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Post by Baz Faz on Feb 28, 2017 23:28:10 GMT 2
Or maybe we shan't be able to fly back on Thursday. Mt Etna has erupted and Catania airport is really close. It's the ash in the sky that is the problem for flights.
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Post by shrjeff on Mar 1, 2017 14:03:22 GMT 2
good luck baz... both with the flight and with the cold...
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Post by Baz Faz on Mar 1, 2017 17:20:03 GMT 2
Thankfully I have responded to the antibiotics. I am much better but I am not cancelling the doctor's appointment but donating it tp Mrs Faz who is having a terrible time with her coughing and blocked ears.
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Post by auntieannie on Mar 2, 2017 19:55:27 GMT 2
oh, no! I hope the flight back wasn't too taxing on Mrs Faz. blocked ears on a plane. yuck.
Glad you are responding to the antibiotics, Baz.
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Post by Voy on Mar 3, 2017 3:43:31 GMT 2
nasal spray for Mrs Baz... about an hour before you take off. This is the voice of experience - I once blew an eardrum on a plane.. you DO NOT want this to happen. you really really really don't!! Aside from the pain, it's just not cool to scream on a plane..
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Post by Baz Faz on Mar 3, 2017 20:15:32 GMT 2
I was premature in saying I had responded to the antibiotics. By Wednesday afternoon my temperature was up and it has yo-yoed ever since. So I have a virus and there is nothing to be done except let time take its course. Last night my coughing was bad so Mrs Faz suggested I sit in an upright chair wrapped in a blanket. This was good advice, the coughing died away and eventually I got back into bed. Meanwhile Mrs Faz continues with her ear problems. The nurse at the surgery said she should continue putting in drops of olive oil and come back on Monday.
Not much about Sicily recently and now we are back in Chipping Sodbury where it is gloomy, cold and rainy. Our ill health has loomed large but Mrs Faz may feel like posting a few final photos.
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Post by OnlyMark on Mar 4, 2017 9:36:04 GMT 2
This is getting concerning Baz. It doesn't seem like the first time either. I get the impression I've read on here a number of times about the same thing you've had.
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Post by Baz Faz on Mar 4, 2017 13:05:03 GMT 2
Yes, Mark, I have a tendency every winter to get some sort of chest illness. This is one reason I like to get away from the English climate for 6 weeks - to try to avoid my chest protesting. It was just one of those kicks in the teeth which life gives that this year we had to return to England for son-in-law's funeral and I caught the virus.
Surprisingly (at least the Met Office was taken by surprise) it is a sunny day. We had a late breakfast in our sun room and intend to laze there enjoying the blossom on our neighbour's plum tree.
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Post by Baz Faz on Mar 5, 2017 20:14:43 GMT 2
Mrs Faz can't get Photobucket to work.
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Post by auntieannie on Mar 6, 2017 0:31:09 GMT 2
deja vu moment.
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Post by Baz Faz on Mar 6, 2017 14:21:19 GMT 2
Photobucket has relented and Mrs Faz has been able to put up a few of her photos. We went to Agrigento to visit the Valley of the Temples. This little fella shows that the Nazis drew their inspiration from way back. Mrs Faz looks lovely as always. I seem to have been eating too many canoli. This is the Greek temple that UNESCO have used for their logo.
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Post by auntieannie on Mar 6, 2017 22:28:30 GMT 2
yes, but that is a proper "wheel of life". the nazis turned the ends the wrong way around. It looks like the weather was nice.
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Post by ninchursanga on Mar 7, 2017 12:53:16 GMT 2
Sicily looks lovely actually. Somehow I've always imagine it more to be a barren and empty island with not much to see.
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Post by Voy on Mar 17, 2017 4:42:10 GMT 2
You got home just in time - those pictures of the eruption of Etna were terrifying!!
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Post by Baz Faz on Mar 17, 2017 12:25:27 GMT 2
Etna was erupting gently while we were at the airport for the flight home on 2nd. You can see the volcano very well when you are on the aircraft. Mrs Faz took photos but nothing spectacular.
I had a private tour (no one else turned up) of a monastery/museum in Catania and I asked the woman what it was like having Etna so close. Nobody was worried, she said. The lava (magma - is that the correct term?) was of a find that moved slowly so everybody could escape. Nor was it going to explode like Vesuvius and send a killing wave of heat.
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Post by Voy on Mar 28, 2017 16:17:58 GMT 2
Baz, the Capo da Capo has almost convinced me to come to Sicliy next fall. Thinking 3 weeks... the last of which would be with him and his family in Enna. So. For two weeks, or two divided into 3 sections, which towns would you suggest ? I tend to be more baroque than ancient.. but... open to all suggestions !
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Post by Baz Faz on Mar 28, 2017 20:13:18 GMT 2
You will love Sicily. May I recommend staying on Ortigia (the sort of island, more like a promontory, by Siracusa). And for Baroque we liked Scicli the most. Noto we thought was too much like a Hollywood set; and Modica seemed hemmed into a valley by hills. We didn't visit Ragusa, another Baroque town, but it is reputed to be good.
Catania is good for aa couple of days - but it is a big city. Taormina has been a tourist spot for a couple of thousand years. A lot of people adore Taormina but for me it is just a town given over to serving tourists.
We confined ourselves to the southeast corner of the island so I have no experience of Palermo or the other sights; and of course going in February we didn't bother to visit any beach resorts.
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Post by Baz Faz on Mar 28, 2017 20:14:44 GMT 2
Oh, and if you are in Enna you are not far from Piazza Armerina. This has amazing Roman mosaics nearby.
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Post by sophie on Mar 28, 2017 23:38:57 GMT 2
If I didn't have plans to head to Colombia next February, I also would be looking seriously at Sicily..
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Post by Voy on Mar 29, 2017 16:10:48 GMT 2
Sophie -- it's true , between Baz's reports ( WITH Mrs Baz's pics ) and knowing Mario , who is now really "on" me - ditto his mother... it looks like November will be there...
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