Italia, giorno 6

Giorno sesto (mercoledi 17 febbraio)

Just to let you know upfront: It's after 11pm here and I'm pretty tired, so no pictures for you (said in the voice of the Soup Nazi): I'll just do a quick written update, then bedtime for me. Which is kind of sad, actually, because the pics from today's tour of Taormina, with its eclectic mix of architectural styles and amazing views from within the ruins of their Greek theater; from the bays on the nearby coastline; and from the top of Mount Aetna were all quite amazing. The fact that I'm not sure of the correctness of my semicolon use is a pretty good indicator that I'm overtired...

ANYway...

The morning was devoted to the city tour, with a short time at the end for a bit of downtown shopping. The afternoon brought an optional excursion up Mount Aetna, which I took. We drove for about an hour up the side of the volcano (the switchbacks through the tiny villages truly highlighted Rosario's skills!) until we arrived at an altitude where the snowdrifts along the road were higher than our bus. Yes, it's true: in case you thought you back home were the only ones experiencing snow, let me disabuse you of that notion. Here in sunny Sicily, we too saw massive snow today...albeit at an altitude of approximately 10,000 feet. When we stopped, we had lunch at a little restaurant which has been completely rebuilt since being destroyed in the most recent eruption in 2001. (In case I didn't mention it, Aetna is an active volcano, with minor eruptions every year, and a major one every decade or so.) The kids enjoyed sliding down into one of the many craters around (a dormant one, of course) and leaning into the hurricane-force winds blowing along the ridge.

When we returned down to the balmy (18 degrees Celsius) lower climes, we enjoyed free time downtown, dinner, then relaxing in the hotel lobby 'til bed. Tomorrow we drive to Agrigento, with its Greek ruins, then on to Palermo for the last leg of our journey.

Good night all,

--
Dr. P.