Learning Italian

My first weekend in Sicily was an absolute blast. Amy picked my up Friday afternoon to take me to her apartment in Aci Trezza, about 35 km north of the base. On our way, we made a stop in Catania to purchase a ticket for the Paul Simon concert which was happening the following Friday. Amy had invited me to go along with a group of her friends, but there were no more tickets being sold on base. We had been given directions to go to the Catania Box Office. They weren't the best directions I'd ever heard: "75 Via di Giacamo Leopardi, across from the bank and the gas station." But, we were going to give it a try.

Catania is the second largest city in Sicily, (2nd to Palermo) and is located on the Ionian Sea about 20 minutes northwest of base. It is a very urban, industrial, fast paced city. We found the street and parked, but the street numbers weren't making sense and though we found a few bank/gas station combinations, we found no box office. Amy asked an Italian where to go, he pointed her to a newsstand, we asked at the newsstand. Amy kept saying "bigliette" (ticket) and "Paul Simon" and some other things in Italian. Finally, she said "box office" and the Italian says "Ahhh...Ticket Box Office! Si, Si!" and points us in the right direction. About 2 blocks away on a side street there is a big sign that says "Ticket Box Office"! Who would have guessed? Maybe I don't need to learn Italian after all! :)