Saturday 31st October Woke up at sea to a very grey day with increasing winds & a rising sea. d*** had his last acupuncture session & we had a late breakfast before making a very poor fist of the pub trivia quiz of Halloween questions, not our strong suit. The ship is pretty stable although we roll & pitch slightly but very majestically. Luckily the wind is largely behind us for the crossing to Italy so the effects are minimised. Later the swell i...

Friday 10th May Set off for the station at about 7.30 & went to buy a ticket to Naples. Only 1st class was available at E140 so we took it, much to Dick's disgust. The train trip was Ok but it was delayed in a tunnel for 25 mins before Taormina which was frustrating. We did get our best views of Mt Etna from the train as it was a beautiful day. The countryside of eastern Sicily is so fertile that everywhere vegetables or fruit are grown. As the track ran a...