La Mia Valle Messina

The people from Florence are described as "changeable and moody".

Mt. Etna is much the same.

Evolution of the volcano is described as:

“destructive periods, collapses, landslides and subsidences alternate with constructive periods (explosive, pyroclastic activity & emission of lava).”

Much like us people. J

Italians ...

... room and ndy wanted to clean his suit jacket). As we walked outside to view the nite sky, we saw a reddish glow on the side of a large hill. I asked Andy why would that light be such a strange colour and then we remembered that our daily newsletter said we would be passing Stromboli Volcano around 10 pm! It glowed only for 5 seconds and then it was dark. It was worth missing baked alaska to see a bit of the volcano.

... when we cruised to Alaska. The staff appeared more easily frustrated and "just did their jobs" whereas the staff on the last cruise always went above and beyond to make sure you were the top banana and having a great experience every step of the way. We had a couple of hiccups that could have been easily solved, but became bigger problems because we had to ask for assistance more than once in order to get ...

... modern parking structure. After getting off the bus, we took an elevator to the top of the parking structure which is just below where the town of Taormina is located. We took a short walk up through the city gates and into the town.

Taormina is beautiful but it's very tourist oriented. We found a cafe where we could park Mom while Boo and I went for a tour ...

... it looks like we're heading too close to the Italian coast. We talk to some of the C. Kiwis on the bus - there are 50 of them in their group (Tower Insurance). We've already got a bar friend - don't need to use our card to buy drinks anymore - he already knows our name and room number - Lawrence (of Arabia) apparently. Stromboli appears through ...

... exactly what we needed, except for one little thing...air-conditioning!! We were in Sicily during a heatwave and there was literally no air-conditioning, except for Zia Cicina's store, thank god for that small relief. It was so hot...almost unbearable. It got better in the last couple of days but hot is hot. This was the only complaint of the trip This trip was definitely not about sightseeing. We only left Santo Stefano twice; one ...

... we got to stop on the other side for swimming and sun bathing. The water was so beautiful and the fish were many. I borrowed a snorkel set and looked at the fish for a while. They were interesting because they were not scared of me at all and I admit that I might have been more scared of them than they were of me. We finished our tour and headed back to the restaurant for more espresso and granite AND we ...

We now are in transit and will wake up about 185 miles south off of Lipari. It is a small group of islands just north of Sicily, right next to the tip of the boot. I've never been there and franly have never heard of it. I'm excited!

... _____ Later on Friday, we also said good-bye to Joe, this time on a 5pm hydrofoil back to Palermo. He flies to London from there tomorrow morning. From the pier we took some action shots of Jim leaping into the water. Then we set out on a short trek to Punta Marcello for some nice sunset views. However, we prematurely anticipated the sunset (or actually, the hike was much shorter ...

... material attacked. When we want to sail with the spinnaker, we hoist it up sock and all. After it is up, we pull on a braided cord and the ring and material slide up letting the sail fly free. Time to douse? Pull on the other cord and the ring and fabric enclose the sail. When it is thus, picture a really looong green snake. Besides having two engines, we also have two rudders. This gives the boat lots of stability when we're heeling. We have really stout ...