5-31
Today was so much fun! So we got up to breakfast which was delicious and the headed out to see some of Palermo. We passed through an open air market where I got to see fish whose heads were as big as mine! There was also this huge swordfish whose nose was as long as my arm and all of them were cut open so you could see their meat and blood. It was really cool. There were vegetables and fruits and other stuff further down the street and it made me want to be able to shop like that someday. You know, the kind where you wake up early and go and get what you need from a bunch of little stands all near each other instead of Walmart.
Then we went to the Palace and saw a chapel in there. It was so cool because the walls were covered with pictures which we later realized were all mosaics. That was really impressive. Then we went to see some more of the palace and what I think were the old defense walls that are now like in the basement. I really liked the palace a lot. After the palace we went to the cathedral here (each city only has one cathedral no matter how many churches) and went in. I liked this one quite a bit too. It was also simple but had some really pretty frescoes on the ceiling way in the back. There were just two which I thought was nice. We sat there kind of taking it all in for a while. I asked Dr. E about how she got started doing all of this and we kind of just relaxed for a bit.
After that it was time for lunch so we headed off toward the sea and grabbed some food on the way. I ended up, after much indecision and a lot of back tracking, with a slice of pizza that had hot dogs and ham on it. It was good, odd but good. During the walk to the sea I saw a hibiscus tree which made my day. It reminded me of our hibiscus back home since it was the same color and they just look so pretty here. There were huge rocks by the sea and so I decided I wanted to climb on them and put my feet in. Erdogmus just told us to be careful so I ditched my shoes and went looking for a good rock; which I found and proceeded to splash my feet in the cool water. Alaina and Linsey ended up joining in on the fun and we found rocks to stand on in the water and cool off a bit. It was so great, clambering from rock to rock finding new creatures and stuff and getting a little bit wet. I will admit that I scraped up my toe and pinkie finger pretty bad at one point and was worried the bleeding wouldn’t stop before I had to put my shoe on. But I had plenty of time and with some hand sanitizer got my pinkie all cleaned up and my toe stopped bleeding in time. So I cleaned the toe out really well when we got back to the hotel and am really glad that my body is used to this kind of treatment from me.
We were supposed to go to a theater after that but it closed at 3 and we walked up at 2:59 so didn’t happen. I think we are going to try and go in the morning before our flight. So we had free time until our group supper. Linsey and I mostly just relaxed. I got a little pink today but hopefully that will go away for the most part by morning. After napping, we went on a walk and found this huge market that was just selling clothes and shoes and stuff and walked around. They had terry cloth towels with lace on the edge which I thought was odd. I am sure that I’ve seen that before it just doesn’t make a lot of sense to me; mixing the two.
We had a group dinner and I finished half a glass of white wine, ate octopus, swordfish and risotto with shrimp. I am so proud of myself for trying it all. I actually thought the octopus was pretty good I just didn’t love the sauce it was in and the fact it was cold, and the swordfish was one of the last things so I was getting full. We had a delicious dessert which was similar to ice cream but not quite the same. Then we had some limoncello as a digestive after all that. Some of the kids went out after that as this is our last night in a town before we return to Rome. I decided after the day I’d had and the fact that I got sun-burned that it was better for me to just come back and sleep. Tomorrow we fly again back to the main land and then drive to Paestum where we are staying in a remodeled farmhouse. I don’t know if we’ll have internet or not. I am going to finish my book—whose ending will delight me, as it always does—and go to bed. Good night, Friends!
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