Christmas in Rome

For Christmas Shannon and I decided to go to Rome. Each of us have been to Rome and have already done many of the typical tourist activities. Aiming instead for another unique and memorable experience, I contacted the US Consulate to the Vatican and arranged tickets to the Christmas Eve Mass. We arrived in Rome on Christmas Eve and I went over to the Consulate to pick up the tickets. I was informed that even with tickets we were not guaranteed to get in St. Peter’s for the mass. Apparently there are many more tickets then there are seats in the basilica. Shannon and I decided to give it our best shot.









The square was brilliantly lit with a huge Christmas Tree and a Living Nativity Scene and there were a lot of people already there. We got in line and prepared ourselves for a long wait. Although we came to Rome by ourselves, we ran into some Americans in the line beside us. Behind us was a retired army couple that now worked at a base in Germany and in front of us was a group of students that had just visited a friend of theirs stationed at Sigonella, here in Sicily. After many hours they opened the doors and people literally ran into the Church. Without running we were able to secure seats in about the 20th row. Not bad.
The Pope was there and walked right by us twice and Shannon was able to get right up close. The service had many readings in different languages and Shannon took communion at the end. The whole thing lasted for two hours. We walked all the way to our hotel and didn’t get back in until about 2am.
The rest our time in Rome we spent doing many typical Roman tourist activities, visiting Trevi Fountain, the Forum, the Pantheon and many more sites. We spent Christmas day primarily visiting fountains and Churches because they were open and we were able to find a nice restaurant for dinner. After dinner on Christmas night we sat down at an Irish pub for a pint. We ended up meeting some travelers from Liverpool, England and Melbourne, Australia and had a great time conversing until late into the night.
Shannon’s parents met while they were both studying in Switzerland. For Easter they took separate trips. However after returning from his trip, Paul decided to hop on another train and try to meet up with Susan in Rome. She did not know he was coming and he gambled that she would soon come to the American Express office to get her mail. Arriving in Rome, he waited for her outside the office at the bottom of the Spanish Steps. He only had to wait a matter of hours and she came by and was very surprised. Shannon and I found the American Express office at the steps and photographed ourselves at the spot.
Christmas in Rome was fun and memorable. Derrick was kind enough to pick us up at the Catania airport and took us to the German brewpub in Aci Reale where we met up about ten of our friends and everyone shared their Christmas stories.

Caltagirone

Sicily is full of small towns with their own unique character. Shannon had a day off in the middle of the week and we decided to take a day trip to the city of Caltagirone. Caltagerone is only an hour and a half from our apartment and another UNESCO world heritage site (there are 7 World Heritage Sites in South Eastern Sicily). Sicily is known for its ceramics and Caltagirone is one of the most best of these towns for ceramic art. Perhaps the most famous thing about Caltagirone is the 142-step Staircase of Santa Maria del Monte. The staircase was built in 1608 and all of the risers on the steps have ceramic tiles that have religious or historical depictions. Like Santo Stefano, Caltagirone has ceramics everywhere in their town, decorating bridges, streets and walls with painted tiles.
We also toured the city’s Duomo and took a walk in the big park with, among other things, a tile covered gazebo.

Weekends in the Acis

Catania is not the greatest city in the world but they have a pretty good Duomo. Saint Agatha's Cathedral in was built in 1070 and is a World Heritage Site. It features baroque architecture and is the resting place of the famous Opera composer, Vincenzo Bellini. It’s only about 20 minutes from our house so a couple of weeks ago we went into town to take a gander. We try to take little trips like this on weekends.
This past Saturday featured many big football games but the biggest in our community was the annual Army Navy game. A lot of people we know here went to the Naval Academy and so our friend Dan threw a party to watch the game. It was a barbeque and many people showed up to watch Navy win the game 34-0.
On Sunday Shannon invited her girlfriends over to make Christmas cookies. They got into the spirit immediately with Santa hats and Christmas music. I tried to hide most of the time but there was a lot of mess and a lot of noise. I will say that the cookies that resulted from the chaos looked and tasted very good.

Holiday and Outdoor Fun

Sigonella is a Naval Air Station but many different units are based there. During the Holiday season, much like companies back in the States, the units have their own respective holiday parties. This year Shannon decided to skip the hospital party in favor of going to another unit’s party. Almost all the people in our photos did the same thing. The dinner was at an agritourismo about a half-hour away where they grow much of the food and drink at the site. We had to get gussied up and it was an evening of dinner, speeches and dancing. Everyone had a great time.

When Shannon and I lived in the US we liked to do day-hikes on many weekends when we had no plans. When I moved to Washington DC, Shannon bought a book for me called 60 Hikes within 60 miles: Washington, DC. Because of the unique geography of the DC these hikes could take us to the sea or into the Blue Ridge Mountains. We had a great time picking out hikes and spending a day just exploring the area.
In an attempt to replicate some great experiences we decided to find a hike in our area here in Sicily. It proved a little more difficult (then again everything is) but we finally found one up Mt. Etna a little bit. We had great views of the mountain and looking down on the Ionian sea. Upon getting back to the car we decided to see how far up the mountain we could drive. Although we could not reach the top, we did find snow and some sledding Sicilians.

Prague Thanksgiving

For Thanksgiving Shannon and I grabbed our winter coats and headed to Prague. Founded in the 9th century it is now the political and cultural capital of the Czech Republic and a really nice place to take a vacation. There are all the ancient monuments you would expect in such an old city but perhaps the most fun part for me and Shannon was a chance to eat food other than pizza or seafood.
We got in late on Wednesday. Our hotel was in a great location right by the Charles Bridge in old town but we only had time for dinner and then headed in early our first night.
We began Thursday with a four hour guided walking tour of the city that took us to many of the famous sites. After the tour Shannon and I went to the Franz Kafka museum which seemed designed to creep out its visitors with odd lighting and eerie music. We met up with other Americans for a Thanksgiving dinner that included potato soup and roast beef all washed down with huge pilsner beers. It was delicious. After dinner we headed out and caught the end of the Lions game at a bar and walked around the city.
Friday we went over to the Jewish Quarter and visited their famous Synagogues and cemeteries dating back to the 13th century. Then we headed up the hill to Prague Castle, which was built in the 14th century and is the largest castle in the world. The castle is so vast they turned many of the buildings into modern art museums but there is also a couple of beautiful old churches, a palace and even a torture chamber. That night we got tickets to a show featuring a chamber orchestra, opera and some ballet.
We spotted a Pharmacy museum on our tour and returned on Saturday for Shannon to explore a bit. Afterwards Shannon wanted to do some shopping and I did not. She headed over to Wenceslas Square and I went over to Vysehrad Castle for more tourism. This castle was a fortress high on a hill which offered some of the best views yet and a cemetery with Prague's most wealthy residents from the last 100 years.
Prague proved a cosmopolitan city and a lot of fun.