Off to Sicily!

I feel like shit shat on me this morning.  I had too much wine and too much rich food.  I woke up I don't even know when and thought I would be sick, but I didn't want to be sick, so I wouldn't let myself be sick..it was bad, real bad.

We got up and started moving at around 7:30am, I had finally gotten back to sleep when the sun was starting to rise.  We went down to get the car out of the parking, it really doesn't do it justice just now tight this is because the car is long and so then Jay had to really navigate around the corner, but because it was also an uphill the back drivers side tire would lift off the ground.  At one point he sat there and just said "I'm not sure how I'm going to do this" but he did it, with just a tiny kiss to the passenger mirror that you can see here, barely left a mark.

I felt so bad the whole drive.  At one point I asked Jay to pull over because I thought I would be sick.  I wasn't, but only because I was afraid I would crap my pants if I vomited!

As soon as we got to the rental car drop off I went and found a washroom.  It wasn't until the second trip there though that I was just like "fuck it" and made myself sick.  I really wish I had just done that at 5am and not gone through the last 6 hours feeling like total crap.  At this point I don't think it was even the wine, it was the rich rich food.  All I could think about was the last mushroom sauce with all the fat in it and it just made my stomach turn.

Then, the saviour of saviours, Micky D's in the airport.  I got a bacon and egg mcmuffin and took the egg off (wasn't feelin' it today) and had just a few of my fries (it was 10:30am but they only had that one breakfast item and no hash browns) and my apple juice.  I already felt a hundred times better after being sick and this just helped me to get something in my stomach.





Unfortunately Jay has packed one of our olive oils into the side pouch of the backpack not thinking it was too big for carry on and we lost it at security :(

On the flight over I was sandwiched between Jay and another guy built exactly like Jay, 6'4" and broad shoulders, thankfully that guy asked if he could move up to an open bulkhead seat which then meant that Jay and I had the row to ourselves!

Unfortunately, this is the weather forecast for where we are in Sicily.  So Jay says "maybe we can leave a day early and go back to Rome to meet the Corey's".  I'm in!







I sent Anthony and Sarah a text that we might change our flight and to find out the name of the B&B they booked for the night before we were supposed to meet in Rome.

He sent back this photo “Weather here sucks too”. Lol.




They’re staying here in a converted watch tower in Puglia. 

A couple we met in the airport coming to the conference packed in tiny, smaller than the normal carry on sized bags!  I wished I had taken a photo of their bags and half way on our drive I said to Jay “you know that couple with the little bags?  She said she had a steamer in there!  That’s a lot of real estate”.  

When we got to the hotel their bags were in the lobby so I parked my bag beside theirs and got a picture so show how impressive it is.



We’re shown to our room, when we were on the way I said to Jay “Manulife really does think of everything, I bet we have umbrellas when we get there...and maybe even rain boots!”  They rented this entire part of the hotel, a separate building, for the mai life attendees and employees.

















I was right!  Rain boots and ponchos, the hotel supplies the umbrellas, and wool socks. Really, every detail is so amazing.



We have a private tour of the theatre which sits right beside and above the hotel. This is the largest of two theatres in Sicily.





There is some question as to whether this was a Roman theatre or Greek theatre. Many of the architectural details lead to it being Greek. From the 3rd or 4th Century BC.






That it us dig out of the mountain rather than on top of the mountain is typically Greek. 

Also, the Greek theatres were often open at the back to take in the view as it enhanced the overall performance, while the Romans enclosed their theatres to focus on the actors.











At the bottom right of the photo above you can see the 3 opera singers who came and serenaded us.






As we have been travelling today the girls have played in a semi-final hockey game in their tournament and beat our nemesis, Nepean, who are very strong, to secure their place in the finals this afternoon. When they arrived at the arena they were greeted with this sign!

We walked from the theatre  back to the hotel for dinner. It was supposed to be on the terrace but it was moved inside due to the weather.  Throughout our tour of the theatre and dinner I'm getting updates from Mom, who hates hockey and arenas, on the girls game.

GOLD!!  For the second year in a row!  And this is a completely different team than we had last year so for them to win a tournament, and beat Nepean, is a major accomplishment.  The coaches said that every player gave it 110% for the last 3 games to bring it home for the Blades!!  I have to admit I teared up a bit as we were getting updates and after they beat Nepean, just very proud of them and wished we were home to experience those games.









I like their style, have a white and a red, enjoy - the white was so nice and flavourful that I actually didn't drink my red.



It was a buffet, which I hate, but it was a very nice buffet.



And YAY for the girls!!



Sarah took some photos for me of the girls getting their medals.















There's a thunderstorm happening as we walk to our room (in our rain boots and with our umbrellas), literally 80% of the people are in their rain boots, it was a 'smart casual' dress code for this evening so I was in jeans, my boots and a nice top.

Weather forecast is still for a tonne of rain so we make the call to change our flights and I book the B&B for the night that Sarah and Anthony are in and we'll see them in Rome for 2 nights.