last stop in italy

well, things are looking pretty good, as you all know. i found out about obama from carl, our isle of wight host who i ran into early morning november 5th while he was riding his bicycle (with little evelina in tow) through the streets of bosa. later alex, liz, and i huddled around a computer and checked out all of the stats for our individual states, learning that all of them went blue. and go new mexico for going dem all the way! good-bye heather wilson and co.

alex and i took another overnight ferry two nights ago, arriving in palermo, sicily early in the morning. this ferry was not quite so nice as the last one, with one of the major problems being absolutely no signs or people helping with the whole exiting process, meaning we wandered around the various decks, hauling our luggage up and down stairs and elevators many times, often winding up in these creepy little dead-end places with only italian signs telling us we were wrong. gah. eventually we got out though, and entered the craziness that is palermo. after checking into our hostel (which feels more like a 19th century boarding house with long dark hallways and a hand-kept ledger book...) we headed for the capo market, which i read about in the book "on persephone's island." the multi-block market offers everything from live snails to marzipan olives to knock-off dolce and gabana jeans. after winding our way through many different sections we headed to the archeology museum, where alex once again was astounded by the breadth of their collection. the ticket offered us access to the palazzo mirto as well, where we decided to go after a little rest at the hostel. the palace stays open until 7, though by the time we got there at 5 it was completely dark outside. we started walking in and were stopped by an elderly italian man, who asked us if we understood the language, and upon hearing our answer (an apologetic "no") led us into the first room and proceeded to give us a detailed guided tour of the entire castle, completely in italian. we got bits and pieces, as he was speaking slowly and repeating parts for emphasis, but i'd have to say it was one of the stranger tours i've been on. we were also the only people in the entire place, so as he lead us through the 30-odd rooms he seemed to be taking extra liberties, such as opening the 300-year-old cabinets and drawers to show us how they worked, taking down the ropes to certain rooms and insisting we walk around, demanding i take pictures of particular things though there were clear signs telling me not to, and letting us take turns sitting in some of the royal family's plethora of carriages. it sort of felt like we were the visiting royalty examining the property to see if it was up to our standards. very strange, but quite entertaining. unfortunately, i could not even tell you who lived in the palace, as he either skipped over that part or said it too quickly. oops.
after that experience we headed back to our neighborhood, discovering that our street turns into sort of an alley party where all these little restaurant/bars bring out plastic chairs and tables and sell food and drinks to people hanging out. we brought out our mini dominoes and enjoyed our saturday night. it felt very un-italian, perhaps preparing us for what is to come when we arrive in greece next week! unfortunately today is sunday, which apparently means all the museums and everything ever is closed. but off we go to find something to do!