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| Taormina |
March 19, 2014
Time Flies
Our seatmates were a couple of gay women (how appropriate) from DC. One is a social worker & the other works in HR with the Air National Guard. She's career military. They're on the way to meet parents on tour in Israel with a Seventh Day Adventist group. They aren't "in" with the denomination since they no longer "fit" the parameters of what's acceptable. At least the parents are ok with them, but I imagine two lesbians on a Seventh Day Adventist tour of the "holy land" can be a bit awkward. Our introduction came when one of them tossed her heavy backpack on the seat next to me. I was startled but it didn't hit me. I joked (smile & all) that if she was aiming for me she missed. That's when I found out she didn't have a sense of humor. She initially sat next to me then switched with her partner. I could hear them rehashing what happened & trying to justify that she didn't do anything untoward. A bit later she went forward to use the restroom & was told she wasn't in that "class" seating & had to go back to our cabin. She was embarrassed & spent the better part of the flight revisiting that incident. When we reassured her that her "trespass" was no big deal, the ice was broken & we chatted.
Our flight was smooth, cramped, & uneventful. We were grateful for the latter. All the toilets worked & they didn't run out of toilet paper. We landed an hour early & had time for a leisurely walk to our gate. We bought a phone card for our Italian loner phone; easy peasy. We enjoyed a cup of cafe Americano while waiting for Judi & were thrilled when we spotted her coming down the concourse. This is actually going to work.
While waiting at the gate for our flight to Catania, David noticed a sign forbidding smoking. It mentioned a fine that was doubled for pregnant women or people under twelve years old. Way to go Italy!
The flight to Catania was an easy continuation of our Alitalia journey. We left Rome & headed out over the water to first landfall. It truly was a storybook land emerging from the mist. Our very own Shangri-La. Mt. Etna loomed (that's what it does) as we glided over the coast of Sicily. White steam vented from her crater as we cruised over fruit laden orange trees below. I later learned that black steam is more desirable than white. Oy!
Even though David's bag was the last off-loaded, we didn't let that daunt us. We dragged our bags across the street to the Hertz Car Rental office & met our car, our home for the next many days. We installed the Garmin & it worked! It spoke American English to us & even knew where we were. David only stalled once & we were on our way in a much laden Opel SUV. It did take us several tries & about fifteen minutes until we worked our way onto the highway.
Our seatmates were a couple of gay women (how appropriate) from DC. One is a social worker & the other works in HR with the Air National Guard. She's career military. They're on the way to meet parents on tour in Israel with a Seventh Day Adventist group. They aren't "in" with the denomination since they no longer "fit" the parameters of what's acceptable. At least the parents are ok with them, but I imagine two lesbians on a Seventh Day Adventist tour of the "holy land" can be a bit awkward. Our introduction came when one of them tossed her heavy backpack on the seat next to me. I was startled but it didn't hit me. I joked (smile & all) that if she was aiming for me she missed. That's when I found out she didn't have a sense of humor. She initially sat next to me then switched with her partner. I could hear them rehashing what happened & trying to justify that she didn't do anything untoward. A bit later she went forward to use the restroom & was told she wasn't in that "class" seating & had to go back to our cabin. She was embarrassed & spent the better part of the flight revisiting that incident. When we reassured her that her "trespass" was no big deal, the ice was broken & we chatted.
Our flight was smooth, cramped, & uneventful. We were grateful for the latter. All the toilets worked & they didn't run out of toilet paper. We landed an hour early & had time for a leisurely walk to our gate. We bought a phone card for our Italian loner phone; easy peasy. We enjoyed a cup of cafe Americano while waiting for Judi & were thrilled when we spotted her coming down the concourse. This is actually going to work.
While waiting at the gate for our flight to Catania, David noticed a sign forbidding smoking. It mentioned a fine that was doubled for pregnant women or people under twelve years old. Way to go Italy!
The flight to Catania was an easy continuation of our Alitalia journey. We left Rome & headed out over the water to first landfall. It truly was a storybook land emerging from the mist. Our very own Shangri-La. Mt. Etna loomed (that's what it does) as we glided over the coast of Sicily. White steam vented from her crater as we cruised over fruit laden orange trees below. I later learned that black steam is more desirable than white. Oy!
Even though David's bag was the last off-loaded, we didn't let that daunt us. We dragged our bags across the street to the Hertz Car Rental office & met our car, our home for the next many days. We installed the Garmin & it worked! It spoke American English to us & even knew where we were. David only stalled once & we were on our way in a much laden Opel SUV. It did take us several tries & about fifteen minutes until we worked our way onto the highway.
Adjustments
We drove about an hour along ever more winding, cactus lined roads & through a series of tunnels until the town of Taormina appeared. From below, its beige, ochre, & ecru buildings looked to be numberless sand castles plopped down by extremely industrious children. As we climbed to the top, we sucked in our breath hoping that would help the car squeeze up ever narrowing roads bracketed by flimsy guard rails, overlooking sheer drops. Wisteria & bougainvillea cascaded from above around each twist & turn until we arrived at the parking garage.
We found the shuttle to take us to our hotel inside the auto-free city then set out to find our hotel. I'm sure it was only the 500 meters we were told, but the concept of five football fields or the equivalent didn't register to us until we were each dragging a suitcase & carry-on uphill over crowded narrow cobblestone streets & through traffic.
Our Hotel Isabella is charming & it does have an elevator. Surprise! It's plain but clean & the people at reception are more than gracious. Our room opens to a balcony facing the sea. We hope to enjoy a glass of wine there one evening.
We ate lunch at Ristorante Piazzetta hidden in the crook of a courtyard. I won't even say it was the courtyard of an ancient building. They all are. I had a mixed bean soup, David had pasta with capers & olives, Judi had veal medallions. The bread was divine & Judi said the beer (Messina) was quite good.
We were discussing tip amounts for our guided walking tour tomorrow & decided to call Viviana, our contact in Sicily. We'd been shown how to enter a # in front of Italian phone numbers so tried it. Much to our amazement it worked! She was very helpful although it took me a while to understand that "aero" meant "euro."
We were eager to get back to the hotel & nap. I delayed the inevitable by trying to re-arrange our belongings in a more logical order, pack a backpack for daily use, & write to you all. I crawled into bed & read a bit, but when I kept dropping the book I gave in. There was loud music & singing outside & a church bell repeatedly rang. We'd set the alarm for two hours but didn't think we'd doze at all. Five minutes before we were to meet Judi the phone rang. It was Judi. Not only had we slept through the street noise, we didn't hear the alarm.
We staggered out of the hotel in search of pizza & ended up with a mediocre dinner but lovely local wine. Unfortunately, they didn't have Chianti Classico, a favorite of ours. Mellowed out, we exited into the main street, which had miraculously been deserted. It's off-season & this town rolls up the sidewalks around 9PM.
We meet our guide at 9AM tomorrow & need our rest. Good night all.
Toby
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