don't drink and

Try to navigate the Rome airport. We arrived from Amsterdam at Gate B6. We were pleased to see this was across the aisle from the gate we needed to connect to Palermo. So we hustle our buns over and aroundand through the construction zone of Fiumocino Airport to get to the smoking room behind security. Puff puff We come back to Gate 5, but itnow reads Torino where it last read Palermo. And no, the Partenza boards didn't show our flight. Did I happen to mention that in Seattle, there is no KLM presence any longer, just the ticket you bought on the internet for which we could NOT print a boarding pass b/c it was an internoational flight. KLM in Seattle is Delta, but how did I know that? I dunno. It appears my psychic abilities are intact today.

When in Rome

Noon isnot too early for my firstshot of the day, is it? It's 4am somewhere.

Landed in Amsterdam for the transfer to Rome

The plane is moving and... Gotta run. We made connection one!

Saved

Dan came to the rescue. He even answered the phone when I called at 6:30 this morning. Whew! Blue isn't put into Doggie Jail

soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo housesitter just quit scrambling scrambled eggs 'n ham don't think I like them Samiam

Our housesitter arrived!! Shellie- Ann and she's from Jamaica and she's nice! and sweet! and I hope we haven't overwhelmed her. Blue is a big dog and I've got a big mouth, but so far she's still smiling. We've found housesitters on the internet. In this case, Shellie's references come from couchsurfing.com. How cool is that? Traveling around the world, hopping from couch to couch as you go. For our trip to Sicily, I booked us in AirBnB - a site where people can list anything from a spare room to an apartment to a house for rent. Since the American dollar to Euro ratio is the same as the Canadian used to be to the U.S. (before 2008), I don't want to spend the same amount of money on hotels that I used to... or rather, I want to spend the same amount, I just don't want to add another 25%. I'm quite hopeful that the Air BnB places match their pictures. We won't have daily maid service, but I've learned to make my bed now that I'm 50...

We leave Friday, the 10th, for Sicily. We'll be driving from west to east, arriving in Palermo, leaving out of Catania. I talked Dave into renting, yes, A CONVERTIBLE!!! It better not rain! Dave hopes our luggage will fit in the car, but I have faith and I'm packing light. Here are the plans. 10-May Fri 11-May Sat Cefalu 12-May Sun Cefalu 13-May Mon Cefalu 14-May Tue Cefalu 15-May Wed Sciacca 16-May Thu Sciacca 17-May Fri Siracusa 18-May Sat Siracusa 19-May Sun Siracusa 20-May Mon Siracusa 21-May Tue Taormina 22-May Wed Taormina 23-May Thu Taormina 24-May Fri Taormina/Catania 25-May Sat leave from Catania