Did someone say culture shock, because if they did... it was in Italian and went right over our heads.

We got off the airplane the other night and did we get and Uber? A bus? A cab? No! Our backpacking instincts took over and we set off to our hostel on foot! We may have started off a bit too over-confident because after twenty minutes of walking along the side of a busy road we called an Uber. The Uber cost half as much as it would have cost us if we were picked up from the airport, so we still felt like we got a leg up on capitalism! When we arrived where our hostel was supposed to be, it wasn't there! We walked around a bit, and my panic began to set it, maybe the hostel was a lie, maybe we have nowhere to sleep, we are trapped and no one can help us, woe is me! Then Ryan made the very rational decision to go back and check the spot where the hostel should have been. This time we saw the very tiny sign that said "Le Coccole" (which is the name of our hostel.) It means "the cuddles" in Italian. Over-confident as we were, we then went out in search of a late dinner. Using the scraps of Italian we had, we managed to aquire 3 steak sandwiches and 3 ice cold beers. Not bad for a couple of rookies.

We spent the next day at the beach. Which was a lovely blue-green view. When we looked inland Mt Etna stood over us, a halo of smoky clouds covering her head. Ryan loved the freezing water, which he would tell you was perfect, and we wrestled in the sea for a few hours. It was perfect because there weren't many other people around to judge us. We did later venture into town, where we discovered Castello Ursino right down the street from us! I love having a castle practically next door. We were pretty tired by the end of the day so we ordered pizza to our hostel and watched cartoons like the adults we are. (Also Ryan loves this place because they have persimmons! Like everywhere!). Today we are currently sipping the best cappuccino either of us has ever had!