Catania and the Fish Market

The diet in Sicily is heavily fished based.  While in Catania we visited the fish market.   Primarily fish but also other fresh items.  

My Favorite Place In Sicily

On Sunday we visited the Valley of the Temples.

The following is from Wikipedia:

"The Valle dei Templi (English: Valley of the Temples, Sicilian: Vaddi di li Tempri) is an archaeological site in Agrigento (ancient GreekAkragas), Sicily, southern Italy. It is one of the most outstanding examples of Greater Greece art and architecture, and is one of the main attractions of Sicily as well as a national monument of Italy. The area was included in the UNESCO Heritage Site list in 1997. Much of the excavation and restoration of the temples was due to the efforts of archaeologist Domenico Antonio Lo Faso Pietrasanta (1783-1863), who was the Duke of Serradifalco from 1809 through 1812.

The term "valley" is a misnomer, the site being located on a ridge outside the town of Agrigento."

What I found most interesting what the fact that they are currently showing some of the works of the Polish sculpture Igor Mitoraj of figures from Greek mythology.  I loved the combination of the old with the new.  

Western Shore of SIcily

Erice is a town on the western shore of Sicily that we visited.  Erice is a mediaeval town located on top of Mount Erice, about 750m above sea level, overlooking the city of Trapani.  Trapani is where one of my grandfathers was born and the parents of one of my grandmothers.  

Here are some pictures of the main church of that town along with the Norman castle and other town views.

Palermo Surroundings

Day 1 in Sicily was a tour of the area around Palermo.  Here are a couple of the pictures from the seaside.

A Sicilian Adventure

Just got home from our tour of Sicily - a day later than planned.  Took a tour that was titled "Sicilian Adventure".  We had more adventure than was on the itinerary.

One of the highlights of the trip was our visit to Mt. Etna.  It is the tallest active volcano in Europe at 3,329 meters or 10,922 feet.  It is one of the most active volcanoes in the world.   This was the view of Mt Etna from the balcony of our hotel.

On Monday 05/09, we were on the mountain at the highest point that you can take a bus.  It is above the tree line and it was great fun walking around on the pumice.  I have always been fascinated with volcanoes.  Here is one of the pictures from on the mountain.  

On Thursday 05/12 we left early (4:30am) for the airport in Catania for our flight to Rome.  We were rewarding with a spectacular view of significant volcanic activity on the mountain.  Here is one of the pictures I was able to capture.   See the attached link for video from the BBC web site.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-13381243

We all thought we were lucky to have an opportunity to see this spectacular site.  The payment was that they ended up closing the airport for 24 hours.  There was considerable ash in the street and that began our adventure.

Since there is only one flight per day to Rome from that airport - the group decided to rent a bus to take us to Palermo and catch one of their flights.  That got us to Rome in the early evening.   Our attempt to get to the hotel that we had rented a block of rooms did not work... some spent the night sleeping on the floor of the airport.  Others of us spent a ridiculous amount for a night at the Rome Hilton at the airport.  We were able to get on the flight from Rome the next day and flew stand-by from JFK to Detroit.   Even thought it was a painful way home - we heard that those that stayed in Catania were not booked on flights until Sunday.

Definitely a memorable end to a good vacation!

Its Official

I am retiring from the bank.  It was announced at work on Wednesday.  My last day is June 30.  I have thought it over the last year and determined it is time.  I have been there 34 years which is a very long time.  It hasn't felt like it has been that long until recently.

So what is next?  I started a program at the College of Creative Studies on Web Development.  What is different from that program than others is that is is very art based.  Learning how to use many of the programs in the Adobe Suite such as Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator and DreamWeaver.  May not do anything with it other that use in for personal use.

Want to spend more time with my weaving and plan to look into the Jacquard Weaving program at Eastern Michigan.

Target is to take a year for myself - this decide if I want to go back to work part time or due some consulting.

But for now - its time to take care of myself and some of the projects around the house.

(The picture is of the wild turkey that lives near work.  It is pretty fearless.)

Estate Sale Pictures

Sometimes I go to estate sales that sound interesting - just to take some pictures.  Here are some from this afternoons sale.  It includes a cabinet I would have loved to purchase but no need, no space and too much money.  Only the picture of it came home with me.