June 18

We took our time getting out of bed and finally sauntered down to breakfast at 9AM (it ends at 9:30). Then we strolled down to the "grassy knoll" -- otherwise known as the Solarium -- a grassy spit just above the water with some nice chairs and umbrellas. But, there was a stinky cat deposit near our chairs so we relocated, but somehow we were already turned off.



We returned to our bungalow. I washed my two shirts, two shorts, and two pairs of underwear that we picked up in a desperate shopping spree our first day. It's day Day 4 now and my bag is still missing. It's alternately reportedly been in Monaco, Berlin, Rome, Palermo, but not here. (As a result of this experience, Sweetie took his suit for his daughter's graduation in a paper bag so he could carry it onto a flight to Milan in case his suitcase when missing. Sad, isn't it?)


We wanted to get out, so we drove to Castelbruno -- a town in the Madonie Mountains. We took the autostrada (expressway) for the first leg, but did not enjoy the three very long (as long as 3 km) tunnels that were along the way. Haven't there been some fairly dramatic Italian tunnel collapses? Anyway, we hadn't set out a strict agenda before we arrived in the town--the driver was heading toward the castle, while the navigator was heading toward the center of town....Long story short, we got frustrated and turned around and drove back to Cefalu. We wrote it off as a recon mission for a future daytrip to the Madonie.

I decided to take a walk into town (rather than try driving our half-automatic/half-manual Punto). I had seen lots of people from Calanica doing it, so I knew it was possible. I just didn't realize that there would be NO SIDEWALK around BLIND CURVES with NO SHOULDER on the road IN ITALY. I felt my life was in immediate danger more than once due to this situation.

I did finally make it into town, and took my dead international cell phone into Vodaphone to see if it could be fixed. After waiting for 30 minutes while the clerk flirted with the girl in front of me (she wasn't THAT cute), and seeing two Italian couples give up and walk out, I finally pushed the not-that-cute girl out of the way and showed the guy my phone. He said I needed to charge it, but I couldn't get him to understand that I DID charge it and the problem is that it won't turn on even though I charged it. So, that was a waste of time.

I ran a few other errands and then started walking back to Calanica, and just as I set off, I felt one of my shirt straps go slack. It was one of the shirts I bought on Day 1 due to the missing bag. It was a very cute shirt, but not that expensive, and basically my only hope is that it would last until my bag came. No such luck. So, there I was, faced with a 40-minute walk back to the hotel with only one shirt strap. And this wasn't one of those shirts where the straps were sort of superfluous, either. I managed to catch it before all of main street Cefalu got a free show, and tucked it under my purse strap for the long walk back to Calanica.

That night (after I changed into Shirt #2), we headed back into town for dinner at Al Porticculo -- one of the restaurants with decks jetting out above the rocks on the water. It was a spectacular setting. Sweetie sat facing the sunset and I sat facing the town. I just loved looking up at the houses and seeing people out on their balconies, watching the sunset and checking out the restaurant action below.

I had the best pizza EVER for dinner. We tried a Planeta wine, which a friend recommended. Sweetie had a Sicilian cassata (cake) for dessert, which was even too sweet for me (I didn't know that was possible). I had creme caramel, which I only know as Japanese "purin." Sweetie did not approve of my dessert choice, but I thought it would be good to try a purin that didn't come out of a plastic container.

We had some issues getting the check. They just didn't bring the darn thing no matter how many times or who we asked. We finally got up and started walking...thinking that might get them into action (it did). I decided that the only time Italians are in a hurry is when they're in a vehicle.