Vanchella Vagabonds

  Hoping that our virtual holiday card finds you well and enjoying the holiday season. We're at home, enjoying time together and local holiday activities. It's especially important this year, because Emily is not with us during the week, as she is taking a training program for potential work with Costa Cruises. The training is held in Palermo, so she is there during the week and back home on the weekends.  On Thursdays, the students go on board Costa Smeralda, while she's in port in Palermo. Now that I've experienced a few Christmas holidays in Sicily, I've really come to appreciate the approach. The Christmas season extends from December 8, Feast of the Immaculate Conception (a holiday) through January 6, Epiphany (also a holiday). Included in this period are saint days for Lucia and Stefano (the 26th, also a holiday) and New Year's (and covers the 12 Days of Christmas).  Now, it may seem like that is a long period and might be stressful, but it's actually ...

  We spent 10 days in London this August, attempting to escape the Sicilian heat. Good thing we brought shorts, because it was hot there too, LOL! But, it wasn't as hot as Sicily, and I sagaciously reserved a hotel that was certain to have functioning air conditioning, just in case. Cousin Gerlyn joined us for this portion of our vacation (we three Vanchellas were previously on a British Isles cruise, which was pleasantly cool, but more on that in another post, hopefully!). We seemed to be the only guests staying at Holiday Inn Stratford who were not attending ABBA Voyage . I never realized ABBA was so popular as to sustain a dedicated arena highlighting avatars of the singers, accompanied by a 10-piece orchestra. It was fun to see the various ways people dressed to attend the show. A reason to return? They say it's a show like no other! Are you an ABBA fan? What's your favourite song? There were footsteps, in the community next to our hotel, that led to the Underground (Tu...