Hotel San Vincenzo Letojanni

Catania photos here:
http://www.facebook.com/album. php?aid=168080&id=613699523&l=b 66c2b2ea1

We were debating whether to do a Mt Etna tour but in the end decided to give it a miss as it was expensive and we weren't guaranteed on seeing much depending on the conditions up the mountain.
Instead we caught a train ...

... me ready to go. I started the day by visiting the library. There I leave my paperbacks, and forage for new ones. The swap library here is small, with many of the books in german, but I've found some good sci-fi to get me through.
About the Germans: this cruise has about 400 on board.
On our first sea day, we booked our shore tours. We went to the big theater on board and watched a slide show and heard a speaker tout the various tours. They ...

Sometimes I let myself wonder, not always a good thing but regardless an effort I must make. I wonder if things are going to feel different when I get home, if I will view things in a different way. I have already made some discoveries about the differences between Italy and Canada that I love, and like, and don't feel all that warm and fuzzy about, and no matter what it leads me towards, I always seem to come back to the same ...

... nearby like Akko (Acre), Nazareth etc. Like a lot of places Israel has swamped the biblical sites with churches and souvenir stores which can challenge even the most faithful when you visit a place like Bethlehem...you approach the walled Palestinian area, change tour guides to Palestinian for this leg only, visit the site that now has four churches melded together carving out their piece, fighting over who has ...

... images section on their homepage. I'm stoked!

But here's the thing I think is coolest. (See photo to the left.) I assumed most of these countries were highlighted because I've been meeting fellow travelers, but then I realized there are some countries here where I haven't met people from. Which means random people in random parts of the ...

... for me. But then I rang and rang and rang and rang and nothing. A little bakery backs up to the alley of the building. Two guys came out on their balcony and said (or at least I think they said, in Italian) "Bang on the door! Ring all the bells! Knock louder!" I told them that I had and then repeated my actions for them to see. They grabbed a cordless phone and the younger regazzo came down to dial the phone number of Gianni. (I was staying at Gianni House.) Anyway, apparently because ...

... condizionata, tutte le comoditā per
trascorrere durante la permanenza gradevoli e rilassanti momenti,
all'interno del cuore di Catania, le nostre stanze, curate nei minimi
particolari, rendono perfettamente il nostro concetto di ospitalitā,
dove pulizia e accuratezza permettono una piacevole permanenza, ed č
questo a renderci tra i migliori B&B di questa stupenda cittā.

... s a nice change from the hustle and bustle buffet in Horizon Cafe. Although we're not big buffet patrons, it seemed that most people in the buffet line believed their last meal would be this particular lunch. Thus, nothing would stand in their way, not even manners! So, it was best to stay at least two meters away from those people.

After a nice quiet lunch we caught the last half of the ...

... A small village perched high above the Mediterranean sea. It's church tower was spotted by Francis Ford Coppola from below and that was how he picked this for the movie the Godfather. It is the village where Michael spots his bride to be and the wedding party winds through the small streets. Very beautiful.

We then went to Taormina ...

... booked now all we have to do is bide time. Get Salvatore (the hostel owner) to drive us to the train station on the day we leave. he turns up 15mins late and the temperature gauge on the car reads HOT (its about 42 degrees). weve got 20mins to get to the train and hes hurtling around the steepest bends. the whole time i cant decide which would be worse; the car blowing up with us in it, or missing our train. race in when we arrive and yay train delayed!!! lets get out of here!!!