I have found an internet at last.  It has been nearly impossible since I have been in Italy.

I have been for a walk along the beach (mediterranean sea) and collected some rocks.  Unfortunately my luggage is already over the 20 kilo limit so I was restricted to the size.  The beaches here do not have shells only rocks.  The sand is very course like small ground up pebbles.  Lynne collected some amazing pieces of driftwood which I couldnt because as far as I know you are not allowed to take them back into Australia.

I dont think I have mentioned this before but when I received my Compostella Certificate at the end of my walk my name that appears on the certificate is in Latin - Allessandra, I think it is a beautiful name and coincentally Ugos daughter is also called Allessandra.  She is nine years old and an absolute delight.  She picked and made me a miniture posy of brightly coloured flowers and made me a beautiful little brightly coloured plastic bead bracelet for my birthday.

I had the most wonderful day for my birthday.  It started when Lynne presented me with a beautiful bunch of mauve-purple flowers.  Then Ugo and family picked us up and we went to Gerace, which is an old ancient town on the top of the mountain.  It had an incredible number of churches, I think just aoubt every third building was a church.  The churches in most cases were also places of worship that had been built on top of other places of worship.  One particular church had three different churches built on top of each other and also still had an original pagan alter. The roads were very narrow and made of roman cobblestones.  In the centre of the town they were so narrow that vehicles could not drive down them.  As well as old buildings and churches there was also some ruins of an old Normamby style castle.

From here we headed to a restaruant in another little country town.  Ugo and Carla chose this restaruant as it served traditional Calabarian style food.  I dont think I have ever eaten as much at one meal in my entire life.  It started with antipasto which consisted of at least twelve plates of different vegetables all prepared with oils and spices.  Followed by pasta and gnocchi, followed by a beef dish as the main course, then came sweets consisting of five different variets of cakes and icecreams including tira masui, profitera rolls etc.  Oh they were so rich but soooo delicious

Then we drove to Rochella past the ruins of Lynnes family castle.  This castle like most other castles is set up high on a mountain.  From here we went to another village and walked around the Marina.  The colour of the water was like something out of a picture book, a real aqua colour and in some parts were it was deeper a real peacock green.  Outside a cafe on the promenade a group of Italians were having what appeard to be a family gathering there was much luaghter, dancing and singing.  A young waman was playing the piano accordian.When we arrived back home at about 7.30 I was completely exhausted.  What a beautiful day, one I will remember for a very long time.

Ken is safely home in Australia and yes back at work already.  I have heard from Mavis and she managed to find her way to her cousins in northern England without too many dramas.  She said she is enjoying herself findout out about her fathers family and her ancestors.  We shall meetu up again on 13/11 when I return to England.

Lynne and I went on an excursion on the train to Rochella where more of her relatives live.  This is the first time Lynne has caught transport ie bus or train and she now feels confident to do it on her own.  We had a lovely day her Uncle Enzo met us at the station, he and his son also have a jewellery shop.  It was market day so of course we visited the markets, again couldnt buy anything because of the baggage weight restrictions, which I have already exceeded and shall be sending stuff back to Australia.  We had lucnh at her cousin Annas and what a lunch, the Italians sure know how to put on a spread, no wonder they need to have siesta.  Apparently they learnt the custom from the Spaniards when they came to Italy.

Sicily -  We got up very early this morning and caught the bus to Reggio.  This is the trip Lynne and I have been planning for some time in fact before I even arrived here.  The visit to the Black Madonna.  When arrived at the port there was already a ferry waiting at the dock.  Fortunately for us a lady had overheard us asking the driver on the bus for directions and she took us under her wing and showed us the way, explaining how to purchase our ticket as well as which ferry we were to catch.  It was a glorious morning and the vista as we left the port was awesome.  The sea was a brilliant colour, as was the sky.  As we got close to Messina in the distance we could see the white capped notorius Mt. Etna. (vulcano).  When we arrived at the port we were greeted by a very friendly taxi driver who offered to drive us to Taomina for 70 euro.  It was a magic drive although half way there the driver started haggling over the fare saying that he had miscalculated and that it was to be more - but Lynne stood her ground and we only paid an extra five not the twenty he was wanting.

Toamina what a town.  Again it had cobblestone roads, vehicles were not allowed in the old part of the town.  The streets were lined with wall to wall shops including, designer shops, jewellery shops, souvenir shops, bars, cafes and restuarants. I have never seen so much jeweller in all my life.  Ladies the colours for next winter look like they are grey and brown and the big thing here seems to be coral jewellery.  The streets were packed with american tourists.  Again Pete had come to the rescue and had booked us into the most fantastic hotel.  It was pure luxury and right in the heart of the old town.  We tried to book in for an extra night but the Inn was full.  So after walking the town and discovering all that was to be seen we headed off to rent a vehicle to go in search of the Black Madonna.