Saturday morning got here WAY too early. Our flight left London at 6:15am, and since we flew on RyanAir (which only allows EU citizens to check in online) we had to be at the airport by 5am. The earliest train to the airport left the city at about 4:15am, and we were on it! We left the apartment at 3:30 or so we were tired before we started! It was actually kind of surreal to be walking in dark and quiet in a city that is always so busy. We arrived in sunny Palermo a few hours later. When we disembarked from the plane, we had to get on a little bus which was supposed to drive us to the airport building. So we waited for the whole plane to get onto 2 busses. When everyone was finally on board, the buses began their long and treacherous journey to the building, which took literally 30 seconds. I think we might have driven 20 feet!

We had a great day wandering around Palermo. First, a couple of downsides… we somehow ended up in a single room with a tiny bed, good for cozying, not good for getting ready in the morning. Also, the city is really dirty and polluted – there are piles of garbage all around, and just unbelievable noise from all the scooters and general traffic. When we first arrived it was hot and sticky, we were tired and hungry, and we had to make the 1 mile trek from the train station to the hotel with our packs. After a nice little nap, we set out to see the town. There is some really beautiful architecture – there is a strong Moorish influence in a lot of the buildings, which I thought was cool.

For me, the highlight of the trip was day 2, when this pretty German Shepherd decided to be our stand in dog for the day. There are stray dogs everywhere In Palermo, and if you even make eye contact with them they decide to be your friend. I was trying to illustrate the strays and just how much garbage is in the city when I took this photo:

I think the dog thought my photo-interest meant I was going to feed her because she followed us around for a good hour or two. We started to get really scared that she was going to get hit by a car because she would just follow us everywhere, but she seemed pretty street savvy. Most of the strays are… in fact, we saw one old dog laying on the sidewalk waiting for the light to change – as soon as the walk sign lit up, she got up and crossed with the light! I suppose you live on the street long enough and you get to know the rules really well.

We finished the afternoon with our first of many gelatos at  the Liberty Bar. As you can see, Michael is working on the skill of magically producing gelato: