Europe – Day 5

What a great day to celebrate my birthday.  First my wife gave me a wonderful, thoughtful card and then we had a great day with our friends in port.

We arrived at the island of Sicily and the port of Messina a little early and everyone met us at our cabin at 10am and we went off the ship and got a rental car that Jeff had arranged for the drive to the town of Taormina as we have been to Messina before, but never to explore Taormina.  The last time we were here we took a trip to Mt Etna and our legs are not ready to handle a climb like that again.

So we picked up the rental car at the port and off we went to Taormina which is a charming hillside town on the east coast of Sicily and is on of the island’s main tourist resorts. 

It took about an hour to reach Taormina which was quaint but jammed with tourists.  We spent a couple of hours there wandering the shops and then got back into the car and went down the hill to a little seaside town for a late lunch.

There I had the best Italian meal that I have ever had – it was wonderful and also we were eating right along the ocean.

Then it was back to the ship to take a short nap, clean up and go to a welcome aboard cocktail party up on the lawn on the top deck.

Then we went to the casino for a session of blackjack where Ed lost just a little.

Dinner was again very lovely and as usual a fun experience and we have a wonderful wait staff. 

After dinner, Ed played blackjack and won some and Barb played slots and didn’t have any fun at all.  So, we finished up for the day.

We set the clocks forward and it is now 2:36am as I type this and I am ready for bed.

Tomorrow is our first real rest day as we will be at sea all day.  But since Barb is taking the medicine she has been taking, she cannot sit out in the sun very long.

What a wonderful birthday I had!!

Arriving at Messina, Sicaly

Ed's Birthday chocolate cake

Really fresh fish for lunch

The first two courses of Ed's lunch

Main course pasta

Barb and Vera in the Ocean

 A typical street