A little later in the day we met up with the lady we stayed with. She was so nice. She was very patient with my limited Italian vocabulary. She had made a few plans for us with some people in the ward. We first made a quick stop at a lady in the wards 90th birthday. There were a lot of members at her house wishing her a happy birthday. Her home was filled with pictures of the temple and Christ. I loved the warm feeling of the people there and could tell why Matt felt such a connection to these people.
After the 90th birthday party we drove up to this town on mount Etna. It was a cute town where one if the members of the ward has an art studio. Her paintings were beautiful. After exploring her gallery we walked around the cute city to the this yummy restaurant. We ate some very delicious food and enjoyed every minute of it.
The next morning we woke up and got ready to go to the other side of Sicily to visit Palermo and Trapani. Before we began our bus ride we walked briefly around the city. Matt pointed out this old Roman ruins and I thought it was so neat to think how old they were and the fact that it was still standing.
Our bus ride to Palermo was kind of interesting. Instead of a 3 hour bus ride it took more like 4 hours. It was beautiful to see all of Sicily but being stuck in the same spot for 2 hours while they tried to clean up a car explosion was not. The part that made this adventure so funny was that they put all of these cars inside of the tunnel without having the police and fire trucks come through yet. So a lot of cars and trucks had to back out of this tunnel on a very narrow road.
When we finally arrived to Palermo Matt said he needed to take us to this delicious gelato place. It had so many yummy flavors it was hard to decide. You can tell from Matt's face that the day was made better just because of this gelato. He told me he had been waiting to go there since he left his mission.
After we ate Gelato we explored Palermo and walked past all of the tourist attractions. Matt never served in Palermo but it was in his mission and he visited there. We enjoyed our trip to Palermo but were ready to go to Trapani and meet some people Matt knew from the first area he served in.
In Trapani we were picked up by one of our friends Laura. We went out to dinner and walked around old town. I instantly fell in love with the city. It had much character and was beautiful. We walked around and talked with the members. We spoke Italian and English.
The next morning we woke up and visited the church and the Branch President when Matt served there (also Laura's Dad). We then went up to Erice a cute little town on the top of the hill. We walked around and saw a beautiful castle, and cute little streets.
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| Palermo |
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| The Church in Trapani |
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| Erice |
On Saturday we went to the beach in Trapani. It was beautiful, my favorite beach in Italy. We then took the bus back to Catania and lived through a volcanic eruption. Matt thought the eruption was cool, I was freaking out. Luckily it only rained ash (for about ninety minutes) where we were and everybody was fine. The next day was Sunday and we went to Church in the Catania. Matt served majority of his mission in Catania. The people there had so much love for him. I instantly fell in love with them. This lady below touched me the instant I met her. Matt baptized her husband a few months before he died. She was so grateful for Matt. I did not know about this story. This lady had such a great testimony that she would be able to be with her husband again and was so appreciative of Matt. I know that this lady will be able to return to be with her husband again.
This trip was my favorite. I loved getting to know the people Matt knew and had made such an impact on his life. I also loved the beach, food, and how beautiful it was. In my dream world I would love to have a house in Trapani to vacation at.
