May 17, 2012 Messina, Sicily, Italy

Messina, Sicily, Italy

Wayne got up early to take a spinning class. He said it was one of the best spinning classes he has ever done.

The ship didn't dock until 10am and we got off the ship around 10:30am. We got a map and headed to the train station to see about taking the train to Taormina (a Medieval town about 35 miles away). It would take a long time to get there and too many train/bus transfers and it would leave us with only an hour to spend there so we decided just to walk around Messina. The town was damaged in an earthquake in 1908 and then bombing in the war. Not a lot of old building left standing. They do have the world's largest Astronomical Clock. It was pretty neat to see.

Around 12:30pm we decided it was time to stop for something to eat/drink. Once we did, we didn't pass another outside cafe for almost an hour. So at 1:30pm we finally found a cute little place and we both had a beer and they give us a little tray with four small bowls of munchies - chips, peanuts, pistachios and some kind of ring shaped crackers. They were good and went well with the beer. Since we still had munchies left, we ordered another beer.
When the bill came it cost 7 euros!

We were back on board by 3pm (all aboard was 5:30pm) and we went up to the buffet for a little snack. Then we went out by the pool to lay in sun but it was so windy we didn't last long. Back to the cabin to read/nap.

Went to the dining room for dinner tonight. We have 2 older couples as table mates. They were both very nice. There is a third couple at our table but they weren't there. We heard they didn't get their luggage and won't get it for a few days.

After dinner it was time for trivia. It was music trivia and we didn't do as well as we thought we would - short term memory problems maybe...

Wayne and I walked around the ship for a while and then went to see the Battle of the Sexes Game Show. We watched for a while and then called it a night.

Tomorrow- a sea day!