Holy Cannoli! Palermo Day Two

At Mondello Beach

My hotel is in a great area of Palermo... very central. If you turn left on via Roma, you are a 5-15 minute walk from a lot of the main sites and areas like Vucciria (the vibrant neighbourhood where I had lunch yesterday), the Cathedral, etc. If you turn right on Via Roma and go up a bit, you get to Via della Libertà which is a main shopping street, and there are tons of little side streets with restaurants and stuff.

Last night I went out to find a place for dinner. I'd found some places nearby recommended on tripadvisor, but they were all either a) impossible to find, or b) closed because it was Monday, so I ended up at a patio restaurant very close to my hotel. It was ok, but a bit annoying. My food took an extremely unreasonable amount of time to come... 90 minutes for pasta all'amatriciana? Come on... But I didn't mind too much since I had a big glass of wine and a good book ok my kindle. Also, it should be illegal for a waiter to take your order and then say "can I bring you some bruschetta?" and make it sound as if it's on the house, and then later charge you for it. I don't even like bruschetta that much...

Afterwards I went to a highly recommended pasticceria next to the restaurant and got some cannoli and other ricotta-filled pastries to bring back to the hotel room. I exercised a great deal of self control and managed to only eat a few of them! Then I called it an early night.

This morning, after hitting the snooze button about 8 times, I dragged my butt out of bed and went up to the rooftop terrace for breakfast. I was pleasantly surprised by the selection. Usually Italian breakfast is just cookies, pastries, and nutella. At my hotel breakfast, there was cake and nutella-filled croissants, but also scrambled eggs, bacon, cheeses, cold cuts, and several more items to choose from. I was so satisfied with breakfast that I fully skipped lunch today, saving a few dollars (well, to be fair, I did have a couple more of my ricotta pastries from last night a few minutes ago, so I guess that counts as lunch...).

After breakfast I walked about 2 or 3 short blocks to a piazza where I caught a bus to go to Mondello beach. It was about a 20 minute bus ride (which was very very scenic). The beach itself is beautiful! White sand, bright blue water, and a mountainous vista in the background. I'd read online that the beach is now "all public". This isn't entirely true... it is largely private, with a thin strip along the water that is public (and therefore crowded). I was going to dish out the cash for an umbrella on the private beach, when I realized that I would be fenced off from the water, so instead I went to the public area and squeezed my towel in between some other people. It wasn't that bad really. Even all the kids running past me didn't bother me, although I was a little leery when the cute little girl beside me decided she liked my zebra-striped towel and wanted to sit on it with me...

Determined to avoid another sunburn incident like the one in Split, I made sure to voraciously slather myself up with SPF45 (my SPF60 is somewhere in my suitcase in the Rome airport), and I reapplied at least 6 times in the 4 hours I was there. Now I'm back in the hotel, and, having evaluated the damage, am quite proud to announce that I am relatively burn-free, minus the part of my back that I couldn't reach.

Now that I've showered off all the sand, I'm planning on going out to find a nice patio for a glass of wine and so I can read my book. Then in just over an hour I'm going to meet Carolina (the Italian girl who is interning at Celle in September) at Palazzo Riso, the Contemporary Art Museum in Palermo.

Ciao!

The view from the rooftop terrace of my hotel

Mondello Beach (the girl on the right is the one who decided to share my towel)

Palermo Day One

Yesterday after I posted at that nasty internet cafe, I headed over the the station with all my stuff and grabbed a dinner of McDonalds Chocolate Sundae. Now, you may be thinking "she's crazy! She's in Italy but instead is eating indian food and McDonalds all in the same day! Blasphemy!" but let me explain... as great as Italian food is, there isn't really a whole lot of variety. You've got simple carbs, tomato sauces, cream sauces, cheese, and not a ton else.

Then I sat on the floor of the station for 5 hours because there's no seating. Finally at 9:20pm the train showed up and I got on and found my cabin. There are 4 "couchettes" (beds) per cabin. I had requested an all-female cabin, and was with 2 sicilian ladies (a mother and daughter). The 4th bed was free. I had a top bunk. Each bed had a bottle of water and a little pouch with a travel toothbrush and a packet of toothpaste for free! This train ride was such an amazing deal in general. It cost me 66 euros (about $90) in one direction. The ride was 13 hours, and I had an insanely comfortable bed to sprawl out on, plus tons of shelf space, a locking door, A/C, a light to read by, a blanket, a pillow, a bottle of water, and the toothbrush/toothpaste. To put this in perspective... a 90 minute train ride between Florence and Rome, where you get a seat and very little leg room, costs 45 euros. Plus taking the train overnight meant that I saved on a hotel! Awesome awesome awesome. 

(Side note: Who in their right mind takes small children on a 13 hour train trip?)

Anyways... after I brushed my teeth and read a couple chapters, I stuck in my iPod and let Moby and Joanna Newsom put me to sleep. I woke up around 9am. We had already crossed the water (apparently the train gets loaded into a ferry one car at a time. I slept right through that). Shortly after I awoke, my cabin-mates disembarked somewhere around Messina, and I had the cabin to myself for the remaining 4 hours. It was awesome lounging back and watching the stunning Sicilian countryside go by. It's so gorgeous... incredible hills and mountains, and such great colours... burnt orange dirt and brush, dark green vegetation, silvery blue olive trees...

When we arrived in Palermo, I got a cab to my hotel. I got an incredible deal on a 4star hotel downtown Palermo, and was worried that it might be run down or something, but it's great (besides the flimsy half-ply kleenex)! I have a nice view from the 8th floor. My room is a very decent size by european standards. It's clean and not run-down and has all necessary amenities like a safe and a minifridge and a TV and a hairdryer. Apparently breakfast is served on the rooftop terrace!

After I had a much-needed shower, I set out to explore Palermo. I could tell immediately that I REALLY love this city (more on that below)! And I FINALLY found somewhere to recharge my phone credit. Then I sought out a place to eat. Unfortunately it was about 2:30pm meaning nearly everything was closed, but I found an open restaurant in the Vuccirio area and decided I'd give it a shot. It ended up being really good! The first point was scored when the bread came out... All my experiences of getting bread anywhere else I've been in Italy (Rome and north) has been that bread is stale, even in the nicest restaurants, and it's really only worth consuming if you have a lot of liquidy stuff on your plate that you want to soak up. The bread at the place I had lunch was actually fresh! And soft! With crusty edges! Then I ordered Bistecca alla Palermitana (Steak Palermo-Style). It was really delicious... thin, breaded and cooked in oil. It was very tender and flavourful. Way better than any of the times I've attempted to have Bistecca alla Fiorentina (Steak Florence-Style), which seems to just be a big, tough, flavourless T-bone. The waiter at the restaurant was extremely nice and said "you are welcome to stay here and read. We're closing up because it is time to nap, but feel free to stay and read on the patio".

I didn't stay though. I had a city to see! I did my best to go see all the main squares and sites that I'd written down. I also had the goal of finding an AMAZING gelato place. However, after walking in the sun for quite a while, and then getting lost in an unappealing residential area, my plan changed to "must find any gelato place". I had some decent gelato. FYI my new go-to flavour is yogurt. It's extremely refreshing! My other food goal for this week is to have the best cannoli of my life...

At one point in my exploration, I tried getting to the Mercato di Ballarò, which I'd heard was a very lively market. Two minutes after finding it, I realized "merda! I'm the only female walking around!". (This happened to me once before this summer... on a Sunday morning in Pistoia, when apparently it's time for all the men to go walking around with their buddies and their babies). 

It also doesn't help here that I stick out like a sore thumb in a region where everyone has skin the colour of a burnt cannoli shell. I, on the other hand, have pasty skin as white as, well, cannoli filling.

Now I'm back at the hotel. One of the first things I did was to look up a bunch of words in Italian, so that when people ask me what I think of Palermo, I'll be equipped with an adequate vocabulary of adjectives. Such as:

-vivace (vibrant)

-animato (lively)

-rumoroso (cacophonous)

-puzzolente (smelly)

Below are some pictures I took today. Enjoy! I'm off to hopefully find somewhere good for dinner and maybe some cannoli!

In the Quattro Canti

The street beside the cathedral

Inside the cathedral

Palermo cathedral

Fontana Pretoria

Cactus in the Villa Bonanno Garden

Statue in the Villa Bonanno garden

At Piazza Pretoria

Graffiti in the Vucciria District

Beside my restaurant in the Vucciria District

The street that my hotel is on

Uggghhhhh Traaaiinnnns

Me after a quick standing nap with all my stuff in the train. Never thought I'd be capable of sleeping standing up. Apparently I was wrong.

What a brutal day. And its only 3pm.

My internship is officially over, and now the real adventures begin!

This morning Miranda drove me to the train station, where my journey began with my giant suitcase (I would estimate that it weighs well over 100lbs) and 5 other (also weighty) bags. 3 brutal train rides later I was at the Rome Fiumicino Airport. God Bless all the burly young men who helped me along the way. To put things in context... when my suitcase was standing up on all 4 wheels on a perfectly flat surface, I still needed to take a couple steps and throw all my body weight into it to make it go anywhere.

At Fiumicino I took it to baggage storage where, for a mere 6 euros a day, it is out of sight and out of mind. The baggage storage guys were stunned. "Merda! How much piomba (lead) is in here!?". I told them I would be quite happy to never see it again, except for the fact that everything I own is in there.

Once back on the train bertween the airport and Roma Termini, I had a stroke of genius... moved all the heavy stuff into my rolling bag, and the light stuff (ie. clothing) into my shoulder bags. (Better late than never, right?). With that done, I was finally able to think about the fact that I'm headed to Palermo! How exciting!

In Rome, I dragged all my crap through the streets for several hours trying to find a place to recharge my SIM card. Long story short, it was an infuriating, unsuccessful mission, and I gave up and went for a late Indian lunch. And dragging a rolling bag through the uneven, cobblestone sidewalks of Rome is enough to make one suicidal. So now I'm going to go sit in the lovely train station (that was sarcasm) and read my book until my train comes at 9:30 pm at which point I'm going to lug all my crap onto one last train, pop a gravol (or 50) and nod off to sleep until I am south.

Ciao tutti.

Harry Potter in Italiano

Yesterday after work I went into Florence to get some food (mmmm O'Vesuvio pizza). Then it was rainy and dreary, so I decided to go see a film, alone, for the first time ever. (I also figured I should go see a film since I've been watching TV and movies and listening to music in English all summer, and I've admittedly missed out on some language learning opportunities). The best option was Harry Potter e I Doni Della Morte Parte Due (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part Two) so 5 euros later I had my ticket and was entering the theatre.

The theatre had assigned seating... My ticket said H9. Unfortunately, H8 was occupied by the only other person in the theatre... some old guy seeing the movie on his own (pfft... what a loser...). So instead I opted to sit at the back. I'm such a rebel... fortunately attendance was minimal and no one yelled at me.

The theatre had 2 features I think needed to be adopted in north american theatres:

1) Bathrooms were right at the back of the theatre. No need to go out in a hallway and get lost. In and out. Done.

2) INTERMISSION! Just 5 minutes. Every theatre I've ever been to in Europe has intermission, and I strongly believe it is essential. After my 8 litres of diet coke, right when the plot is climaxing, I'm really going to have to go. It's very logical that I should get a couple minutes to run to the loo without having to miss any of the film.

I was extremely proud of myself for understanding prettymuch the entire film! I was expecting to get bored and tired and not understand it all, but I was happily surprised by my own Italian skills!

Now I'm all packed up and ready to leave Celle in one hour. In a few minutes I'm going to go pass out thank you cards to my hosts and the housekeepers.

I am dreading the next 36 hours. Tonight Miranda and I are going to drag my deadweight suitcase to her car and then to her home (don't worry mom and dad.. I'll figure out some way to get all my stuff on the airplane. That's still 3 weeks away. I'll figure something out).  So ya, I'm going to spend the night at Miranda's, and then in the morning get a ride to the Prato train station, at which point I, my ridiculous suitcase, and several other large heavy bags are going to travel:

-From Prato to Florence
-From Florence to Roma Termini
-From Roma Termini to the Rome Airport

...at that point my suitcase will be abandoned in luggage storage for a reasonable 6 euros per day. Then my other bags and I are going back to Roma Termini, where we will hop on a nighttime train at 9pm bound for Palermo. I will have a bed in a women-only car, and the train ride is an estimated 13 hours. Should be an interesting experience.

Will write from Palermo!

Ally

PS if any other interns are reading this, I'd love to know if any of you also get insulted now when someone refers to you as a "tourist" or asks "how long are you on vacation for?". I get completely indignant and snap back "I am NOT a tourist. I WORK here"...

Birthday Bash

Patrizia & the pyrotechnics atop her cake

Last night was the big birthday party for Signor Gori's daughter Patrizia who turned 60. There were about 80 people in attendance and it was a spectacular night! Apertivos were served by a small lake / large pond on the property. Then dinner was served at tables set up behind the villa. Unfortunately the meal was heavy on the seafood, which I'm not a huge fan of, so I missed out a bit. But what I did have was excellent. The first course was ricotta and spinach gnudi with a sauce of either lobster or crab (I couldn't tell which). Next was linguini in a tomato sauce that tasted to me like it had a bit of orange in it, which was a neat flavour addition. Next was tuna steak, which looked perfectly done, but I didn't try it. Last was dessert, which was millefoglie (crispy, flaky pastry layers with cream in between). They also served little creamy desserts in shot glasses during dancing, and those were incredible. I probably had more than I should have...

Then everybody danced until 2:30 am. I had to stop after a while, and got severely out-danced by all the 60 year olds (especially the birthday girl). My feet are in agony today... partly because of the heels I wore for the first half of the night, and partly because I was dancing outside barefoot for the second half of the night.

Today is just a relaxing day at the office. I officially have nothing to eat, so I'm going to go into Florence after work to grab some dinner and something I can have for breakfast and lunch tomorrow. Tonight is my last night sleeping at Celle!

Signor Gori & the birthday girl, Patrizia

Millefoglie for dessert

Patrizia and her younger sister, Stefania

Me, sweaty after dancing, and Anna, Stefania's oldest daughter

Dinner setup behind the villa, plus live music

Last Week of Work

Spaghetti All'Ubriaca

Well it literally feels like I arrived a week ago, yet here I am, three months later, with just 4 days left of my internship! Katie left this morning, so I get to finish out the job on my own. I have a tour this evening (provided it doesn't thunderstorm) and one on Saturday morning, after which I will head to Prato and spend the night at Miranda's, before catching the train on Sunday for my next adventure! 18 more days of excitement lie beyond my job, so I'll be sure to post about my continued Italian adventures.

Besides attempting to pack (ugggghhhhhh), not much is going on this week, except for the big excitement of "the party" tomorrow night. Signor Gori's daughter Patrizia is turning 60 and there's going to be a big bash here with about 80 friends and family. It will be a catered affair with dancing under the stars (provided, again, that it doesn't thunderstorm... If it does, the dancing will take place inside one of the rooms filled with fantastic art). It will also be one last chance for me to get super dressed up, which should be fun.

This past week has been pretty relaxed too. Been flexing my culinary muscles... one day I made Spaghetti all'Ubriaca (Drunkard's Spaghetti... see picture above) which is cooked in red wine and then tossed in butter, olive oil, garlic, and some basil and parsley. I also made 5-cheese pasta. I technically had the ingredients for 8-cheese pasta, but I figured that was a bit excessive.

Last Friday, Katie and I were invited out by Riccardo, the guy who does all the tech/computer/fixing-the-internet stuff around here. We went for drinks and dancing to a place called Torre del Lago which is very close to Pisa. It was a lot of fun, and a really neat place... definitely the gayest neighbourhood I've ever been to in Europe.

Last night after I gave a brief tour to a French mayor, I headed down to meet Katie in Florence for one last evening out. I rediscovered my love of shopping in the station (the train station in Florence has an underground shopping center that is AWESOME... got a great skirt and pair of pants for 15 euros altogether). Then after a great dinner at our favourite restaurant, we headed to the summer festival at the Fortezza (the fortress) which I used to frequent, well, frequently, when I was in Florence a few years ago. It was as fun as I remembered, with tons of vendors selling cool things from around the world (I got some great 5-euro pashminas). We had some cannoli and ricotta cake, and then sat down for a bit to enjoy some beers and shisha. There was also a concert going on that was pretty good.

A dopo :)

PS. On Sunday I read a great book:

Lost in Shangri-La: A True Story of Survival, Adventure, and the Most Incredible Rescue Mission of World War II by Mitchell Zuckoff

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


What an utterly captivating and fascinating quick read!



View all my reviews

Shisha at the Fortezza

At Torre del Lago

At Torre del Lago

More Photos at Celle

I went out yesterday afternoon to do a little photoshoot of the property (I'm thinking of doing a photobook as a thankyou gift to my host organization). Here are some of the pictures I got. Unfortunately I forgot bug spray and therefore didn't stay out as long as I wanted. Even more unfortunately, I went out with the specific aim of getting a photo of the heron I often see around the lake. I got to the lake and there were TWO herons flying around together... aaaaand of course I forgot to bring my telephoto lens. I only had my prime (which doesn't zoom), so I basically just got silhouettes. Devastating. I'll probably go out another day with the right lens, but I have a sinking feeling I won't get an opportunity like that again.