Bill and Deb take on Ortigia

Well my parents just left for the states. They really enjoyed their stay at the Hotel Roma and the day trips to places around Ortigia. I have some highlights to post.

• We ate dinner out every night except one when I made a pesto pasta, green beans, and a salad. It was delicious, but my favorite meal, and my mom would agree, was the Trattorria Pizzeria where they serve french fries on pizza! So good. Although Gary pointed out, what is the point of ordering french fries on you pizza if you are just going to pick them off and eat them separately anyway. We got the idea from a girl sitting at the table next to us on our first visit to the restaurant. So, on our second visit we ordered the patatine frittes a la pizza margarita.
  

• The Siracusa aquarium is also worth a look. There were lots of tropical fish to watch swimming in the small tanks. You could walk right up to the tanks and I even knocked on the Moray Eel's tank. (Take that you ugly eel!) But my favorite fish was something that looks like a regular goldfish. It had an enormous brain-like head, swam backwards, and did not stop flapping its fish lips. Here is a picture, I also took video which I will post to youtube when I get a chance.

• On Saturday my parents and I were treated to a guided tour of the Teatro Greco (Greek Theatre), the Orecchia di Dionysius (Ear of Dionysius) and the Roman Ampitheatre in Siracusa. Our guide was Gare. He carried his Blue Guide to Sicily and filled us in on all of the facts that he could remember as well as read concerning these sites. We saw the Alter of Hieron where up to 450 bulls could be sacrificed. Then we ventured into the Teatro and looked at the seats, the stage, the view of the harbor in the distance, and the natural spring or aqueduct that flows into it. We walked into the Ear of Dionysius and heard some people singing, almost sounding like a choir. It was a spontaneous thing, apparently the sound only echoes once and then dies, so it is a very touristy thing to sing in the ear. When walking around the garden my dad picked up 6 4 o'clock seeds for me to plant with my flowers on my balcony. Hopefully they will grow! Gare then led us to the Roman Ampitheatre where he had 6 lions ready and waiting to attack my parents and I. Luckily they made it out of there alive, and we don't have to worry about any lawsuits from PETA. But they sure put up a fight as my parents were simultaneously punching their throats, gouging their eyes and biting them on the nose. I was in the back taking pictures.

All in all it was a good time. :)


Other things Gare and I have been up to. Writing papers, planning our trip to the Aeolian Islands, and watching Rounders. It took us two days to watch Rounders because I kept falling asleep during the movie. Apparently, its a cardinal sin to fall asleep when Rounders is on, so it must be turned off. Its a great movie and all, but in my opinion, it is nothing to lose sleep over.