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Published: October 5th 2008
Thursday 18th September
Licodia - Catania
When Kurt and I got up we started our final clean. Kurt took all the suitcases downstairs to the van, and I gave the place a final clean. Zia Vincenzia’s apartment was so clean, that I felt I had to give the bathroom a once over and the floors a sweep.
We stopped and had our final breakfast with Zia Vincenzia and her daughters Anna Maria and Angela. It was nice and funny. I went back upstairs to finish sweeping and Kurt went to packing the car.
Later Zia Vincenzia said she’d be really angry if I’d done any cleaning up and her daughter added, I’d have to come back to Taormina. I said I’d come back from Taormino with much pleasure and hugged her. Then the tears started coming!!
I found that really hard because Zia Vincenzia was so good to us and constantly saying there was fruit, snacks, drinks in the fridge for the kids. She thought the kids were incredibly well behaved even when they raced down the stairs and opened 14 different types of spreads for breakfast!!
Kurt started packing the car with my entire luggage
which I had tried to re-organise with Egypt in mind.
Meanwhile my Mum had gone with Zia Mimmi to buy flowers from the Licodia Market, to later take to the cemetery.
We had organized to meet up at Zo Nunzio’s house for speedy 5 minute goodbyes to all the relative we hadn’t already organised to see. Off we went to see my Dad’s grandmother’s sister and of course the tears continued. She was so sad and spoke so beautifully about the importance of love and family. We were all teary as we walked out and left her and my Dad to say goodbye. It must have been even sadder for my Dad because Zia Tenuzza is very old and he probably didn’t know if he was ever going to see his aunty again.
Then Kurt, the kids and I went again to see Gaetano, my Dad’s cousin, who was happy to see us but wanted to feed us again. We said we could only stay long enough to say goodbye, thanked her again for the lovely lunch and spoke of how nice it was to have spent that afternoon with her and her family. I gave her
a kiss and hug and as I came out of the hug, she hung her head trying to hide her tears. It broke my heart to see her cry because this lady had had a very hard life and as expensive as it must have been to feed 6 extra people, she’d been so eager for us to share a meal with her. I turn and walked out as Kurt and the kids said their goodbyes.
We went to pick up Irena and Chiara from school which was just around the corner and the kids in the school, as most schools in Italy take all their school books home...ALL of them and apparently have to carry them each day!! We then took them to a bar for a granita and brioche but I didn’t realise until later that I could have ordered a half granita(a whole serve way too much) There was no problem eating the brioche which was sometimes a croissant and sometimes differently shaped sweet bread was delicious!!!
After dropping the girls at Zio Nunzio house, there was some confusion about where we would all have lunch on our last day!!! Well I had already been
asked by Zia Vincenzia and Zio Nunzio wanted us to stay with him. Oh My God!!! To be so loved!! In the end Angela who was never afraid to rock the boat, rang up Zia Vincenzia and they agreed on the following. I would take my family up and have my final lunch with Anna Maria’s family because lunch was already organised and my parents would remain at Zio Nunzio’s and then come up for coffee and ice cream.
Meanwhile Enza has come to say good bye and although we’d put off our goodbyes the night before, saying goodbye to such a beautiful girl who’d been so honest and open with us was hard. She had the most wonderful way of speaking, she’d drag out her words and pause in sentences and no one else spoke like Enza. Kurt and I would always have smiles on our faces whenever she spoke. It sounds ridiculous that we cried for people, some we’d only know for 11 days…but we did.
We went up for our final lunch at Anna Maria’s place; light pastina followed by gorgeous antipasto style second course where EVERTHING was generously drizzled with olive oil. Giuseppe and
Angeletta came and said goodbye, and although sad, it was a great goodbye because we both promised to make a bigger effort to keep in touch through email and skype. Kurt and I were both so grateful for his help!
When my parents came up to join us for coffee it was funny time and we spoke of Anna Maria and Phillipe’s visit to Australia. Then it was time to say goodbye.
Oh, it was so sad, especially seeing Kurt and Katelyn drying their eyes over family members they’d just meet. Joshua was angry and complained loudly that he didn’t want to leave and why did we have to visit stupid Europe anyway!?! But I think he was confused about how he was feeling, because he had said for days that he wanted to stay and now seeing people crying around him must have made him sadder.
We jumped in our van (which had been stored on the side of Zia Vincenzia’s house) and drove down to Zio Nunzio.
When we entered Zio Nunzio’s house, he showed us the grapes and peaches he’d planned to give us. He planned to give us 2 KILOS of grapes
PER PERSON!!!! And about 40-50 peaches!! He must have felt sorry for us and been hoping we’d sale them to pay for our holiday!!The van was already bursting at the seams (although we’d sent a total of 20 kilos =10kg(aus) + 5kg(aus) + 5kg (swizt) by post!!)
We packed the car with my parent’s suitcases and went inside to say our final goodbyes. I started by thanking Angela who’d done so much for us, driven us to so many places and whom I’d hope I’d see again in Australian and then this strong, brash woman softly started crying. She held me so tight for a long time.
We continued saying goodbye and it just got sadder with each person who cried and held you. I hugged Zia Enza and her hug really surprised and touched me. She’s shorter than me but when she hugged me she literally lifted me off my feet unto my toes. Her hug was so strong and so tight that I found myself crying again.
Finally we got into the van, and waved goodbye.
As we drove off, we realised we looked at each other and realised we looked TERRIBLE!!! Red eyes
blotching cheeks and runny noses….
We drove out of Licodia and stopped for our last photo near a spring water fountain called by the locals “L’aqua da yardo” (roaster’s water ) very badly spelt but give me a break its old time dialect. My Dad who left Licodia when he was five remembered this water fountain, always running with fresh spring water. It was still running night and day almost 59 years later with fresh water.
As Kurt set the GPS, we got comfy and ready for our drive to sunny (sort of), beachy (hopefully) and touristy (guaranteed) Taormina. But we didn’t quite get there!! We drove on, following the GPS (nicknamed Tim Tam) who would take us hopefully around Catania and not through it. But we took the wrong turn and at what felt like peak time, drove straight into Catania’s city centre. Wow! Kurt now has nerves of steel!! The traffic, the vespas, the parked cars, the lack of any road rules being followed, oh my god! We were all feeling very nervous just as the passengers.
As we got closer to our destination, Kurt realised he’d miscalculated our distances and we were not staying
in Taormina staying in Catania. It turned out to be a wonderful mistake!
When booking our accommodation, Kurt had asked for the cabin shown in the catalogue and we told he could have it. But when we changed our dates, Kurt was pretty sure we’d lost the cabin with a view. BUT WE HADN”T!!!
Our cabin had one of the best sea views we’ve ever seen! Almost as good if not, in some ways better then Almafi. The camping ground was right on the coastline and our cabin was on the best corner. Our veranda sat on the furtherest point and gave us a fantastic view of Catania by night on one side and pure sea on the second and third side. (One of the days it was really windy and the sea looked fantastic and wild because it wasn’t beach front we were overlooking, but heaps of rocks made from Mt Etna’s lava.) It was the most beautiful place to have meal. (Admittedly it was windy and a bit fresh, but what the hell we’re on holidays…everything seems wonderful!!)
My Mum and I went for a walk and spoke to a family who lived near Naples and were incredibly friendly. When we were asked the location of our cabin, we were cautious and vaguely waved in the general direction. These lovely people later tracked us down and brought us a steaming hot plate of spicy, bean and abalone soup to try! Can you believe that!! (We later took them a generous plate of…..you guessed it! Grapes and peaches!)
My Dad and Kurt had also been talking to a Hungary couple in the next cabin (who’d been sunbaking that day…it was not sunbaking weather, believe me!!) and the man had taken Kurt email address with the intention of forwarding some information about Prague and Hungary. (A few days later in Germany, Kurt received a great email from this guy, who turns out to be the C.E.O of Canon in hungary!)
We finished the day out on our deck, having lovely pasta (but only small serves) looking out on night time Catania. (Did I mention after dinner we had fruit?!?!)
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