Yesterday as we neared Naples Lewis exclaimed from the backseat "We're almost home!" and I asked "How do you know?" to which he replied "Well, that's our volcano so we must be close". Interesting. Our trip took us round trip from our volcano Vesuvio to Etna and back - 8 hours of driving each way. I want to give a great big thank you to my boys who are so good in the car it's almost unbelievable. I'm truly blessed to have kids who travel well.
I wish I could say we had the best trip ever, but we didn't. It started out OK. Saturday we went to Syracusa to see the Greek ruins. I'm still amazed at the amount of Greek ruins on Sicily, it never occured to me that it would have been such a large Greek settlement but that's what I get for not paying attention in History class. We saw a wonderfully preserved Greek theater overlooking the sea and the boys had fun climbing and exploring.
Sunday we decided to go play in the snow on Mt. Etna. We couldn't make it up the mountain to the ski areas because the roads had not been plowed or salted and had become impassible even with chains. So we parked our car and played in a small hilly valley for a while. And this is where the trip took a turn for the worse. Paul vs. the Volcano! Paul had a little sledding accident that resulted in a broken left ankle. He wasn't doing anything crazy or dangerous, merely sledding down a little hill. The snow was very compact and icy so picking up speed on our red disc sleds wasn't difficult. Paul came down the first time and bumped into a tree, no big deal. It was a small brush pine that has grown up out of the lava field. The next time he took the same course, started from a bit higher up and bumped into the same tree but quite a bit harder this time (please note I advised him to change his course but he didn't listen). He was riding the disc with his feet out in front of him so they made contact with the tree first. When he didn't get up immediately I knew something was wrong. The look on his face wasn't pretty, I asked "if you were a girl would you be crying right now?" and he said "yes". Uh-oh. He got up, hobbled over to an area out of the way and sat in the snow catching the boys as they came down the hill. About ten minutes later he took off his boot for a look and there was already a black bruised area just above the ankle bone-not a good sign. I said "I think you need to go to the Dr." and he didn't protest a single bit - now I know we have trouble. He hobbled down the hill to the car (I offered to push him down the hill on the sled but no way was his pride going to allow that) and we returned to the Navy base and I took him to the Hospital. A few hours later he has a new cast and a pair of crutches the boys find very interesting. Paul's quite a trooper, he never even had his prescription for pain pills filled - he says he's not in pain. Luckily his car isn't a stick so he can still drive it to work and I don't have to play taxi for 4-6 weeks.
Volcano 1 Paul 0
Needless to say a man on crutches is not fun to go sightseeing with so our trip to Sicily was very uneventful after that. Paul was actually there to work so he still went in but my plans of afternoon sightseeing were cancelled. Oh well, you've seen one Greek theater you've seen them all.
Now we're home and I'm freezing! One week without heat makes my Italian villa molto freddo - very cold. You know it's bad when the Prosecco is a nice temperature for drinking and it's not even in the refrigerator. I opted for toast for breakfast just so I could huddle over the toaster oven for a bit of extra heat - sad. I suppose I could warm up by cleaning the house or doing some exercise - but that just sounds painful so I think I'll make some hot tea and curl up with a blanket and read (between loads of laundry, of course).
Oh, I want to share my new favorite with you. It's winter and my skin is dry, miserable, itchy and I need help. I've used this lotion before but it's really working for me now.
I hope you all have a nice weekend!
Ciao!
