Honeymoon

When Shannon and I got back from the US we had to jump right back into our lives, in fact Shannon had to work the next day. Over Veterans Day weekend we took an easy honeymoon to the west side of Sicily where we had not explored yet.
On Friday we drove to Castel di Tusa and stayed at the Atelier sul Mare hotel. The hotel is famous because it is supposed to be a kind of museum. (Click here to view a CNN story on the hotel) The hotel is right off the Tyrrhenian Sea and each of the rooms are designed by an Italian artist. The room we stayed in was called “The Picture Room”, I don’t know why, and overlooked the sea. We stayed at the Atelier sul Mare for two nights and explored the area and the medieval town of Cefalu.
On Sunday we drove West along the coat to Palermo. We spent a couple of days eating well and being tourists. We took a walking tour visiting the Duomo and other fancy Churches, we took a tour of a “typical” Nobel family’s Palace and enjoyed the architecture. On Tuesday we stopped at the catacombs for the rich people of a different time. It was neat and creepy just like a good catacomb should be.

Back in the Med

> Shannon and got back from the United States on October 30. On October 31 we showed up to a Derrick’s Halloween party as Cleopatra and the Karate Kid (Shannon was Cleopatra). We received many congratulations and jello shots from people dressed in various degrees of costume.
>Halloween is not the same in Sicily as it is in the United States. People don’t really celebrate with costumes, but they are aware of the American custom. Some Sicilians dressed up but many did not and told us they would wait until Carnival.
Sicilians do celebrate the Day of the Dead on November 1 with religious ceremonies and a festival. As a result Shannon and I went into Catania with James and Adam on Saturday to go to the festival. We had some lunch there and walked around but it reminded me more of a flea market than a cultural experience.
Jody is a Navy Doctor who lives in our building. She invited people over on Saturday night for some wine and games. We played classic bard games and some new ones. Shannon and I were on the same team for Clue. Both believing we were experts, there was some discussion about strategy an in the end we did it my way and lost. I didn’t win any games on Saturday.