Setting:


It is getting dark. White lights twinkling on old lamppost's. A mist hangs in the air and gently covers the many domes of St. Mark's Basilica and the old clock tower. People are strolling along the waterside snuggled in their cozy winter coats and hats. Some are briskly walking home after a days work. The bells of St Mark begin to ring and a flock of pigeons flies up off of the square...


This is the setting I have been seeing nightly as I am now in Venice! It is VERY beautiful. Just as magical as everyone told me it would be!! I have been here now for 4 days but was only planning to spend 3 days after listening to backpackers tell me that you can see Venice in 1 day. PSHAW i say to that! With so many places to get lost in how could a person spend only one day in Venice?



I must say that arriving here was surely a breath of fresh air - literally! AS there are no cars here the silence, and smells of cold air and water are a delight to the senses. A welcome treat from the honking horns, exhaust and loud motors of Palermo.

Ahhhhhhh....Palermo.

So there is one more story from Sicily.

You know...sometimes it's the journey not the destination?

Being a tired sightseer and kinda bored of museums and ruins, I decided to take the advice of the guy on the bus and I went to where they make the best canolli! Piana degli Albanese - a one hour bus ride out of Palermo.

As the bus system is impossible to figure out in Palermo i resorted to asking a bus driver where the necessary bus was. He told me to meet him back in 1 hour and he'd take me to the right place.

Upon arriving he walked me to the right bus stop and asked a lady if she would take the responsibility of getting me to the right place. She agreed. Yay!

She (I think her name is something like Tiziana) asked if I was French or German to which i replied, "No I'm Canadian and I want to go to Piana degli Albanese to eat the best canollo. Are they good there?" She replied, "Yes of course but the BEST place is closed today but there is another place that is open that you can go to - they are also good there."

This other lady asks her (Tiziana) , "Is she American?"

"No she's Canadian and she is going to Piana degli Albanese to eat a canollo."

I don't know if they were proud of that fact or thought it to be strange.

She kept repeating that make sure I follow her on the bus and sit with her and when the bus arrived she hurried on yelling back at me to get on and sit next to her.

As we drove she pointed out the sights and people got on and off the bus greeting the driver, "Ciao Gianfilippo!"

We arrived at the destination and she decided to drive me to the bar in her car which was parked at the bus stop. How nice!

Upon entering she announced to the bartender, " Here is a girl from Canada and she came here to eat a canollo!" The bartender then pointed me out to some of the patrons as they entered for their afternoon snack. Wow...they mustn't get that many tourists here....

The canollo was VERY fresh - they filled the flaky pastry tube with the freshest ricotta cheese right before i ate it. What a delight! Buuuuuuttttttt.... i do like when the pastry is lined with dark chocolate it's a nice contrast to the sweet ricotta.

I took a walk around the small windy town and came upon an old sweet woman...not too many teeth. We talked and i understood barely anything as they speak a whole new language in that part of the world but she was sweet.

I returned to the bar for a glass of wine before I was to catch the bus at 4:30. I was reading when the bartender said at 4:15, "Signorina the bus". I shot up and ran out into the rain to a bus stop and the bus came right away and I hopped on. I bit into a piece of marzipan (popular in Sicily) and we arrived at the stop i got off at when we arrived.
The bus driver walked up to me and asked where i was going to.
I told him Palermo and he informed me that the last bus left at 4 pm and there were no more buses until tomorrow and no way back to Palermo tonight. I put my head in my hands and just said, " oh no"
I phoned the Hostel where i was booked - they had a car and we were only 30 km out of Palermo. But they told me to stay at a hotel where i was. NICE.
The bus driver (Gianfilippo) said there are no hotels in the area.
He told me not to worry as we drove to another town to drop off a little girl. He made a few phone calls to his aunt the English teacher to see what to do.
Apparently there was a B&B or GF's dad might be coming in for the evening shift to Palermo.
I was willing to stay at the B&B when Gianfilippo parked the bus and said he'll drive me to Palermo in his personal car.
WOW.
Well in true Italian style when we arrived in Palermo he took me for 2 glasses of the best wine i have had in Italy. Of course local Sicilian.
I was willing to walk from the theater close to the hostel but he insisted on driving em to the door which meant he had to drive backwards because the street was a one way. My knight in shining armor!!

Now to discover the rest of Venice....

Change of Heart

OK, so i have changed my mind. It is amazing what a little bit of education and a day of sun can do for a persons mentality.


Talking with locals I have come to realise that yes, Sicily IS different and there is a lot to admire about the people, landscape and culture. First and foremost, people here consider themself Siciliano above Italiano . With that they like to speak Sicilian and some don't even speak Italian - like the man trying to tell me something at the bus stop. I felt so loooost.

There is a great mix of people here after learning of the many different cultures that Sicily formed from and the many invasions that took place within her borders.

And of course there's the mafia...did u know that the safest places are usually the ones with the hightest mafia control? They like to keep their 'regions' in order and quiet so as not to draw attention to any business happening. I think I have experienced 2 mafia 'conventions'.

One happened about 5 pm as i walked into one of the churches. Granted this church didnt look so spectacular from the outside that you'd almost miss it. I walked in to 2 men conversing in the pews. The thing is, i really scared them cos one nearly fell off the pew he turned around so quickly. Now i guess in all reality, maybe one was telling the other of his affair he was having with the local hairdresser and maybe he thought i was his wife or the priest. HE actually scared me - because he was so scared i figured i might be at the wrong place at the wrong time so i said a quick prayer to save me from being at the wrong place at the wrong time and quickly exited.

Then there was the one at the local archeological park. It was the first SUNNY WARM DAY in FOREVER. I entered atop the Greek Theatre to picnic on the grass and get some sun on my retinas to rid myself of 'SAD'. To my left two men were standing close and conversing, then the chipmunk like voice from a taperecorder being rewound is heard. Then I hear the deep voice of a man talking through the speakers...'oooooh what godfatherly-like things are goin on?' I wonder.

Apparentely my genereation of Italians are strong anti-mafia. I had the whole story from the memeber of an anti-mafia group on my bus ride - there are some interesting stories out there.

I seemed to have gained quite the hobby - shopping. Here in Italy there are not so many big box stores. So clothes are usually varried in the stores.

WHile en route from a small fishing village I met what I thought was a nice 'farm boy' . He repaired tractors with his family run business. New Holland is number 1 followed by Case and last John Deere. He took me for a drive around the sea and then we parked for a swig of his home made limoncello then he drove me home. However my phone fell out of my pocket in his car. I didn't realise this until i was ready to set the alarm on it for the morning. I tried phoning him in the morning hoping i could get it before i left for Palermo - 2 hours away. I was unlucky. Santo (from the hostel in Palermo) called this 'farm boy' in the evening to get him to send it on the bus the floowoing morning. The 'farm boy' refused saying he would not give it and that i had to go back to Catania to have dinner with him and he'd give it. I couldn't believe he was holding my cell ransom like that! After much panoic and a treatening phone call to him i received the phone. With a 'love letter' attacyhed. How sweet - blach!

Still a few more days here on the isle of Sicilia - ciao!

What is 'it' that I donìt like?

I must say that I am having a difficult time deciding whether i like Sicily or not. I mean it is very different from the mainland but i can't really put my finger on what it is that is so different and unsettling. For some reason I kind of feel out of place and it might be that it is because it is so quiet here. I came from the touristy Rome to quiet Sicily where there aren't many people here. Tourist season is officially over.

The architecture style is a lot more baroque and arabic. The people here have a different look- i am not sure what the mix is - looks like MAYBE Italian, Arabic and something? This is as much difference i can really pick out. And ok the fact that some areas look a little run down.

Other news: Ricky martin has a big single over here - a duet with an Italian. Ricky is still hot looks a little more buff and has a nice tattoo on his arm i never knew he had. Avril Lavigne is very popular here too - if u think that our radios overplay songs you should see here! Some other english song by I think a man named Cherry Ghost(?), 'People Help the People' is very popular and i love this song.

I think I bought some Sicilian hats from the mafia last night. You know, 2 older guys in suits in a hat shop...another younger one (in training) comes in to hang out and tell me which hat looks nice with my eyes...4 more are congregated at the door when I leave. If I only had a picture. I like the hats though!

Well time to go check something out in this town famous for their chocolate. Unfortunately the choco is horrible - just sugar and cocoa! Wheres the butter and milk i say!?!

A presto!

Mafioso??

I was looking forward to arriving to the beautiful Sicilian blue skys....but alas the rain is here too. And when it rains it pours - not even my umbrella was keeping the rain off of my head and the bottom of my CAPRIS are soaked! Hmm... guess it was a good thing i was late this morning and missed the bus to volcano Mt Etna!
I am in the charming Sicilian town of Taormina - where the scent of jasmine fills the air. It truly is lovely. Of course as in the costal area of Amalfi, there are the flowering plants everywhere - quite the contrast from the frozen impatiens of Rome. The streets are a lot quieter than busy Rome and the people very friendly.
Unlike home, a lot of places-shops are closed here on sundays. Not so fun if you are a tourist or dont have a tv to rent a movie on a rainy sunday. But apparently there is a movie theater open today. I must ask a lot of people about this because i am having a difficult time getting the same answers from people!! This makes planning my days here VERY difficult. Oh well...
I will go back to the hostel for now and read my new purchase of a Greek Mythology book.
Last night i walked around the medieval streels of Taormina and it is very charming in the evening - It gets dark at 5:45 - with the fountains and building glowing in a soft white light and the savoury smells wafting onto the streets from the Sicilian restaurants . So far, i feel quite safe here. Not the feelings I sometimes felt in Naples when I saw groups of men gathered at a restaurant, sunglasses on...i could just imagine all 0f the 'Godfather' like things they were planning. Haha...
But this is only one night so far. Apparently i am close to the town wehere they filmed 'The Godfather' so that has been added to my itinerary to visit. Apparently its easy to visit on a Vespa!! Hopefully i will rent one if the weather holds up.....