You're faster than you think!

Travel back from Italy.  See trip report below...  All my photos can be found at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/randy.mcdermott/

RELAZIONE FINALE:

Hello again.

Well, my idea of sending a daily trip report was short-lived as I was
out of email contact from Day 2 on.  But that will spare you mundane
details :).  Aside from my bag not making the same flight as I did
from Rome (still no idea where it is), the return trip was easy,
though it was a long day (we rose at 3am to make our flight out of
Sicily, which made for about 20 hours of travel by the time I got back
to DC).

Anyway, the trip was AWESOME!!!  I am really glad we stayed in one
place and were able to explore the area thoroughly.  The villa where
we stayed in Sicily was in a little town called Fiumefreddo, which is
just about 10 minutes south of Taormina at the base of Mt. Etna -- an
active volcano (the ski resort was covered in lava flow in 2002!).

Once I get all the pictures uploaded to my website I will let you
know.  I would have to go though each one to give you a sense of all
the things we did.  No boredom on this trip!  For now I have included
just a few sample pics from the wedding and the stay in Sicily.

So, to continue the (now shortened) daily reports...

Sunday (10-14):  The day of the wedding.  Still on US time, I slept in
and we started getting ready around noon.  Once the Italians arrived
and things got rolling the day went quickly.  After the ceremony we
had a huge meal and the Italians presented Steve and Tiff with gifts
-- some Italian bling for Steve to wear: man bracelet and a sweet
watch.  Then the Italians showed us how they like to line dance at
weddings.

Monday (10-15): Travel day: Facano to Bari to Rome to Catania to
Giardini Naxos (at this point the rains came! and we were all sitting
at the Naxos train station without cell coverage and with horrible
directions to the villa at 10pm...  finally one of the ubiquitous old
chain-smoking dudes that just tend to loiter at all the public areas
of town helped us get a couple of taxis flagged down and pointed us in
the direction of Fiumefreddo... once there the drivers had to ask some
locals [again, dudes sitting around in the rain chain smoking under a
tent and steaming snails or something] and subsequently we found
ourselves weaving through streets barely wide enough for a Mini -- and
frankly in a very dilapidated area [Sicily is VERY poor] -- and
finally we came to some big gated entrance to the Borgo Degli Aranci,
a villa nestled in the middle of a huge orange grove.... still pouring
down rain.  Sally (Tiff's mom) was up and had save us plenty of
pasta.. thank God, we were starving.)

Tuesday (10-16): Pretty lazy day.  Got up and did brek in the "kids
house" (there were three houses in the villa... the grown ups had two
and the six "kids" (me, Drew, Steve, Dave, Tiff and Diane) had the
other.  Then went for a jog.  Later that evening Diane took the lead
on dinner and the rented bikes showed up.

Wed (10-17): Bike ride.  First down the coast to Riposto.  Went by the
place where the Michael's wife dies in the car explosion in Godfather
II.  Then did a pretty serious climb up to Miro on Mt. Etna, probably
3000 ft and then dropped back down to the villa, about 40 miles total.
 Hadn't been on a bike in 2 years... knew at that point that the next
day would be rough!  As usual, finished the day with a big sit down
four-course meal... about 18 of us in all at the villa.

Thursday (10-18): Big ride... up the north loop into a valley of
vineyards around Mt. Etna.  Lots of climbing... breathtaking scenery.
 We stopped in a small town and bought bread, salami and cheese and
made sandwiches for lunch.  Close to 50 miles on this day... gearing
up for the big circumnavigation of Mt. Etna on the next day (100+
miles).   On this night the kids went up to Taormina and had dinner
and walked around the shops.  This place is way up on a cliff
overlooking the Ionian Sea.  We stuffed ourselves with lasagna and
pizza in prep for the next day's ride.

Friday (10-19): Up at 6 am... RAIN!!!!!!  and then some.   Did not
quit until midday.  No way to get the big ride in.  Instead we drove
up Mt. Etna (as far as cars can go) and hiked around... again having
lunch with us and finally seeing the summit, which from below had been
cloud-covered since our arrival.  That night Aunt Mimi sent us into
town to pick up pizzas... more eating... I've easily gained 10 lbs on
this trip so far.

Sat. (10-20): More rain..  again the big ride is foiled.  On this day
the kids took the car out to Randazzo which is one of the oldest towns
up on the mountain.  From a different map we had of Sicily I
mistakenly thought that San Giusseppe was close to Randazzo and I
wanted to get by there because Mom told me that is were Grama B-9 (I
have weird, numerical names for my grandparents) is from.  But it
turns out that this is just where the church of San Giusseppe is....
That night... more eating and packing for the trip home.

Ciao!!