Is there tea time in Italy ?  Of course...when you know our friends !  We met Jackie and Nino two years ago when we visited Sicily and have kept in touch ever since.  We called them yesterday, and they invited us for "tea" and dinner.  Jackie is English and Nino is Sicilian but grew up in Manchester.  After several years together, Jackie convinced him to move back to Sicily where they've been ever since.

We had tea and cake ...how funny to see a Sicilian man drinking tea from a small porcelain cup !  We caught up on the past two years, had a lovely dinner, and stayed until almost midnight.  At one point, Nino took us out to a small door at the side of their house...we weren't sure where it led, and were shocked to find ourselves standing in a small, beautifully decorated chapel complete with frescos, candles, and religious statues...what a surprise !  Nino said that it connects their house to the house next door - the houses comprised, at one time,  one large farm property and the priests would come to the chapel to preach to the farm workers and offer them communion.  It's still a consecrated church...you just never know what you'll find in someone's back yard !

Today we rode up through some of the surrounding mountains near Palermo...stunning views again...we ended our voyage with the ultimate prize...DIET PEPSI !!  Yes, my darling husband found the largest supermarket in all of Palermo for me...not only did it have Diet Pepsi, but also carried microwave popcorn...does life get any better tthen this ??

Someone once said, "all journeys have secret destinations of which the traveler is unaware"...here's to our next secret !

Chris and her Diet Pepsi hero husband