Fall 2019 Day 32

Winding down!  Today we started with an olive producer that has won gold medals all over the world for the quality of their olive oil. It’s very unique and delicious!  We will be carrying bottles back with us from Sicily all the way to Charlevoix so we can share a part of our journey with all of our customers!  We are really excited because it’s really great stuff and he is a wonderful man!!!  His groves and estate are gorgeous and we had a lot of fun!  After that we went and explored the town of Agrigento. It’s a beautiful southern Sicilian town that overlooks the Valley of the Temples. It even has tons of Greek ruins buried underneath it that you can see in various spots. Unfortunately, because it’s offseason, we couldn’t get in to any of the places that have access to the ruins to see more, but oh well!  We saw the biggest and the best!  We walked around town, it’s a town like so many others in Europe and the world for that matter. Everyone wants to live in the big cities where they see an easier path at a future so these smaller towns are having trouble surviving. There were tons of property for sale all over town and a lot of it looks a bit run down, like it hasn’t been occupied for a while. Have you seen the towns in Italy offering 1 euro properties?  I can see that happening more and more. It’s a shame because it’s still possible to carve out a slice out of these towns to make a living and a difference and keep these ancient communities alive. We went to a place just like I’m saying. A bakery that is run by a father and his two younger sons. They work hard and have a gorgeous little shop. They make amazing stuff, sell gelato and even pipe and dip you cannolis to order. That was amazing!!!!  We left and went back to our villa and enjoyed our last night in Southern Sicily.  Our friends are leaving us today and we are very sad. We have had so much fun!  It’s been amazing. They have been amazing guides on our Sicilian adventure, and amazing playmates!  It’s been full of hysterical stories and memorable times that Emily and I will cherish. We don’t get to spend a lot of time with friends, mostly because we are so darn busy and most people have a hard time being friends on our terms. Which is, we don’t see you most of the year and then once it gets cold and nobody wants to leave their house, HERE WE ARE! LOL. Having Michael, Melissa and their adorable daughter Carmela with us has been so great for us. It really has filled a void that we don’t realize is there most of the time until you have these experiences and then you remember, oh yeah, friends!!  We kinda like those!  LOL We make a lot of sacrifices!  We don’t see our families enough, we don’t see our friends hardly at all, we are lucky we have each other, but it’s nice to have more. Especially because we work so hard. I know it seems very glamorous to be in Europe for 5 weeks and believe me, it’s amazing!  But Emily and I work hard all year!  We stay open through the winters and try as best as we can to give our community something that they will appreciate and that they need. We are always there, we work our business, we have high expectations and we try to only hire people who can meet those expectations, because our business is our life!  We are trying to take others on our experiences as a way to make the off season shorter for us and for everyone who has to deal with it. We are very lucky!  But, being able to have friends to share it with is an extra special thing to us!  So, basically, thanks Michael and Melissa for giving us an experience we will never forget!  It was really special!  We are going to spend the next two days back in Catania with no car and limited access to public transportation, so really, we won’t have much the next 2 days but we are looking forward to the wind down of things. Like I said, yes, we work hard, but we love it!  When you love your job it’s almost like not working at all!!  We can’t wait to get back and see everyone and hope you are all ready for the new things we are gonna be trying and playing with when we get back!  Thanks for reading one of the last blogs of the trip. I think there will be 3 maybe 4 more entries but it makes me sad because I really love doing it!  Anyway, keep reading and enjoying and we love you all!!