Messina, Sicily

Today (Friday) we docked in Messina, Sicily, literally right in town.  We chose a bus tour which took us about an hour and a half through some beautifully quaint small towns towards Mt. Etna. It was clear enough to get a glimpse of the volcano in the distance with the smoke pouring out.  At some village, we stopped for cake and cookies and then proceeded to the area where the lava stopped before destroying the town.  They erected a statue (there seem to be statues everywhere commemorating everything) to Maria SS Della Provvidenza.  She is credited with saving the town.  We were able to walk through the lava flow which was clearly cooled into rocks and dust.  I can't remember when this happened, but it was long enough ago for it to be legendary and build a statue.

Have you ever been on a cruise excursion?  Let me tell you how it works....you start on the ship by gathering in the showroom at a designated time to get a lovely colored sticker that must be worn at all times.  Then you wait.  When your number is called, the herd ambles off the ship.  Then you board a bus with your number on it. Yesterday we were "pink 5."  At the destination, you file off the bus, ooh and aah at the point of interest and reboard the bus for the trip back to the ship.

Dinner was nice. We were still missing four of our table-mates but have enjoyed getting to know the two ladies that are there.  We weren't pulling out of port until 9:30pm so we chose to skip the casino and go back to our closet, er cabin, early.  Our original suite is still wet.  I check on it every couple of hours and am pestering the concierge constantly. As of Saturday morning, only about a third of the cabin is still wet. Here's hoping we can get in there soon....