Sunday afternoon we took off for Sicily around 1:30pm. Honestly it was a very frightening flight!! It seemed as though the pilot had no idea what he was doing – the entire 15 minute take-off was horrendous! Wobbling, shaking, falling, dropping, all sorts of major turbulence! Fortunately he seemed to learn to fly as we went which made for a much easier landing, welcomed with sun and much warmer weather in general. Soon after landing we met Gianni, our incredible autista, or bus driver. As we loaded the bus and headed off from Catania toward Palermo, we found something pretty amazing – a gorgeous rainbow off in the distance over the hills of Sicily. Thank you, nonna and grandpa! Upon arriving in Palermo, we found a fantastic little hotel right on one of the main piazzas of the city, where one of the large and gorgeous theaters sat. Sunday night, I went out to dinner with Breana, Lenora and Olivia. We weren’t quite sure where to go so we approached who we thought were two policemen to ask them for a recommendation. Turns out it was a regular man talking to a police man…. A regular man who then, after giving terrible directions, offered to walk us to the restaurant, which was completely fine because it turned out it was his friend’s restaurant. He sat us down and said goodbye but about 30 seconds later, he came back in and sat at the table next to us and made small-talk/various comments in English and Italian throughout the entire dinner. Finally he left and we then left cautiously after him, hoping to not bump into him again. (Dinner was pretty good though – some terrible white wine with pasta alla siciliana – eggplant and tomato sauce – with some swordfish to follow. Not too shabby.) After dinner we wandered the cuter parts of Palermo and found a nice little pastry shop for some dessert.
Monday
Monday was kind of rainy but fortunately in the morning we were just heading up to to Monreale, a little city on a hill over Palermo, where we saw a gorgeous cathedral. Upon arriving, the sun came out! The cathedral is incredible and completely covered in mosaic – it was gorgeous!! We even got to walk through all the back stairways, outside and over the top of the cathedral essentially to look at the cloisters and the surrounding city and country from above! We then wandered the city, taking photos of cute little niches and ocean-views. Around lunch time we headed back into the city to the University of Palermo to meet some students and a professor who is friends with both Monica and Giovanna, Alessandra. We mingled awkwardly with the students and munched many various types of bread and fried dough all stuffed with prosciutto and mozzarella. We then listened to Giovanna’s presentation about a translation she did a few years ago of a short story by an immigrant who now considers herself Italian and struggles with the clash of cultures. After the presentation we drove off in the rain to the Capuchin Catacombs, where there are 8,000 embalmed bodies. Only 2,000 are visible and unfortunately we couldn’t take pictures since it was technically a cemetery, but it was pretty interesting. There were many, many of priests and monks, as well as tons of rich professionals and their children, all from the mid 1800s and later. Some were rather alarming and others, like the babies, pretty upsetting, but overall it was very interesting. Monday night we had dinner with the entire group, led by Monica and Giovanna and it was delicious! We ate lots of yummy friend things, pasta alla norma – again eggplant, then really good swordfish and potatoes, yummy SALTED bread and pistachio semifreddo (sort of like gelato but not as cold? There really isn’t any good way to explain it…) 
Tuesday
On Tuesday’s agenda was a little tour of Palermo with Professor Alessandra as our guide. We saw a few churches and cathedrals as well as a palace/museum with another gorgeous mosaic-ed chapel and many other things such as the city’s adorable, sweet stray dogs (who were pretty attached to us for the ENTIRE day …) Tueday afternoon, after finding some yummy white pizza (called Snow White), we headed to Cefalu’ – a tiny little beach town outside Palermo. Since it isn’t yet tourist season, there was NO ONE there. We went mainly to get some cannoli (which I don’t love too much but I hear they were good!) and see the cathedral – a very pretty and adorable little one! After grabbing some tea and various goodies at a nearby pastry shop, Breana and I wandered the entire town, and helped some little pre-teen boys get their basketball back. Then we found the ocean! We also found some beach cats and adorable little boats aside the beautiful sunset! On the way home, Gianni started playing some fantastic music such as Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You and I Will Survive which naturally resulted in Monica and Giovanna starting a crazy disco party and nicknaming the bus the DiscoBus. As we rolled into Palermo, we were all on our feet singing at the top of our lungs and dancing up and down the aisles. After settling back in the hotel, I spent the evening with Alayna, Victoria, Chrysanthe, Steph, Christine, Anna and Caitlin munching Chinese food and watching part of In the Air (bootlegged, of course!). I then headed back to my room to read in bed, something I haven’t had time to do in ages! 
For pictures of Palermo, Monreale and Cefalu', check out these albums on Facebook!!
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=382254&id=500755531&l=c5e2cabb82
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=382262&id=500755531&l=58ab9fb8af
Part TWO on the way!
BACIONE
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