We Took The Cannolis!

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Geo: 38.1922, 15.5566

We had a beautiful day today! I was awake around 4am and ready to get off the boat before 8am. Kamie wasn't quite as bright-eyed as myself but we still got off the boat around 8am. Today we walked, and walked, and walked…. all over the town of Messina on this island of Sicily. There is history at every corner. The buildings are amazing. The cars on this island are the teeniest, tiniest cars I've seen anywhere…Fiats and Mini Coopers… we even saw what I think was a Mini, Mini. It said "Mini" across the front and it was a tiny version of my car – no kidding! They don't drive too crazy here (thank goodness) as pedestrians are everywhere and well respected. We walked from one side of the town (graffiti, old barbershops, etc) to the other side of town (expensive purse shops, clothing stores, shoe stores, etc). Lots of high-end shops here. We easily found the town center in the newer area and a famous clocktower in the older section of town. Both places were beautiful . The weather was 70, sunny, wind blowing all day, and the water was the bluest water I've ever seen!

Kamie & I both tried a cannoli today for the first time in our lives. I thought it tasted like a donut and was just “okay” but I'm more of a gelato/ice cream girl myself. Kamie said “Holy Cannoli Batman” and that is his only contribution to today's blog. (??)

Tonight, just a few minutes ago actually, our captain purposefully made a sail about three-quarters of the way around a tiny famous Italian “island” because… it is, essentially, a very active volcano. Named Stromboli - this is quite exciting and confusing to see! The volcano is green and beautiful on one side and has a small village of people living at its base which makes you shake your head… then you sail by the main area of the volcano and plumes of white and then black smoke are constantly flowing from the top of the volcano, you can hear it roar and it sounds like thunder and everyone out on the balconies cheered loudly and you can occasionally see bright red flames burst from the top of this volcano… and you can see all down the left side of this volcano is volcanic ash and no longer is there anything green…. and then… there is a very large village of people living at the bottom of this ash!! Crazy, huh?? You would almost have to want to die to be living there.

The only other thing of importance today is that I got a black “Godfather” apron from Sicily! Ha!

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