Today, many members of our tour group arrived in Catania in preparation for the official start of our trip tomorrow morning at 10. People have flown from all over the US, Canada, and even Wales to join our SCN Sightseeing Tour and Writing Workshop, and it’s been exciting to hear of the safe arrival of one after another after another. Hooray!

Sadly, one of our group members has already experienced a mishap. Judith from Los Angeles fell shortly after her arrival and broke her arm. She was taken by ambulance to the San Marco Hospital Emergency Unit, where she was examined and then spent the night in the hospital. This afternoon, I went by taxi to get Judith and get her back to her hotel room. The good news is that she will stay on the trip for now and assess how she’s feeling. The doctors said she can’t fly until Thursday, and the tour is over next Monday, so perhaps if she’s not in pain, she can continue and enjoy this tour all over Sicily. I hope so for her sake since I know how much she’s been looking forward to it!

Tomorrow, we will tour Old Town Catania, have lunch, and coach to our hotel in Giardino Nexus, where we will stay for three days. During that time, we’ll take day trips to see sights in this region before heading to the interior and then on to Palermo.

It’s a little after midnight here, nine hours later than at home, and I’m ready to go to bed. Hopefully, I am acclimating to the time change.

I’ll send photos of our group tomorrow. Tonight, I am including just three photos from walking around the city this afternoon.

Here’s to a happy, safe, and fun tour!

One of the walking streets in Cantania

A city park in Catania