Final thoughts

Everything was on time today, Susan and I are back in Milwaukee and the boys left us messages that they got back to Israel.

A few final thoughts on our trip:

• No street in the entire country of Malta goes straight for over 100 yards. If that much.
• Susan and rocky boat rides do not go together - at least after lunch
• GPS devices do not work on the top of Italian mountains
• Driving in Sicily is not for the faint of heart
• It is a wonder that you don't see more damaged cars in Sicily. Maybe body shops do good and quick work?
• Gelato is good, although we didn't go for a boat ride immediately after
• Sicily is more beautiful outside of Palermo and when the sun is shining
• It is very difficult to get a bad meal in Italy
• Two good things about traveling: It is good to get away and see new things and it is good to get back
  

Last day in Sicily

Today was a difficult, but ultimately rewarding day.

We decided that Palermo was not a city we wanted to spend any time in (especially driving!) and learning that Agrimento - where the "Valley of the Temple of the Gods" is located is only 1 and 1/2 to 2 hours away, Danny volunteered to do the drive.

First, it poured the entire way. Then, Gypsy (our GPS) kept leading us to a closed road (as usual, with no explanation, just a barrier and big red sign). Then, we had trouble finding the entreance in the rain. Here is Susan and the boys fighting their way up the entrance to the Greek temple area.

But the temples were well worth it. Here is what one looked like:

They were really spectacular.

On the way home, the rain slowed, stopped and we were treated to a brilliant double rainbow.

We got into Palermo and were delighted to drop the car off for good at Avis - they can drive it from here! But, Danny is our hero for doing all of the driving on a stick shift and never getting upset. Can't say the same for the rest of us.

This evening, Joshua got his taste of cannoli and gelato, so he is one happy future rabbi.

Tomorrow, we head for the airport and hope the gods of the greek temples, Joshua's personal god and Italia airlines (not necessarily in that order!) smile on us!

Drive to Palermo

Sorry for the lack of pictures this time on my blog, but as I've said before, internet is both epensive and slow here. But, to illustrate our trip a bit, above are two pictures.

We left Taormina this morning after visiting a spectacular Greek Temple, which is the first picture above - if you look carefully, you can see Mount Etna in the background. The view is much more spectacular than the picture shows.

After a stop in Tyndaris to view its Roman ruins and for lunch, we drove to Palermo, stopping a couple times en route at things that looked interesting.

We got to Palermo at rush hour which was not a smart idea. Simply put, amusement rides are not nearly as terrifying as driving through its traffic. There would be four lines of cars in a one lane street and no one (including Danny who was driving for us and doing a great job) felt any need to give way to anyone else. It took us about a half hour at one point to move half a block. We were very relieved to find our hotel and drop our car at a garage and may very well tell Avis to simply come and get it!

Tomorrow, we will leave the car parked and visit Palermo.

Sicily

Hi - this will have to be real short - internet is difficult to come by and expensive here.

We arrived in Sicily yesterday and had an amazingly difficult time finding the hotel - frustrating even the evil woman whose voice is on our GPS. After going in circles and recalculating numerous times, we found it up a steep hill.

Today, we went up (not all the way, of course) Mt. Etna and enjoyed sensational views, then explored Teoromina, the town we are staying in. Tommorow we head for Palermo, hoping for wider roads!

Gozo

Hi to anyone who is reading this - sorry for the short post, but it is very difficult (and expensive) to get internet access here.

We spent the day on the Island of Gozo - a 20 minute ferry ride from the main Island. It was quite pretty and interesting, but Susan's stomach did not appreciate the bumpy ride. Then, finding the hotel was an interesting exercise as no street goes straight and signs are a rare commodity.

Still, all is well and I'll post more - hopefully with some pictures - when we are in Sicily. We leave for Sicily tomorrow evening, so I'll probably won't get a chance to post again until Monday.

Arrival in Malta

We are now in Malta. Funny, but I don't see any falcons here...

After sweating it out all morning yesterday, the snow actually slowed down to virtually nothing by the time we left for the airport at noon. The flight was 2 hours late not due to the weather, but because we flew Alitalia and that is the norm.

The flight to Rome was 9 hours, 15 minutes in the usual cramped condition with no individual video (how come I never have enough points for an upgrade?), but we got to the connecting flight in plenty of time (of course, that being Alitalia as well, it was an hour late) and found two boys waiting for us. Fortunately, we had pictures of them, so we could recognize them.

The flight to Malta was an hour and we picked up the rental car. It is about 70 degrees here, which is a nice change. Unfortunately, all of the other drivers were on the wrong side of the road and did not seem to appreciate when I tried to show them the right side to drive on!

After a bunch of wrong turns on narrow streets all going the wrong way, we found the hotel and are all set to start touring tomorrow.

Preview

Well, we got to Chicago. Whether we get any further remains to be seen...

Our original plans were to take the bus to O'Hare tomorrow morning. Then, the weather broadcasts kept getting worse and worse. We figured that we should at least get as far as we can and hope for the best.

So, we drove to Chicago late this afternoon to beat the snow. No problem getting here. But the whole way down we listened to Chicago radio, predicting up to 10 inches of snow tomorrow. So, this may be as far as get!

Should be an, er, interesting day tomorrow...