Diverted to Sicily

One of the joys of running your own business is supposed to be the convenience of fixing your own work schedule .... well not in this house! I've moaned previously about my 40th birthday trip in April getting cancelled due to Aaron's work schedule ...and then our 21st anniversay in May getting cancelled too....and now our short summer vacation to the Loire area to look for a new home location was cancelled too at the last minute :(

So it was either go nowhere or travel with Aaron to Sicily for 5 days. I chose to go to Sicily (stupidly). My flight cost could have bailed out several small central American banks. We drove the 2 and a half hour drive to Turin airport for the 2 hour flight south to Sicily.

There was mayhem at the carhire portacabin - too many people and not enough cars! We'd pre-booked.... and left the airport feeling smug in our cute little white Fiat 500 (the Fiat is on my list of possible new cars this autumn )

(the rather fancy Italian chandelier in the hotel lobby)

We stayed at the Excelsior Grand Hotel an oasis amongst the heat dust and chaos of the city of Catania. They played Betty Carter, fixed great Margaritas, and produced one of the best desserts EVER (top ten for sure!!) Iced Black Cherry Souffle.

(the beautiful Teatro Massimo Bellini )

That was the good stuff ....Aaron had to work everyday of the trip, the heat/humidity in the city was really unpleasant (to put it mildly) - as usual I prefered the city at night, the baroque buildings in the city centre looked even more beautiful lit up. Unfortunately all the interesting artisan shops, cafes and restaurants were shut for their summer vacations - travelling anywhere in southern europe in August is a bad idea!!!. Also, first night at a restaurant I got bitten - by fleas on my right ankle, and by a mosquito on my left, which caused my foot to swell up like a big red balloon. Second day I slipped getting into the shower and whacked my right leg off the side of the marble bath - now I had a black and blue leg to go with my swollen foot and spotty ankle. ho hum. I read. and watched the clock until it was time to get the flight out.

I should have stayed at home.

I'm being diplomatic.

(door knocker in a village up the north coast road )