Day 2 (Oct 26)

Ok, I do have a couple pics during the flight, nothing spectacular, I mean, c'mon, I'm taking the shot through an airplane window.
That was the sunrise somewhere over England. Now back to the journal.

Finally we land in Rome around 1am cet (central Europe time). We landed about 40 min early, so tack that onto my layover. Once I finally got on my final plane, I witnessed an Italian version of Keystone cops. The stewardess spent 15 min trying to put newspapers into a closet, and they kept sliding out, or the door wouldn't shut. We were supposed to take off at 9:20, but we didn't until almost 10:15. I made my way to baggage claim once we were in Palermo, when the next hiccup happened. The drug sniffing dog decided he liked me, or smelled my dogs, I don't know. It's not he went nuts when he smelled me, he just took an extra second to sniff. Oh wait, maybe after flying for so long I smelled, lol. So the customs officer handling the dog, asks me to accompany him through security into the office. They immediately start asking (their English was not good) if I had any hashish, or marijuana. They pat me down, and went through my carry-on bag. I had to play charades to explain a few things, like the smokeless tobacco, etc. Once they were done, all three of us went back out (yes everyone was staring) and waited for my checked bags. We repeated the process, with them going through everything. They asked the hashish question at least a dozen times through the whole check. When they were done, I had to repack my bags pretty much, and they let me go. I heard them tell their supervisor I was a 'good American boy' as we walked out. They were not rude during any of it, or harsh, so I wasn't upset. I was calm the whole time, because I had nothing to hide.

Ciro was waiting at the exit, poor guy, I was pretty late after the customs check and the plane being delayed. We said out hello's, I apologized. We headed to his car, and we were on our way into Palermo. His apartment is in the center of the city. The original plan was to go see the Palermo soccer club play an important series A match that night vs the club in Florence. Francesca was going to take me, but it was supposed to rain. I found out later Francesca has naturally curly hair, and right now she is wearing it straight, so if it got wet POOF, so we weren't sure about the game. Ciro has said before, he thinks he is the only Sicilian who doesn't smoke, like soccer, or drink espresso, hehe.

Ciro called Francesca to find out her plans, and she told him she'd pick me up at his place around 6. When she arrived, we were formally introduced, and I'll just say this...she might be the hawtest (unattached) female I have ever been in the company of. She could be a model, I promise you this. We walked for a bit, talking, her English was pretty good so we did fine. We doubled back to her car and she said we were meeting some of her friends later. We drove to the older section of Palermo and found a place to park. We did some more walking and talking to kill some time. We were on a main road walking and she explained certain roads are shut down on the weekend so people could take strolls. There were dozens, maybe even a hundred or so people just walking. Families, people window shopping, women pushing strollers, it was really cool. We ran into her English teacher at the college, who was actually from Boston (future job for me?). Awhile later we arrived at a pub, down an alley that was packed.

I wish I could remember all their names, but I was introduced to so many people it is impossible. Two names I do recall are Valeria and a second Francesca. They were both lawyers. Valeria's brother actually lives in the US, and works for a school. Her English was decent so we talked a bit, and she said he lived in North Carolina and worked for a college. I had to ask, and talk about coincidence, he works for the University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill. Yes, my beloved Tarheels. This place was packed, and we moved outside after a drink, and by this time, it was me and about 6 beautiful Sicilian women. Francesca still stood out though, even among the others. They had tables set up in the alleyway and it was packed. I was told by her friends I absolutely had to get a facebook account, so anyone reading this, who uses fbook, leave a comment and we can add each other (since i did in fact open an account).

After awhile, the girls decided it was time to move on, and they wanted gelato. We all went to the car, and started driving. They went to three different gelateria's until they found the one they wanted. We all sat and had desert, then they took me home.

ciao!