Heading to Sigonella Sicily Oct 9-12

We drove down to Sicily for the girls first swim meet as Tiger Sharks.  It was such a pretty drive.  We were going up and through the mountains.  It was about an eight hour drive total.  The ferry ride from the boot to Sicily was a nice break.  Although, the girls thought it was far too short.  The region of the boot is Calabria and after driving over all those hills, we now know why it too Strega Nonna so long to get to Strega Amelia’s house.  It would have a been a long hard walk over those hills =)  I tried to get some pictures of the mountains, but they really did not do them any justice.  The roads were going straight through the mountains and over huge valleys.  We were always up so high it felt like you could touch the clouds!  On the way home we counted the tunnels because it seemed like a lot.  There were twenty four tunnels on the island of Sicily between the port and Sigonella.  From the tip of the boot to home, there was 81 tunnels.  I think we went through more in one weekend then any of us had ever been through in our whole lives.  Unfortunately, we did not have sunny Sigonella for the meet.  It was actually rainy and cold.  So the girls did not swim there best but they did have fun.  Plus it was nice to meet the other swim families.  Luckily the meet was on a base because after the meet we had to get rain gear since we came completely unprepared.  It was supposed to be sunny and in the 80’s.  OOOPS!  We bought some warm stuff so that we could go explore on Sunday.  We found a get festival on the side of Mt. Etna.  It was called Ottobratta.  It happens every Sunday in October.  It was there version of October fest.  There was plenty of vendors selling everything from limoncello to salami.  We had fun browsing the booths and sampling the local selections.  We brought some honey to enjoy at home.  It was right off the honeycomb!  YUMMY!  It was a fun way to spend the day.  We tried to drive up Mt. Etna but the visibility was really bad.  We were able to see a cooled lava flow.  It last erupted in 2002.  You could see the flow and how the lava had cooled and made huge rocks.  Of course, we had to stop and take a piece of basalt home.    It was a fun weekend.  We hope that when we return for the next swim meet, it will be sunny so we can make it to the top of the Volcano!