Palermo

Even the view from the airport was gorgeous. We could see the mountains and the sea. One of the next things I noticed about Palermo was that there were high-rises and very few Smart cars. While we were waiting for the shuttle to get to the hostel, we started talking to these Scottish girls who were staying in the same place. They seemed to know where they were going, so we followed them.

When we finally reached the hostel, there was a big hole in doorway. I was expecting the owner to speak English, since the people at all the hostels spoke English. Nope. And to make matterns worse, I was the only person who understood any Italian. When he figured this out, he made me be the translator for him and the Scottish girls. It was very interesting.

Then we went upstairs to our room. It looked like someone's living room/kitchen. He didn't give us a key, even when I asked, so we were really freaked out. Fortunately, a few minutes later, he came back with a key. I guess the maid had it or something.

We walked around for a bit and then went to get some lunch. The waiter wasn't even going to give us time to look at the menu until I asked for five minutes. Then the food came out quick--too quick. I'm pretty sure it was microwaved. He took our plates as soon as we were done and asked if we wanted coffee. He brought that out right away. Then the brought our check. This is not something I'm used to. In Rome (and elsewhere in Italy), they let you sit there as long as you want and make you ask for the check before they bring it to you. I asked one of my prof's about this and he said it was probably just the one place, it's not standard custom in Palermo.

After lunch, we wandered around to the historic section of Palermo. We some cool churches and sites. Somewhere along the way, we had Canoli. They were soo good. (I wasn't impressed by the one's I'd bought in Rome). One the way back down the street a couple hours later, we got some more and the guy remembered us.

By the time we got back to the hostel, we were tired, so we took a couple-hour nap. Then we decided to go search for some food. The neighborhood we were in seemed kinda shady, so we just got some pizza, and soda to take back. Then we say a wine store, so we bought a bottle (since I love Sicilian wine) and some snacks. I asked for "peperoni" not realizing that it means "peppers," but it was yummy anyway. It wasn't thick like the Sicilian pizza in America; it was round and thin, which is less common it Rome.

On Saturday, we went for a little walk around the hostel, then we headed to the train station to drop off our luggage. We had planned to go find the beach, but it was pouring. Basically, our day was pretty much wasted.