Caffe' Europa

On Friday morning we took advantage of one of Europe's best features, eating at a sidewalk caffe'.

The Caffe' Europa

Because of the continued unseasonable rainy weather the Caffe' Europa still had a covering over their sidewalk area but the "Tavola Calda" food they served us was still delicious.

My favorite thing here is their hot chocolate which has the consistency of liquid pudding and the taste of the richest dark chocolate you've ever had.

I forgot to take a picture of it, probably Freudian slip to force me to go back for another cup soon.

Laurie seemed to like The Caffe' Europa...

... or maybe it was the wine.

Castelmola and the Turrisi Bar

We had a break in the weather this morning so Paul went to the gym for one of his four hour workouts.  He IS incredibly fit and active for being 69 years old.  We decided to drive north up the Cyclops Riviera to the town of Castelmola that overlooks the resort town of Taormina.

Guys having lunch

It was April 23rd, the Feast of St. George, a.k.a. San Giorgio as he is known in these parts, is the Patron Saint of Castelmola!  Let the games begin!

These workers actually invited us to join them for lunch but we said no as we were trying to find the theme related Turrisi Bar that friends had recommended.  It was difficult to say no because their food gave off a GREAT aroma of barbequed meat.

San Giorgio himself, Star-of-the-Day

The Green Hills Below Castlemola

Laurie in the entryway of the Turrisi Bar

See if you can guess what their theme is.

My Chair

The Drink Menu

Two Hungry Patrons

At last the place mats and package of silverware arrive with some red wine!

Have you figured the theme out yet?

Ann and Donald Lawrie

This funny and fun couple hail from Glasgow, Scotland and joined us for lunch with an eclectic group of international fellow avid hikers who were trekking their way through Sicily on holiday.

One of their three sons, they also have a daughter, is getting married in a few weeks so we had a lot to talk about.  They even invited us to stay at their house if we visit that far north in July.

Laurie and I shared a good pizza and a great antipasto plate for lunch before deciding to check out some more of this quaint mountaintop village.

Laurie almost forgot her purse that she had left on the purse rack

Of course, we availed ourselves of their restroom facilities before we left.

High atop the Turrisi Bar with the Castelmola Duomo in the background

Yes, you guessed it correctly if you said that the Turrisi Bar's theme is "Beautiful Panoramic Sicily"!

The glass fronts and outdoor eating spots on their four story building affords you incredible views of the Cyclops Riviera!

For more info on the Turrisi Bar go to www.turrisibar.it

The Castelmola Duomo Piazza as seen from the Turrisi Bar

The Duomo was built in 1934, maybe the only church erected in the last 300 years in all of Europe.

Taormina

Note their famous Greek Amphitheater at the top of this picture.

Denver and Tony discussing offensive strategies

Paul hard at work with our defensive linemen and linebackers.

We had a good individual technique practice tonight for both the offense and the defense in preparation for Saturday's game at home against the 4-1 Bolzano Giants.

Denver chowing down a Mustafa's Kebob after practice.

Mustafa's needs a theme.

Catania's Bellini Opera House

Mustafa's is located just around the corner from the Opera House.  We are standing in front of the Quaranta Gelateria as I take this picture.  I may have had a coconut and DEEP RICH DARK chocolate cone of gelato for 1.80 Euros, but I'm not sure.

 

Rain, Rain Go Away...

AD-OF-THE-DAY ALERT:

By 6:00 p.m. tonight, ALL 20+ of yesterday's New River Club Ad-of-the-Day posters on Via Africale were missing.  I am not sure if A. Catania's city fathers were so outraged that they had them taken down for public morals issues or B. if they are hanging in the bedrooms of many of the young men of Catania.

My guess is B, but maybe the Anti-Fascists took them down.

Wednesday started off as a nice, sunny day so Laurie and I decided to do the "EEMPOSSIBLE" and go for a walk into nearby Aci Castello.

Via dei Malovoglia

strada privata

Our street is a private street as it turns out, as a result we may have the biggest street sign in all of Sicily!  I'm going to have to do some trimming to make sure people can read it.

Rich Colors, Old Home

A World War I Memorial

We found this on the wall of Aci Castello's old church, Chiesa San Giuseppe.  We were on our way to the old Norman castle that gives Aci Castello it's name.

Why you ask?  Because I had decided to take a BIG step forward in my relationship with Laurie that would pretty much make her my steady date for many months to come...

The Chain of Love

Tradition has it that when a young couple like us wants to make a permanent commitment to each other, they place a lock here with, in our case, our intials (GWC + LEG) in blue on it.

Her response?

I gave her the keys to the lock and here she is throwing them into the Ionian Sea so as to never open the lock again... good stuff, eh?

The keys are down there somewhere

Right after all this fun and games foolishness, the weather started to get foul once again.  It rained hard all afternoon and we had to reschedule tonight's practice to Thursday night meaning no trip to Palermo this week.

We did have a very productive meeting to try to iron out some of the wrinkles in our game plan for the very tough Bolzano Giants (4-1) this Saturday.

The Murgo Winery

Tuesday was another rainy day in Catania so the we decided to go with Paul for a short drive into the Mt. Etna foothills for some indoor recreation.

But first...

Monday night after practice Larry and Arturo came over to Malibu to take a warm shower as their water heater has died and the new one will be here any Italian day now.

The Ivy Covered Chiesa San Vito

You run into small buildings like this all over the many little villages that dot Mt. Etna's base.  They never cease to interest me.

The Murgo Winery

I first discovered this delightful winery in the town of Santa Venerina last June with Mark and Susie Johnson.

WHAT A LUNCH!

For a very reasonable price we were served a complete lunch consisting of the antipasto plates you see here, two large plates of pasta, a platter of meats that we could not finish, some of Murgo's fine prosecco, two bottles of Murgo Etna Rosso wine, caffe´ and a great combination dessert and fresh fruit plate.  WOW!

The future of the Murgo Winery

Cool guys hard at work processing new bottles of

Murgo Prosecco

On our way down the mountain to the sea, we were suddenly caught up in Santa Venerina's World Famous...

 

... Running of the Goats!!!

It was touch and go there for awhile!

Their horns looked razor sharp and they seemed to be in a foul mood indeed!!!

Fortunately for all of us their friendly goat herder had the situation under control.

NO HUMAN LIVES WERE LOST!

Paul's Campsite at Santa Maria La Scala

When the weather is a little better, Paul is going to use this campground overlooking the Ionian Sea coast as his base station for his hike up the eastern slope of Mt. Etna.  Again, this is a just a warm-up exercise for his real goal, Spain's Camino de Santiago later this summer.

Heather Linderman Ad of the Day

Is this subtle or what!?

This ad was found next to Catania's American Express office.

There were several of them in a two block, dare I say, strip of Via Africale.  It is good to see that they share billboard space with an anti-Fascist group announcing a planned demonstration the day after Tia Carrera performs at the New River Club.

IFL Week #7 Results

ITALIAN FOOTBALL LEAGUE

WEEK #7 RESULTS:

Reggio Emilia 49 - Catania 14

Milan 21 - Bologna Warriors 14

Lazio 55 - Ancona 26

BYES:  Bergamo, Bologna Doves, Bolzano and Parma

IFL STANDINGS AFTER WEEK #7 GAMES:

Parma Panthers 5-1

Bolzano Giants 4-1

Lazio Marines 3-1

Reggio Emilia Hogs 3-2

Ancona Dolphins 2-2

Bergamo Lions 2-3

Bologna Warriors 1-2

Bologna Doves 1-3

Milan Rhinos 1-3

Catania Elephants 0-4

Note:  The top four teams at the end of the regular season will advance to the 2009 IFL playoffs in June.

WEEK #8 GAMES:

Saturday, April 25

Bolzano (4-1) at Catania (0-4)

Milan (1-3) at Parma (5-1)

Bergamo (2-3) at Reggio Emilia (3-2)

Ancona (2-2) at Bologna Doves (1-3)

Sunday, April 26

Bologna Warriors (1-2) at Lazio (3-1)

Reggio Emilia Hogs Game

Week #7 of the 2009 IFL season saw the 0-3 Elephants playing at home against the 2-2 Hogs.

The Hogs were the undefeated champions of the NFLI circuit last year running the Delaware Wing-T.  This offense has always given Catania problems and today would prove no different.

New Catania QB Arturo Sanchez at work

Before the game we met the two visiting American referees, Dan Romeo from the Mountain West Conference and Carl Paganelli from the Mid-American Conference. In the small world that is the IFL, Dan hails from San Francisco like our own Denver Wade and had actually worked Lowell H.S. (Denver's alma mater) games in years past.

Also before the game one of the Reggio Emilia American players, Manny Diaz, took the time to introduce himself to me and thank me for helping him find a job playing in Europe this season.  I had the opportunity to talk to several American players last fall who were looking to come over and wanted my advise.  I'm glad it worked out for Manny.

FIRST QUARTER:

The Hogs broke a 45 yard run for their first TD of the game, Hogs lead 7-0.

Catania turned the ball over on downs.

Another 20 yard TD run extends the Hogs margin to 14-0.

The Elephants are forced to punt.

Reggio Emilia scores again, this time on a 15 yard run, advantage Hogs 21-0.

An Elephants pass is tipped in the air by a Hogs defensive end who then intercepts it and rumbles his way 60 yards for another Hogs TD, 28-0 Hogs as the first quarter ends.

SECOND QUARTER:

Catania is forced to punt again.

Hogs score again, this time on a 20 yard run, Reggio Emilia in control 35-0.

Arturo Sanchez finds Taber LeMarr in the corner of the end zone from a yard out for a TD and Andrea Mannino adds the PAT, Hogs 35-7.

Hogs go right back to work and answer the Catania TD with a 15 yard run to make it 42-7 Hogs.

The Elephants run out the end of the first half trailing 42-7.

THIRD QUARTER:

We are informed by the officials that IFL rules state that if a team is trailing by 35+ points at the half, the second half MUST be played with a running clock even if we get the score back under 35 points.

The Elephants have to punt for a third time.

The Elephants' defense responds and forces the Hogs to turn the ball over on downs for the first time in the game.

FOURTH QUARTER:

Sanchez hits Claudio Mangano on a 51 yard TD strike, Mannino kicks the PAT, Hogs still lead 42-14.

Reggio Emilia gets yet another rushing TD from 8 yards out to go up 49-14.

Catania is driving again but gets intercepted inside the 10 yard line.

The Hogs take a knee once and the game is over with the Hogs winning by a final score of 49-14.

This was a VERY disappointing day to be an Elephant.  Our defense which played so well the first three games was completly dominated by the Hogs.  On the plus side, our offense did show some signs of life in our final four drives of the day. 

The Small World Continues

On the left is Dwaine Hatch and his lovely bride Karen.  Dwaine as been coaching Wing-T football at Reggio Emilia for several years now and used to be the head coach at Bellvue H.S. just across Lake Washington from Seattle.

I first met Dwaine when he came down to scout his KingCo league rival Interlake H.S. who was playing our Westlake H.S. team in 1983 in southern California.  We were big on the Wing-T back then as well.  We corresponded about the Wing-T on several occasions and I visited him one time at his home in Washington when we were on a family vacation.  I had lost track of him and was pleasantly surprised to see him again today.

We are now 0-4 on the season and have a very tough home game next Saturday against the 4-1 Bolzano Giants.  We need a great week of improvement.

Heather Linderman Ad of the Day

Ever wonder why so many young Italain men are so very interested in riding a scooter?

Now you know the rest of the story...

Happy Birthday!

Another good weather day in Aci Castello allowed Laurie to continue her labor of love on her "Hanging Gardens of Malibu".

Laurie had this to start with, typical potted plants that I completely neglected last year. 

The end of her first go around in the Garden.

Her roses will be in full bloom soon. 

The things you can find in the 99 Euro cent store to spruce up a Garden.

This jasmine already gives the Garden a very sweet aroma.

 

She may need a manicure after her attempt to become Mother Earth.

The Boot

The yellow boot you see on this car is being used just before a car is towed away.  We are seeing more and more of these all over town.  Our master parking plan for Catania is taking root.

My hat's off to SOStare for the GREAT job they are doing fighting crime in Sicily!

Claudio Mangano cut a dashing figure at practice Friday night.

Post Practice Birthday Party

We ambled our way up the foothills of Mt. Etna to the town of Viagrande to this former winery to celebrate the birthdays of Peppe and Valeria.  Above is a HUGE grape press, a remnant of the building former days.

The West Coast Elephants Plus One

Andrea, Alessio, Gianmarco, Francesca and Roberto

Laurie fighting the urge to guzzle wine straight from the cask.

The wine MUST be protected at all costs!

The Malibu crew with Peppe and Valeria

Gustavo is wild-eyed at the return of Elena from her studies in London!

Girl Talk

Tiziana Persano, Ika Gulisano and Laurie talked and laughed for a long time at the party. Tiziana's husband, Salvo, is one of our Wide Receivers while Ika's husband is Tony "The Pony" plays Falcon.

The Birthday Couple

They were unusually happy tonight and had a GREAT time from all I could see!