Palermo

June 25th 2011

wow what a day.... How to start. Lets see. First off we woke up really early and took the bus to Palermo. Palermo is the capital of Sicily, it has tons of historical buildings and museums. I have to say Palermo is not what i thought it would be. The streets where really dirty and people where a lot rougher. But maybe i just thought that because iv been stuck in a small slow paced village, for almost a month. At the end of the day i was ready to go back to my temperately home i missed my Salemi.   Once in Palermo we met one of the T.A. Cousins and she showed us around the town. We went shopping had lunch, went to a really cool church. We also visited the theater that Godfather III was filmed. But the coolest thing i saw in Palermo was the catacombs. To enter the catacombs you walk down this long hallway to a basement of sorts. The first thing you see when you enter is what looks like fresh bodies lining the walls. I don't mean bodies stacked or piled. No each body is in its own cove of sorts that is cut into the wall, and the body is basically hanging on the wall. It was the coolest and creepiest thing i have ever seen. I the bodies where specially preserved. Even though most are over 200 years old they still have skin and hair. There is one body of a young girl they call her Sleeping beauty. She is about two and she looks like she is just asleep. I have never seen anything like that. It was amazing. Dr. Kolb said that Sicilians have always been strange about death. He also said that people would go to the catacombs and have family meals there. I know right it sound so creepy. But yeah More about Palermo, did i mention that there is tons of shopping. Lots of venders fill the streets, selling necklaces and belts. Our departing bus was at 2 so the day wasn't very long. I wanted to go into this little shop that sold wine that we had walked by. When we went into this wine shop, and the lady started to tell me about the shop. She said that this shop is very special, because everything sold in her store was made by people who do not pay dues to the Mafia. She said that most people are scared of the mafia but they are not. Because that have such a large group of friend that are all against the mafia and they look out for each other. I know how cool is that!!! so i bought some wine from the store, cant wait to try it. I would like to go back to Palermo sometime, check out more of the city. I would like to had a personal thanks here to my sister Rebecca. Thank you sooo much for the Fossil wristlet you gave me for my birthday. I use it everyday!! its perfect. I think i would have gone crazy if i had to worry about having a purse when i was here. I used it in Palermo and i didn't even feel nervous about it getting stolen. I take it with when i get Gelato. It holds my camera perfectly too. So thanks again sis!!!!!When we got home i took a nap, then we went into town and got beers and hung out, waiting for the party to start. The party was supposed to start at 9ish but the pizzas didn’t get there till 10. And then the people had this prank gift thing that took hours. And they wouldn't let us eat till they got done. However it was taking so long that they stopped half way through opening and we had what was now cold pizza. But it was past 11 and i was so hungry it didn't even matter. After pizza some people hung out for a while some when to read or watch a movie. Most where really tired from getting up and touring Palermo. Today was really fun and best part tomorrow is Sunday yay no digging!!