when lava strikes...

this past weekend amy and i went to sicily! thankfully, the man at the ticket office understood about dangerous trains...so he booked us a couchette (room with beds) for only women...yay! amazingly, we got some sleep...and at 8 a.m. friday morning we were in Giarre waiting for the owner of the bed and breakfast we were staying at to come pick us up...his name is Aldo...and he and his wife have this really nice (and surprisingly cheap) bed and breakfast...and they were no other guests either...so, we basically had this nice apartment all to ourselves...no complaints here...

we spent friday in the nearby town of Taormina...we had some minor train issues, and ended up hiking a good ways to get to this island called Isobella...by the time we finally got down to the beach, we were sweating! crazy...hot in november...anyway, the beach was really entertaining...there was this not so little lady in a bikini having the time of her life playing in the waves...she would go stand on the end of this pier, and when the waves would come she would let out these wild shrieks of joy...the highpoint was when she convinced her man (who was clothed) to come join her on the pier...as a monstrous wave approached, she ofcourse screamed, and the wave completely owned this man...laughter...so much laughter...the town of taormina was really really great...probably one of my favorite towns...maybe...i donno...that's a tough one to decide, but it's up there...it was so quiet...such a nice break from the constant noise of rome...

saturday morning Aldo came over bright and early to prepare our breakfast...but then the train we were supposed to take that morning to go to Catania, to then catch the bus to Mt. Etna, was late...so Aldo panicked...but there was a train leaving in 10 minutes...so he put our breakfast in a bag...and drove us like a madman to the train station...we bought our tickets while he stalled the train...and then he made us run across the tracks...it was all very exciting...then we got on the bus to Etna...for those of you who don't know, Mt. Etna is an active volcano...so we are driving...still driving...the weather is getting worse and worse...it starts to hail...then snow...and as we get closer and closer to the top, the roads keep getting worse...we passed a wrecked car on the way up...and a house buried in lava rock...when we got to the top, we took a cable car up to the very top...and then a jeep to the crater...there was lava everywhere...my arm hair is gone and my eyebrows got singed because we were so close to the heat...then came this huge explosion which sent lava spewing all over the place...we had to run back to the jeep to take cover...we are so lucky we didn't get hurt...except, really we aren't that lucky because we never made it to the top...the weather was apparently too bad...the cable cars weren't even working...so, Amy and i ended up sitting in this restaurant on top of Etna for about 6 hours...there was only one bus...once the weather let up, we walked around some...saw lots of craters, which was just crazy...craters!...by the time the bus was ready to go, the snow on the roads had melted...which made me happy...i was really nervous about a bus driving down a snowy mountain...all in all, i'm really glad we got to go as far as we did...the view was still amazing...and, it is kinda funny that now Amy and i have been to Mt. Vesuvius and Mt. Etna, but due to the weather, have yet to actually see either of them...

sunday was mostly just the train ride home...amy and i did synchronize our ipods at one point so we could have a dance party...i have to write two papers this week...something i haven't done in months...but Riley and Elizabeth are coming to stay with us for a whole week! they get here tomorrow night...friends are great...

peace

oh and the waves at Isobella made the most amazing sound because of the pebbles on the shore...the video doesn't do it justice...but at least you can kinda hear it...


ok and one more thing...when you take the train from the mainland to sicily, they roll the train onto a barge and then cross the straight...so, you don't have to get off or anything...they put an entire train into a boat...way to be italy...way to be