Sicily Revisited - Day 1: Segesta

I started a travel diary on my Palm during our trip, but I didn't keep it up very well. The first couple days' worth of descriptions are from that, and later days I'll recount as I go.

Note: I'm considering the day we flew to Sicily as Day 1, but I'm also including  the day we left for Bremen, Germany. (Day 0, perhaps?) We drove there Tuesday afternoon because we could catch a RyanAir flight the next morning from Bremen to Trapani for about 1/4 of the price KLM was charging for Amsterdam to Palermo.

19 December 2007 - 8:30am

Yesterday we dropped off Maui at Gerdien's and drove to Bremen for the night. We took advantage of our early arrival and took the tram into the city center for the Christmas market. It was colder than when we went last year, but it seemed to make it more of a true "kerstmarkt" experience. The lights were pretty, there was a fairly festive feeling,  we looked in a few of the merchandise stalls, but of course it was pretty much about the food. We headed straight for the grilled bratwurst, quickly followed by a very large pretzel as we walked around. And of course the best way to beat the cold was with hot mugs of "gluhwein" and Irish coffee. Aldus himself  stayed quite warm bundled up in his stroller footsack, fuzzy blanket, jacket, hat and hoodie, with socks on his hands. Some more walking (all in circles) and we decided to sit down inside for a little "real food". Charles had a schnitzel and Aldus  entertained the couple next to us with his enthusiastic enjoyment of my potato-leek soup. After a little more walking and a VERY large chocolate-covered marshmallow (what are they called in German?), we took the tram back to the hotel for an early evening.

A sidenote about Aldus's eating: we've been pleasantly surprised by how much he likes tastes of some of our "adult food" - Japanese curry, roasted red pepper soup, potato-leek soup. I've worried a little that the spice and rice from the curry and the richness of the soups (mmm...butter and cream!) would not be so great for his digestive system, but we haven't given him a lot, and it doesn't seem to have had any effect on him at all. I just wish he was as enthusiastic about his mushed peas and carrots!

This morning we were up at 4:30 to make our 7:00 flight. We checked in quite a bit earlier than we needed to, but it was better than arriving too late like the people we saw who missed their check-in for Tampere. Plus it afforded us time for croissants (quite good for an airport!) and coffee. (Note to self: start list of worst coffee we've ever had. This happened to be par for the course for an airport, but maybe we should have waited until we arrived in Italy.)

We're mid-flight now and, again, SO pleasantly surprised at what a great little traveler Aldus is. (How did we end up with such an awesome and easy baby?) He nursed just a little as we taxied and then took his pacifier for take-off and has slept soundly in our arms since.

10:30pm

We've had a really nice first day here. We flew into Trapani, picked up the rental car and started driving. It was so nice to be somewhere with actual geographic features again! Rolling hills, mountains in the distance and, later in the day, the Mediterranean in view. And all over the hills, ruins of little stone buildings with open windows and missing roofs.

We arrived fairly early, so we decided to make a stop along our way to see the temple at Segesta. A very good idea! Actually,it was raining when we arrived, so after buying our tickets we also split a sandwich and a couple espressos. (Ahhhh! REAL espresso again! Not this Senseo or Douwe Egberts crap in the Netherlands, or even the Nespresso that we make do with at our own house. Good, strong, real, pressure-brewed espresso! But I digress...) After the snack the sun came out, so we headed up the hill to the temple.

5th century BC - it's hard to fathom building something like that without mechanical equipment. And we think the early Chicago "skyscrapers" were a marvel! It was only 1:30 or so when we finished looking at the temple, so we took the bus up to the theater at the top of the hill. Where we were promptly soaked by rain. It was still pretty neat, and the views were really beautiful.

I'm not done writing, but it's almost 11 and time for bed!

December 20, 2007 - 11:15pm

It's already 11:15pm, and I'm much too pooped to start today's review. But a few final highlights from yesterday:

• We were famished (and quite wet) when we left Segesta, so for lunch we stopped at a "paninoteca" on the edge of Castelventro(?). Mmmm - street  food! Grilled sandwiches with pork (chicken?). The owner squealed over and ogled Aldus, something that has been a VERY common occurrence here.
• Bought a crate of oranges by the side of the road. Hadn't previously known that Sicily was such a citrus-growing region. Also hadn't known that Charles would enjoy eating them so much when they've been picked two hours or less. Also hadn't known that there would always be oranges in the front of the car with us as we drove around the island.
• Had the silly idea that we could walk with the stroller to the restaurant we'd picked out for dinner. We were (un?)fortunately stopped by a downpour before we got too far.
• Saw the temples lit up for the night on our way to dinner. Beautiful!
• Had some very tasty wine and a couple pizzas to match at Kokalos. Diavolo for Charles and Kokalos (ham, mushroom, spinach and ricotta) for me.
• Very glad we have a TomTom with us!

Comments

[Kate C.]

A note about food: much of the flavors of your diet were transmitted to Aldus through the amniotic fluid and then through your breast milk! (I've read this in a few places) So it's likely he is more used to the flavors of "grown-up" food than you might think. After Kit, I abandoned baby food and just started blending whatever we made for dinner.