A short update –

For our fist day in Taormina with the whole family, we opted for the beach. One of our favorite places here has been the Caravella Beach Club – we wrote about it earlier. It is great because it is not crowded and they will pick you up at your apartment or hotel. They also have a very good restaurant with the freshest fish.

So we spent the day experiencing the beach – Italian style. There is no sand here, just pebbles. It took everyone a little while to get used to walking around, but the girls fit right in, building piles of rocks instead of sand castles.

We had 6 chairs in a row, with umbrellas, and a man coming by bringing snacks and drinks – truly a relaxing afternoon.

Back at Wunderbar

After the beach, we cleaned up and had a nice dinner out and then – our favorite Wunderbar! There was the usual sax player tonight, and EVERYONE danced – Mom, Dad, the girls, Frank and me. A wonderful time was had by all.

One of the highlights of our trip has been planning to host Frank’s son and family in Sicily – three generations of Volpes!

John, Valerie, Cecelia (age 10), and Samantha (age 7) arrived on Tuesday after a long night of flying from America. We had our same driver who has taken us all over, Salvatore, pick them up (since we don’t have a car here). When they arrived, the girls popped out with matching suitcases, cute haircuts, and just seemed at ease right away on the streets of Taormina – telling everyone they meet, “Ciao!”

For our first meal all together, we went to one of our favorite pizzerias, which is a little fancy and happens to have a fabulous view of the sea. They loved their first real Italian pizza.

Intro to Wunderbar

We ended the evening at our favorite place, Wunderbar, where Frank and I go almost every night. They have live music, and the singer even came over and sat at our table for awhile – as I said, we have become regulars here.

Mom and Dad danced and then went for a walk, so Frank and I ordered the girls tried their first granite (Italian ice) with whipped cream. CeCe liked hers a lot. Sam liked hers ok and declared that next time she might just get whipped cream.

Wunderbar is located on one of the most famous piazzas in Italy – with a distinctive checkerboard pattern overlooking the sea. The girls wanted to dance, so Frank and I sat at Wunderbar with our after dinner drinks, while we kept an eye on two girls twirling around and soaking up Sicilian life.

We are spending a few days in Taormina together and then head south to Canicatti to visit all of the Sicilian family. I’m sure we will have many avventuras (adventures). So stay tuned!

This past weekend, we had the first family visitors to our apartment in Taormina – and had so much fun!

You may recall our big adventures with Enza, Frank’s first cousin, when we visited Siracusa. Well, two of Enza’s children and their spouses came to visit us. We got to know them when we were in Canicatti with Frank’s Sicilian family.

– Mirella and Benedetto hosted us many times at their house for lunch and even overnight. Mirella is a teacher and Benedetto a dentist.

– Johnny (Mirella’s brother) and Monica also joined us in Canicatti several times, and Johnny and Frank email quite a bit. Johnny and Monica are both bankers.

If you are following this cast of characters, in the picture below, left to right are Johnny, Monica, Mirella, Me, and Benedetto.

They are lots of fun to be around so we were looking forward to our weekend with them. And what wonderful guests they were! They came in with arms full of lunch, including homemade cous-cous sent by Enza. Then the next morning, they pulled out fresh pastries for breakfast. Wow.

We wined and dined at a restaurant called Tiramisu (which I have to say does have excellent tiramisu), went to the beach together, and shopped and shopped. These ladies are super stylish so we went in stores that I hadn’t even noticed – with shoes that cost almost $1,000! (I felt a little sheepish in my Crocs!)

Johnny speaks a little English, but otherwise the weekend was in Italian. We looked to our old favorite Google Translate every now and then. But for the most part, were able to figure it all out. We’re getting the hang of this Sicilian life!

Above: cable car down to the beach