Trip to Sicily (and Corleone's Revenge)

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Warning: This is a LONG post!  It's an entire weekend of travel - the good, the bad, and the ugly!  

With lots of incredible pictures, too!!

***

I am Sicilian.  Many of my ancestors came from Sicily at the turn of the century.  My grandfather grew up in an Italian speaking household and learned English at school.  We drink cappuccino and adore cannoli.  We use Italian and Sicilian words to name random items, to make a joke, or to curse.

Moving to Germany in 2007 was exciting on a number of levels, but it was thrilling to be so close to my roots.  I couldn't wait to travel down there to explore.

Four years have passed and the ticket prices have been unkind.  Each opportunity we had to travel meant another check on tickets to Sicily, but I had never found any for under $300 each.  Add to that the price of hotels, rental car, and food and it just wasn't possible.  

When I checked for Presidents' Day weekend this year I was shocked to see the prices!  Airfare and a great hotel for just under $300 a person?!?  It was awesome!!  I was so thrilled that I would finally be able to go!

I had no idea what was in store for us…

Let me start at the beginning…back when I booked my tickets online.  There was no option to notify the airline that I was bringing a child under two years old.  I wasn't sure if I should buy the ticket or not.  I needed to know that when we arrived at the airport with Maia, we'd be ok.

I called the airline's 800 number and spoke with a woman about their lap child policy.  I was told that I could just purchase the child's fare when I arrived at the counter.  I was a little surprised that they would actually charge for a child under two - after all, she'd be sitting on my lap the entire time.  

But the ticket prices were worth it.  Besides, this would be the last chance we'd have to see Sicily before we moved back to the States.  We decided it was worth it to pay the 50Euros for Maia and just enjoy our weekend.  So I went back to the website and purchased the tickets.  We were going to Sicily!

On Thursday night, the night before we were scheduled to fly out, we brought our dogs to the boarding facility.  As we were getting ready to leave, she asked if we were flying.  We said that we were and she suggested we check with the airlines because there were strikes in an airport in Germany and flights were affected.  She didn't remember which airport, though, so we left feeling stressed and anxious about the possibility of a cancelled trip.

At home I found that the strikes were in Frankfurt, but our flight from Munich would be unaffected.  We were still going!  We finished our last minute packing, ate dinner, set our alarm clock, and went to bed. 

The next morning (Friday), we left the house at 7am to allow for the two hour drive.  We always like to arrive with two hours to spare in order to park, check in, go through security, and relax.  We arrived before the ticket desk was open, so we wandered down to Starbucks and each had a coffee.  (Starbucks is a VERY rare occasion for us over here!  A flight out of Munich Airport always includes at least one trip to Starbucks since it's one of the few in Germany!)

We went back to the check in counters and this is when all the fun started.  The man said that we had to buy our ticket for Maia (which we already knew) but he said that because of recent cut-backs, there wasn't enough staff to have someone working at the airline's information desk.  He said we would have to use the courtesy phone to call the airline and have them process Maia's ticket from there.  Keep in mind our flight was scheduled to board at 11:20...

09:50 I called and by the time I made it through all of the options, the call was disconnected. 

09:52 I called back and spoke to a woman.  She started processing Maia's ticket but our call was also disconnected before she could complete the transaction.  (You can imagine I wasn't too happy about that!) 

10:20 I called back and spoke to a man who was not very fluent in English.  He kept asking me to repeat myself and told me he could not pull up my information because I did not have the proper reference numbers.  After explaining to him for the tenth time that someone in his office had already started the process, he agreed to look up my ticket using my last name and flight number.  He started working to finish the process but somehow got sidetracked and started lecturing me about how I should be talking to someone at the airport and not using the phone to buy Maia's ticket.  I told him that no one was at the desk and he said that it was my fault for not buying Maia's ticket in advance.  I explained that I called his airline before purchasing anything in order to confirm that I could bring her on my lap and he insisted that I was wrong because no one would tell me to buy her ticket at the airport.  (By now I was pissed.)  I kept asking him to please finish the transaction because we were getting too close to our boarding time, but he said the systems were slow.  He said they had to first request the plane install a second oxygen mask at my seat for the baby and then they had to wait for the confirmation that it was installed before I could purchase the ticket. 

10:50 A woman arrived at the ticket desk but told Romas she couldn't help us because she wasn't 'open.' 

10:51 The man on the phone said the oxygen mask had been installed but he couldn't process the credit card.  He needed to transfer me to someone else in order to complete the transaction.  He took Romas' cell phone number in case we were disconnected again and transfered the call. 

10:58 I was connected to another man who had no idea why I had been transfered.  After explaining everything again, he pulled up the information in the computer and asked for my credit card number.  I read him the number and expiration date and he said it probably won't work because the expiration is February 2012.  We hadn't received a new card, so there wasn't much I could do about it!  He told me I shouldn't try to use a card that is expired.  (You can imagine the steam coming out of my ears…) 

11:04 The woman at the desk started helping people who come to her!  I got upset and asked if she could help me.  She said no. 

11:05 The first man I talked to called Romas on his phone and asked if we'd been able to finish our transaction.  He told him no, we were still waiting to process the payment.  The man started lecturing him that it was our own fault for waiting until we arrived at the airport. 

11:10 I was starting to get frantic since I'd been put on hold and the woman continued to ignore me as I asked her to please help us pay for the ticket.  I started yelling at her and asking her why she refused to help us when there had been at least six other people who have come and gone from her desk.  I was in tears as I watched time ticking away. 

11:13 The man on the phone told Romas we will have to pay a "no-show" fee because we are not going to make our flight!!  Now Romas started yelling and I told him to just hang up.  The payment was being processed and we would just have to see if there was enough time.  (By this point, I was starting to wonder if we were even supposed to go on the trip.  It seems weird, but we have been traveling almost every month for the past four years and we have never had this much trouble.  I felt like it was an ominous start to our weekend.) 

11:18 The woman at the desk came over to help me.  I have no idea why she finally decided to help, but without her, we would not have made the flight.  She took the phone from me, got the information from the man, ran us to the ticket counter, processed our bags, and gave us our boarding passes.  From there we ran through security, where there was luckily no line, and straight to our gate. 

11:29 We boarded our flight and they shut the door to the plane behind us.

We connected through Rome with no issues and landed in Palermo early.  Maia was great on the flight, they were quick and smooth, and we were ready to finally relax.  We got a nice (free!) upgrade on our rental car, loaded Maia in the big girl seat (forward facing!) and set out for our hotel.  The driving was absolutely NUTS, especially after being so spoiled by German drivers, but we made it to our hotel and settled in.  

That night Maia had a few really stinky diapers, but we figured it was from the stress of a long day of travel and lack of sleep.  (Somehow she managed to stay up for almost 10 hours before taking a short nap!!  She's such a trooper when we travel!!)  We went to bed ready for a weekend of exploring.

Saturday was beautiful and sunny!  We had a delicious breakfast at the hotel - which included a cannoli bar - can you say, "Heaven?!?!"  :)  We loaded up the car and headed for our first stop: Menfi.

The drive was spectacular and we were so enamored by the landscape: tall, striking mountains and a beautiful blue sea.  It was quite a sight.  I couldn't help but snap lots of pictures!

The sun was in Maia's eyes, which normally makes her VERY mad!!  But she decided to just go with it and take a little siesta!

Menfi had a very small town center but we got out to explore a little.

The building was built around ruins.  The window looked out into the excavation.

A church, which was also built around a former structure.  It was a neat mix of old and new.  And the sky was absolutely gorgeous!

We walked around a little, bought some water and bananas (Maia's request!) in this little store, and sat in the square to relax. 

 

Next we drove down to the coastline, about 10 minutes south.  (Maia read while we drove.)

Even in the few minutes of driving, we stopped to take a couple pictures.  We just loved how the flowers grow in each row of the vineyards!  It's so beautiful to see throughout the countryside.

Porto Palo, Menfi was incredible.  We spent a few hours admiring the water, which we don't get to see a lot of here in Germany!  (Most of these pictures are un-edited.  The water and the sky are really that beautiful and blue!!)

We walked along the jetty and then had lunch in a restaurant overlooking the water.

A capsized boat was clearly visible beneath the clear blue water.  If you look closely, you can still see the Italian flag submerged.

The jetty was made of large concrete blocks that were piled up randomly on top of each other.

This is the view looking inland from the jetty...

This picture is one of my favorites.  I wish I could have stayed here in the warm sun and just stared at the water.

Maia was having a blast!!  She's like Ratatouille - she pulls on her Daddy's hair and ears when she wants him to turn!!

After lunch we started making our way to Castelvetrano, which was only about a 20 minute drive.

Have you ever seen artichokes growing?  I never knew they grew like this!!!  At all of the markets they were being sold with their entire stalk attached!  It was really neat to see.

How impressive is this bridge??

We arrived in Castelvetrano and found a much bigger city compared to Menfi.  Granted, it was still a very small place, but it had shops, restaurants, and a Carnevale concert taking place that night.

Here I am with the Little Bee!

This next building is their theater!  Isn't it beautiful?

Maia was sporting her new coat from her Auntie Kristie.  Isn't she adorable??

Here is the stage they were setting up for the Carnevale concert...

This little ally was just too cute!!  I love the planters and the benches!!

We went to a pastry shop (pasticceria) and bought a few goodies!  Wait until you see how yummy they looked!!

This what was inside!  The two identical bars on the bottom left were absolutely delicious!  They had a ricotta filling (like a cannoli) and had almost a sugar crust.  They were amazing!  The two green looking slices with the fruit on top were Sicilian Cassata.  We had to try the real Sicilian version!  I have always LOVED this cake and grew up eating it for special occasions.  Now I make it occasionally (mostly as Romas' request!) but we wanted to see if our version was different.  The real Sicilian cake was a green tint (I have always known the cake to have an off-white shell) and it was definitely less sweet than its American counterpart.  Still so yummy though!!  Sadly, the other two went untouched.

As we drove home, we were impressed by the sky.  The clouds came in dark and ominous, but there was no rain.  It just made for really beautiful pictures!

When we returned to the hotel that night we were tired but so excited for the next day.  We had traveled the coastal road and were excited to drive a more north-south highway the next day that would cut through the mountains.  Little did we know that we would not be going anywhere.

Just about the time that Maia fell asleep that night, Romas got sick.  He was sick all night and the next morning he was weak and exhausted.  Maia and I got up and went to breakfast.  I had no appetite but of course Maia had enough for the both of us!!

It was Sunday so I had to ask at the desk for help finding an open pharmacy.  On Sunday absolutely nothing is open!  Only one pharmacy for so many square blocks is 'on call' and luckily for me it was just on the corner.

Europeans have a very different system for medications and over-the-counter drugs.  Here in Europe there is no such thing as a CVS or a Genovese.  You have to go to an actual pharmacy where you speak with a pharmacist or doctor.  This is the only place you can get drugs - including things like Tylenol or Immodium - unlike the States where you can just pick something off the shelf.  The good news is that they are able to give you more than just the basic over-the-counter medications.  They can actually diagnose and treat you much like a doctor can in the States.

The Italian pharmacist spoke very little English so I had to muddle my way through what little Italian I know, the Spanish that kept popping out of my mouth, and the game of charades to fill in anything in between.  He understood me (phew!) and gave me Immodium, an antibiotic, and a probiotic to take back to the hotel.  At this point, we thought he had food poisoning so this was perfect.  Things were looking good.

Romas started taking the medications and Maia and I spent the day wandering the empty streets of Palermo.  There were very few people out and about but we had fun and gave Romas a chance to rest.  We did find a man with a small street market and bought some fruit from him.  We bought Romas an apple but Maia ended up eating it before we could get back to the hotel to give it to him!!

Around 2pm I bought lunch and we brought it back to the hotel.  Maia and I wanted to check on Romas and eat.  But when I opened Maia's pasta, she took one sniff of it and threw up all over the floor!!

So…after cleaning her and the hotel room up, I made my way back to the pharmacist who told me what I really didn't want to hear: It was a virus.  He gave me medication to stop Maia's nausea and vomiting and said to come back in the morning if we needed more help.

It was a long night of fighting with Maia - the medication made her feel better and she wanted so badly to eat and drink, but we had to limit her so she wouldn't make herself sick.  We've never withheld food or water from her and it was really hard to do.  The poor girl was so thirsty!  And worse, we were all trapped in a tiny hotel room where there weren't even any distractions.  She managed to sleep though the night and woke up feeling pretty spry the next morning.  We had a tiny breakfast (mainly bread) and drove to the airport.

Our trip to Sicily hadn't gone quite as planned.  We hadn't made it to our third and final destination: Siculiana.  We were all disappointed but now we have a reason to go back and try again!  Check out the stash of meds we came back with!  (The Italian box of Immodium had already been used up!)

Our trip home was uneventful.  Maia slept on the first flight (from Palermo to Rome) and was her usual chipper self throughout the day.  We were worn out, stressed, tired, and weak.  Oh, and we looked like crap.

Just 12 hours earlier it looked like we were about to have one of the worst days of our life!  It was a relief to see the hours pass uneventfully.  Romas joked that it was like we had been struck by Montezuma's Revenge, but then we decided it was more appropriate to call it Corleone's Revenge since we were in Sicily. :)

We landed in Munich, got got our car, and headed to the kennel.  (We didn't get Starbucks, so you know we felt pretty icky!!)  We picked up the dogs from the kennel and made it back to our house with no issues.  We were all happy to eat some plain pasta, bread, and go to sleep.

To Be Continued...

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