Then on to California to visit my cousin Kathleen. One of the fun things we did was The Warner Brothers' Studio tour where you see several movie and TV sets, costumes, the amazing acres of props from various films and learn the history of the studio.
Kathleen and I on the TV set for Friends
I also went to San Diego to visit my favorite friends from my trip last year to the Baltics. Hadley and Bill took me to the beautiful Del Coronado Hotel complex one day.
I always love being here in the spring because of the cherry blossoms at the University of Washington and all the spring flowers.
In May Ozgur and Yasar came to visit for 10 days and we did all the tourist things like The Space Needle, The Pike Place Market, the harbor tour, Chihuly's Glass Museum, of course, and several other places Ozgur remembers from when he lived here.
In July I went on a little trip around Washington with Kevin and Lilia Elena spending two nights at the historic old lodge at Mt. Rainier and then on to Pullman so Ana Lilia could check out Washington State University as she is starting to think about what is next after high school.
I always love summers in Seattle but by September I was ready for an adventure which took me around Sicily with Overseas Adventure Travel. We started in Palermo, the capital where we took a guided tour and learned about the history, the various architectural periods, and the devastating effects they still deal with from World War 11.
One of the most interesting topics was the presentations by two Mafia family members which gave us a real first-hand look at the Cosa Nostra. Even though the two men who spoke to us had nothing to do with what went on, their lives have been affected even today. For instance Geno's daughter who is fifth generation can still never practice law in Italy because she is from a crime family.
It is also where we met the Captain of a fishing boat who discovered The Dancing Satyr, a Greek bronze statue discovered in 1998. Billed as a local Indiana Jones it was fun to meet him, learn about the discovery and we ended up having lunch in his home with his family.
At the Museo de Sale, a salt museum they make salt in the old traditional way. The windmill dotted landsape with the mounds of white salt in every direction makes for a picturesque background of blue water and mountains.
Another evening we had a cooking lesson on how to make pasta, red pesto sauce, eggplant parmigiana and a delicious dessert. Not only was Paolo, our chef, a great entertainer but he is also a Michelin Star chef.
At The Valley of Temples, which was once a Greek city, we learned the temples were built between 510 and 430 BC and one of the temples is the logo for UNESCO.
At the home of Marcello we enjoyed another home-hosted lunch and then he took us downstairs to his workshop where he makes beautiful carts which are painted to tell the history of Sicily pictorially.
We stayed one night at Vecchia Masseria, deep in the hinterland at a family run agriturismo with a beautiful sweeping view of the surrounding mountains, forests and farmlands.
We had dinner in their Michelin Star Restaurant
We visited Villa Romano del Casle which was covered by a landslide in the 12th century and not re-discovered until 800 years later. The excavations in the 20th century revealed some of the finest examples of Roman mosaics in all of Europe.
Hunting Lodge covered by the landslide
Then on to Ragusa where we learned that in 1693 after a devastating earthquake which destroyed the city, wealthier members decided to rebuild their town higher up the cliff. The rest of the people rebuilt on the original site at the bottom of a gorge which is now the historic UNESCO old town.
One day we drove to Val di Noto where we visited a family farm. The area is one of the biggest exporters of greenhouse produce in all of Europe. It was fun to walk their property, pick an enormous amount of tomatoes from their many greenhouses and then have a cooking lesson where we made two delicious desserts.
Our guide took us to visit an older gentleman who is a Nobelman. His home is basically a museum of fabulous art, French provincial furniture and antiques that have been in his family for generations. A maestro all his life, we gathered around the piano and he played several songs for us and told us he knew Maria Callas in his youth and had played for her.
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Our final destination was Catania where the Allies landed during World War 11 as a jumping off point to take back Europe from the Nazis. We visited the impressive World War 11 Museum where one of the exhibits takes you into a dark bomb shelter where you hear the planes overhead, the bombs dropping, the room shaking, the gunfire, the people yelling and then finally the all clear which was way too realistic.
Most of Italy was in rubble after the War and there are still remains of the rubble today
Tribute to the soldiers who perished - they read their names aloud continuously
We also visited the colorful Fish Market in Catania
Since Catania is at the foot of Mt. Etna we had a very interesting slide presentation by a volcanologist explaining why Mt. Etna is the most active volcano in the world and then another day we hiked part way up the mountain.
For some reason birch trees love the volcanic soil on Mt. Etna
Me with some famous musicians
We also took a day trip to Taormina the ancient amphitheater of Roman/Greek ruins, overlooking the Ionian Sea, that now hosts concerts of celebrities from all over the world.
Since I was so close to Malta when my tour ended I decided to go there for a few days. One of the most interesting things was The Malta Experience, a movie about the 7,000 years of their history. I really like Malta but everywhere you go you have to climb hills.
The Rotunda of Mosta was hit by a bomb during the War while 300 people were at Mass - however the bomb didn't explode and it was viewed as a miracle
View of the steep streets that are everywhere in Malta
And finally I spent a few days in Antalya, Turkey visiting Ozgur's family since he was also there on holidays. He took me to visit the hotel where we met 27 years ago which was really fun to see and reminisce about. My friends Kate and Eric were also there and we had fun hanging out together. I was there for his nephew's 6th birthday party where I saw relatives I hadn't seen for several years. Then I went back to Frankfurt where Ozgur lives now for a few days with him before coming home.
Halil Me Rahime, Özgür's parents
Kate & Eric, Me, Rahime and Ozgur at the Market
Birthday Party
Robert is still living with me and is in his final year at the University of Washington. I really enjoy having him here and am learning more than I ever thought possible about Politics since he is studying Political Science and Economics.
I hope you enjoy the holidays and wish you the best for the year to come. Laurie
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