"...AND ON THE SIXTH DAY, GOD CREATED MANchester."

Although I never really liked England, that year I pondered a bit: be honest to yourself. How good do you know England at all ? Having been there two times with my school for a week at best was not really productive. If at all the trip gave me (us) a small glimpse and more somewhat like a feeling of "knowledge" about the country then a real deep insight and interest.
So I felt a bit ound in honour to make a call on the small island and since it is sensible to give everyone and everything a second chance (because the first experience might have been a mistaken one) I decided to give England a second chance as well. Indeed ladies, indeed gentlemen I changed my mind about that country quite a bit nevertheless I barely spend 10 days there.
Of course my opinion changed mostly because I stayed with different people ranging in age and also because I had time to explore on my own.

Only now looking through the photos I realized that I didn´t take a single picture of London itself which somehow seems surprisingly but on the other hand contents me a lot.
You can´t deny the fact of beeing a tourist despite travelling very alternative and so of course one tends to photograph everything he sees.
I trie to pull myself back ( which works pretty good) by asking some simple questions:
Will this photo be still interesting if I zap the folder in 5 or lets say even 10 years ? Does this picture mean anything to me really ? Does it remind me of something special ? Or can it even transfer something to others - a certain message - a simple connection between your emotions and the ones taken on the photo ?
...
My personal demands concerning the world. Never mind  ;)



Give everything a second chance.
Rethink.
Enjoy.

 This is 100% Eugene Hutz ( Gogol Bordello )

MAMA SICILIA ... !

Where to start and where to end this small report about Sicily.
Perhabs with the words "Are you hungry ?" because that might be something Sicilians hear quite often themselves . And indeed there is so much to eat that you wish yourself to be hungry all the time but at some point you just CAN´T eat & eat & e... !
Though my humble self didn´t expects anything this trip was different from everything one can consider as "expected" .
The funniest thing is that when my family heared that I want to go to Sicily and Armenia in one trip they all went like : "WHAT ? Armenia ?!?!..." and everyone seemed to kind of ignore the S-word - >Sicily.
Well, they should had have worried about Sicily  a tiiiny bit more in fact !
The reason why is as easy as a Pasta recipe :

- 1 big spoon of nice nature ( no reason for worries )
- a small slice of Maffia village action ( well... )
- a hand full of orange trees and olive plantations ( no reason for worries )
- some leafs of very beautiful small towns ( no reason for worries )
- filter the sea water and the cities because otherwise your Pasta might have a strong taste of waste !
( unfortunately too many cars and too much trash all around )
- a cup of super delicious food ( in my case quite a reason for worries. Didn´t fit into the airplane on my way back really. But neither did I after Armenia. )
- a drop of red wine from mount Etna ( no reason for worries ) 
- take about 500ml of typical Italian gestures and phrases ...which are awesome ! ( no reason for worries )
- and finally a big pot of horny men ... ( ALARM REASON ! )

Wait ... did I say "horny men" ?
Yes ! I did . And I would say so again. With a capital letter.

Now mix it aaaand the Pasta Siciliana is ready to be eaten !

All in all I can´t complain because again I met lots of great, welcoming & warm hearted people but the bitter taste of the last ingrediens and the unfiltered water made my Pasta taste quite strange.
But now I´m really looking forward to have grandchildren - best stories for them all from my trip to Sicily.

Halleluja, Mama Sicilia ! " Are you hungry ? Why don´t you eat ? Are you ill ?"

Suppose they tried
To sell the child
Next to the fruit
That was sun-dried

       

Direction home

Lava cave at Mt. Etna

some unknown kid

Papa Francesco ( on the very right ) and his best friends. I met him while waiting for my bus. A very kind man who even invited me for dinner to his home but unfortunately I didn´t have the time ...
He worked as sailor head cook on a ship. Due to that he visited nearly every country in the world.

We talked for 15 minutes.
He huged me for goodbye and even called me daughter.

(Just try to guess how old he is!)

In the middle of Sicily

Night time wild hot springs

Day time wild hot springs

Part 2 of "MAMA Sicilia... !" is on it´s way ;)