Another epic-ly long post is about to happen. But don't worry, this was an epic trip so it is definitely warranted.
Our trip began last Monday (the 18th) around 9 pm when our train pulled out of one of the smaller stations here in Florence. It was our first experience with a "couchette" (koo-chet) -- aka an overnight train car with 6 people to a tiny compartment. Let me just say - it was a little (a lot) creepy. Nevertheless, our entire group was in one car (for the most part) and most everyone had just our people in their compartments. I was lucky enough to be in a room with 5 other girls. So, I took dramamine - we shut and double locked the door and attempted to sleep on this long train ride to Reggio Calabria.
Sleeping was overrated; I tried not to think about how fast the train was going and how since I was on the middle bunk I would fly out if we stopped to quickly...but, we arrived in Calabria safely the next morning...around 6 am. If I had only known the long day that was about to happen!
We got onto a bus and rode into town and stopped at a bar for cappucinos (or hot chocolate) and pastries -- this seems to be the first thing we do...anywhere really. We dawdled around waiting for the Archaeological museum to open. Finally it did and well, let's just say I don't remember much about it except the notes I took during class. We did see the Riace bronzes though -- they are 2 of 4 or 5 bronzes still in tact in the world. They are free-standing (also amazing). They were cool I suppose.
We left the museum, got on a bus, the bus got on a ferry and we took a ferry across the Straits of Messina to Taormina, Sicily. We checked into our Really nice hotel only to find out that there was no heat (a pipe busted and they failed to let Robbie know) in any of the rooms. All the rooms were tile -- so, needless to say I slept in 2 pairs of socks, stretchy pants, three shirts, my fleece jacket and my scarf that night. Thankfully it was semi-fixed the next day.
We met up and took bus up the 'mountain' where the town was actually located (our hotel was about 2 flights of stairs above the shoreline, so to get 'up' to the town would've been a long walk!). And, we visited an ancient Greco-Roman theater. Mona-Lee wanted to take a picture of our entire group sitting in the amphitheater; so we all walked up and scrunched together so she could snap the picture. While we were up there, Robbie yelled "Mona-Lee, sing something! Let's hear the acoustics!!" Now, Mona-Lee is a piano teacher and she majored in vocal (I think) in college and she does have a beautiful voice. She got embarrassed but once we started chanting her name she began to sing. Funny, but right before she started to sing a group of Italians had walked in and sat on the opposite side of the theater. They started cheering when she finished and yelling "Encore!!" - unfortunately, she blushed even more and refused to sing another note.
We were given free time that evening to eat together and explore the town. So, Amy, Coulter, Tyler, Nick, Riccardo and I saw this old castle situated on the highest point of this mountain (it was called a mountain, I promise!) and decided that would be the perfect place to watch the sunset. So, we made the trek up the hill -- hundreds of stairs...I promise! And finally made it to a flat point where we could see every little town and the Mediterranean and Mt. Etna. We could see the castle up above, but we realized it was locked so we pretty much gave up and decided to watch the sunset from there. However...all of a sudden we heard someone yell at us and we turned around and! There was Brett, standing ON TOP of the castle and waving his arms. He, JT, Nathan and Travis had hiked up from that point and climbed the walls and got in. As they were moving to the gate (we had hiked up this far by then) they realized that they had actually broken in because there was a huge lock on the gate. But, that didn't stop us.
We climbed the wall (yes, I climbed an old rock castle wall) and got to the top of the castle and the 10 of us watched the sun set. It was one of the most magnificent things I have ever seen.
I will leave you with a few pictures because I must go eat breakfast and begin a project; however, there is much more to tell - so check back often!
This is the sun setting behind a smoking Mount Etna (still active volcano!)
Sometime today I'll figure out how to rotate this. After we conquered the castle.
Ciao!
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