2010-05-02 Arrivederci to Italy and Flying Out to Turkey...

Today was a sad day. I was really crying to say goodbye to Laurie and Mike and the awesome memories we shared! We got up early and headed to the airport. Took a short flight to Roma from Palermo, then we grabbed our baggage and headed to our separate terminals: Laurie and Michael to Michigan, and Gary and I to Istanbul, Turkey. Arrived in Istanbul, and was greeted by a member of Gary's wonderful team. Checked into our hotel, and then toured around a little bit. Walked all over the city: it was PACKED with THOUSANDS of people picnicking and barbequeing and shopping...

We then went to an amazing restaurant that had Turkish food -- it was soooooo good! It was on the order of Lebanese food -- so fresh and wonderful! I LOVED it!

2010-05-01 Another day exploring near Terrasini

Today we drove through Capaci and then went for a visit to Carini, Mrs. Carollo's family's home town. We talked to some people in the town, and looked around quite a bit. Stopped for coffee. Then we went back to the hotel for lunch, and headed out for Palermo. We shopped and looked around Palermo, and walked all over the place. We then went to Terrasini and watched a gorgeous sunset. We found an amazing restaurant, Casablanca, which was run by a husband/wife/daughter team. The husband did the bookwork, the wife did all the cooking and serving, and the daughter just brought us the bill! We trusted the cook to prepare a "special dinner" for us, and although it was different than what we would have ordered, it was amazing! It was a fantastic last evening together in Sicily. We finished up with Euchre, and then packed up so we could get up early to leave the next morning.

Bei ricordi insieme che non sarà mai dimenticata ...

(Wonderful memories together that will never be forgotten!)