Christo Signore della Montagna (Christ the Lord of the Mountain)

Our priest announced a trip to the town of Cesaro to celebrate the placing of Christ the Lord of the Mountain statue on  August 19, 1996, by HC-4, the helicopter unit that served here several years ago. Flint and I were ready to go as we remember when it happened. The Catholic Women of the Chapel  travelled there on a trip shortly after its placement. Many of the HC-4 people-celebrities to the locals-were on the trip. Showing a video after a wonderful dining experience, the locals clapped and cheered those of our group who had placed the statue.

On Thursday, Flint, Don Alfonso (our priest to the locals), and I drove to the town. Don Alfonso and I sipped a caffe while Flint parked. By the time we rejoined him, he had met the mayor who served when the  7,000 pound statue was placed. They led us to the church that was already filled with the faithful. Flint and I stood in the back, and Father went to meet the local priests and get ready for Mass. The altar server moved us to the front row where we sat with some elderly men, and we were practically knee-to-knee with the town's saint statue-San Calogero. A while later the altar server moved us to the reserved area. The lady I was seated next to introduced herself as the mayor's wife-a delightful lady. (Flint may have been the first to verbalize that she looked like Meryl Streep.) The rest of the Sigonella group arrived later. Those Navy men look so sharp in their dress whites.

San Calogero

A band with majorettes and ladies with candles led the procession through the  town to the foot of the mountain of the statue.

A lady in the procession

One of the men of the town graciously showed me views of the statue and the valley that he deemed worthy of photographing. Therefore, when I arrived my Flintster was on the stage with the dignitaries. A short program with prayer, both national anthems,  and recognition of the horses that had gathered nearby followed. The handlers calmed the horses during the fireworks that were set off by the feet of the statue. As the smoke cleared, we all made our way up to the statue with another nice man from the town making sure I didn't fall....up and down.  Bless his heart! And I was probably the only one wearing real walking shoes!

Some of the horses

The Dignitaries

Not sure of what was next, we began to meander back to town. We soon learned that it was time to eat. A caravan formed, and we made our way out of town to the place where we had eaten years before. (We took company there several times, too, as the food was outstanding.) The food remains incredibly wonderful! Antipasti, homemade maccheroni, ravioli with pistachio, pasta with mushrooms, meat including black pig, a local delicacy.....all the BEST! If anything, the food tastes even better than we had remembered it. Sad thing, we don't ever remember even knowing the name of the place, but we can find it!

Christ the Lord of the Mountain embracing the town of Cesaro

Prague...The City Freedom Changed

Since my first trip to Prague was 22-23 June 1985, I must reflect on the changes. A friend and I backpacked and Eurailed that summer. While in Vienna, we made arrangements to get a visa and join a bus trip to Prague. I noted in my journal that guards boarded the bus at the border, took our passports, then we stepped off the bus where we had to declare our possessions. They wrote down our camera brands.

From the journal:  "Prague looked deserted compared to the capitals and large cities that we had visited....Virtually no cars around....It took us a couple of stops and questions before we found a place to sell us a Pepsi......As we continued toward the river, the streets were practically deserted except for police at every corner. One even stopped us when we crossed the street and the red man was on. He showed us the green man and the red one, explaining in Czechish how to cross the streets. He smiled and was very pleasant. Of course, we smiled and nodded, holding our tourist map in hand."

I mentioned in the journal that we received coupons rather than change on an occasion that we managed to find something to buy. Each tourist (prorated for children) was required to spend a certain amount of money each day. Each transaction was noted on a form they gave up upon entry and returned when we exited.  If we hadn't spent enough, we could buy at the border (one family ended up supplying the bus with snacks for the return to Vienna) or just pay the difference.

Another journal entry:  "Going back to the square, it was amazing to notice the designs and differences in the buildings. Someone had told us that Prague was drab. Admittedly, many buildings need to be cleaned, but there are pastels mixed in."

I made two more trips to Prague in 1992 when friends and family visited us in Germany. I was amazed by the changes even then. Looking back, I can't believe we 'tumbleweeded' into Prague. We made room arrangements at the train station upon arrival, and both times we stayed in apartments that people rented out. I really don't think they had the hotels that are presently available.

Now I am in awe of the changes that have occurred since then. If I can figure out how to get my slides from the '85 trip on this computer, I'll add them so you can see  some of the transformation.

 Flint and I spent four wonderful days there. We agree that much of the beauty of Prague lies in its architecture. Almost everywhere beauty of the old elaborate buildings will catch the eye. But there is the mix of the plain, boring from the recent past history, too. We were made much more aware of this part when we made a trip via bus out to a residential part of town for "Europe's Best Strudel." ...food being another joy of Prague. Recommended by one of Flint's colleagues, we followed Travel Channel Samantha Brown's advice. (I couldn't find reference to the strudel on the website though.) It was worth the bus ride and the walk through the residential area to find a little man behind orange bars selling the fresh apple strudel. We asked for two, he looked at us like we were crazy, he sold us one...and we ate on it all day long! Delicious!

Waiting at Susta Strudl

Food variety reigns in Prague. Our first meal was Spanish La Boca with a delicious variety of tapas. Our evening meal French. CervenaTabulka. Not only was the food outstanding, but their mix of music included some of our favorites....Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Edith Piaf, Patsy Cline....can you beat that mix? I would have eaten other meals at both places, but we needed to savor more tastes. We continued through Arab, Indian, the Czech goulash, bread dumplings, pig knee, with pancakes for dessert at Na Klarove. One see and be seen place Barock where the potato soup and the black bread couldn't be beat, and the sidewalk cafe of the Grand Hotel in Wencelas Square.

Always serious about food

The music...concerts are available throughout the day and evenings in churches, palaces, museums. We stumbled upon a ladies choir giving a preview on the steps of St. Nicholas Church and followed them inside for a lovely afternoon of  "Ave Maria," "Panis Angelicus," and more recognizable songs mixed with some unfamiliar tunes.

Another day we followed the sounds of organ music into the beautiful church where a lady was practicing on a cherub covered pipe organ.

The Infant Jesus of Prague...we should have known more about this statue. We recognized its picture as we wandered around and found it in Our Lady of  Victory Church. As we exited through the gift shop, a priest invited us into a small chapel the bless the few items we purchased. 

Brought from Spain, people from all over have donated clothes.

The Charles Bridge

Organ Grinder

Dancing to "Downtown" during a filming episode

Since I needed knitting needles, we located the shop Galanterie from directions found on a blog. Great needles for about $3.00. I should have bought more! And they were correct...the two ladies didn't speak a word of English between them!

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Prague remains a city of beauty, art, music and history. I am fortunate to have seen and felt the  before and after of one of Europe's greatest cities. Thank goodness for freedom!

Saturday in Chiaramonte Gulfi

Another Saturday with the jackhammer; another road trip. This time was even more random than the previous. Flint drove down the new Siracusa highway (after asking me which way to head out), but we didn't really want to visit Siracusa, so we wound around for many miles. The sign for Chiaramonte Gulfi jogged our memories of a trip taken many years ago after our friend, Jerry, found an article in the New York Times about a pork restaurant. Two or three carloads of us made that trip to a place where one walks in through the kitchen to a very small seating area with a gorgeous view of a valley. We drove through the town, but not recognizing the place immediately, we continued on down the road.





We exited the town and followed the signs to Valle di Chiaramonte Agriturismo. This was a no menu place. We sat and the food started coming. Lot of antipasti, then sausage and veal- no pasta -then TWO desserts! The first was little fried pastries filled with fresh ricotta and sprinkled with powdered sugar and spices. The second dessert was the pasta course! When we asked about the ingredients, they asked a guest from Denmark who was studying farming to translate for us.She said that it was fresh pasta and grapes. We thought it might be have been an apple base. 

Very clear view of Mt. Etna

Pastry with ricotta

Pasta with grapes

Saturday in Bronte

Our landlord, also our next door neighbor, is doing some concrete/tile work in the front. Flint suggested that we go somewhere so we didn't have to listen to the jackhammer all day. We headed in the general direction of Cesaro, a town we had not visited in years, but have very fond memories of our visits and the pasta with pistachios. When we saw the sign that read, "Bronte,"....well, we hadn't been there in a long time either. We drove on to The Nelson Castle now open for touring. This is Admiral Lord Nelson of Trafalgar fame, but he never saw the place that was presented to him by the King of Naples for crushing the Neopolitan insurrection in 1799.

After the tour of the building and grounds, we visited a relatively new agriturismo appropriately named Nelson Agriturismo. We ordered the general mix of antipasti that included twenty different items...every bite better than the last. Cheeses, olives, tripe, meats, green beans. I asked Flint if ever in our lives we would have thought about eating just big chunks or spoons of cheese. Then we enjoyed the other courses!

Sitting room with "XVII French clock"

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Used just before his final battle (or as the brochure stated, "During this battle he was deadly hurt.")

Excavations

The Chapel

Train to Taormina

Carole, Tony, and I drove into Catania where we started our train ride to Taormina. The train station in Giardini Naxos where one gets off is beautiful. (Once a guest and I ended up hitchhiking back down to the station with a couple from Milan. They took a break from their drive to tour the premises when they dropped us off expressing, "You don't see stations like this in Italy!")

From there we roamed around the gorgeous town that the rich and famous discovered years ago.

Waiting for lunch  Ristorante' a Zammara

In the English Garden (Villa Communale)

A view from the garden

Giardini Naxos train station