Italy day 4, Palermo

Italy, Sicily day 4 Villa Igiea, Palermo

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Last Night, My Cold was just setting In!

We slept through the night for the first time.  Jet lag is on the wane.

I awoke late, around 9AM, and I was hungry.  Villa Igiea provides a buffet breakfast for guests.  If it is anything like I remember from 18 years ago, we are in for a treat. 

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The Dining Room, Villa Igiea

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And on the Entry Door

The weather is still blustery and cloudy, though I see some blue sky and sunshine too. The forecast is for intermittent rain in the morning and clearing to sunny in the afternoon. Another forecast shows rain for the next three days.  I know which “alternate facts” I’m going with!

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The Hallway to Our Room

This morning the 220 volts fried Ellen’s hair straightener.  She always brings on on extended trips to contend with high humidity.  She has a favorite brand, but it is not 220 capable.  We thought the first one she fried in Rome was a fluke. This is the second.  Now we’re on a mission to find an Italian version that we know will work with 220. (You would think any device made in the US today would be 220 capable!  No, not true.)

We’re back from breakfast.  My cappuccino doppio and croissant was superb.  I had cereal and some fruit.  Ellen ordered a hand squeezed carrot, ginger, and apple juice.  It was very good, if you like a burning ginger sensation on your mouth and lips.   The buffet was as good as I remembered.

Weather is still an issue, but it will not stop us from a tour of the city on foot.  Hopefully the hotel will provide an umbrella or two! (We saw none and did not ask)  The sun just popped out and it’s shining bright through our window.  Our first time at the hotel, we had a top floor view over the marina and the bay.  This time we are one floor down and facing the marina.  We already had a room upgrade and tried to change to an upper floor, but all are booked.   We tried!

Now, off to see Palermo again.  We could take a cab or even drive, but we often prefer to walk.  We experience more this way and it works off our meals.  It is a bit of a walk from our hotel to Via Della Liberta, one of the three main shopping centers.  We’re on a hunt for a hair straightener and a SIM card for Italy.  I’m not sure if we were dodging cars or if they were dodging us.  After a while we were walking a good sidewalk and found a Farmacia for some vitamin C for my cold ( again thank you fellow air travellers ).  Success, they had foaming C tablets.  We continued on and turned left onto Via Liberta.  The first shop was Gucci, which we skipped.  The second was TIM, a mobile device shop that carries all the latest.  I stepped in and waited in line.  For a few minutes.  After a while Ellen and I agreed she should continue looking for a purse, shoes, and perhaps a hair straightener while I wait.  Cool.

I noticed a fellow who seemed irritated.  Then I noticed a numbered ticket in his hand.   He motioned to a machine.  II went over and saw that it distributed a numbered ticket if you “press here” (in Italiano).  With my new ticket #36, I asked the gentleman, “Scusi, che e suo numero?”  which is very incorrect.  It should be Scusi, qual e il tuo numero but he got it and showed me his ticket: number 32.  Cool, I’d wait.

Ellen came back.  She thought she should wait rather than going further down via Liberta. About fifteen minutes later, I was served.  We discussed plans, sort of.  Communication was fair at best.  I speak good gesture, worse Italian. He spoke good gesture, and little English.  We had come to an agreement when he asked, “Your documents please”.  Cool, but my driver’s license didn’t cut it.  He looked at the license, at me, at the license, and said, “no”.

I said, “Fa bene, a domani” and we left.  It was probably an hour between ticket in hand and “no passport”.

In the meantime, Ellen had found a purse and sneakers that she liked.  Typical of the two of us, we chose to wait and see what else was available and we walked on.

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You Are Never Too Old If You’re Italian!

Via Liberta has changed.  The high end boutique shops are mostly gone, replaced by sneaker and accessory shops.   We walked past Teatro Politeama Garibaldi, often mistaken for Teatro Massimo.   Teatro Massimo is, as its name implies, massive.   There were a number of shops opposite Teatro Massimo.  Ellen visited the shops while I took a few photos of the third largest opera house in Europe.  One in Paris and another in Vienna are larger.  It is opera season, but unfortunately, there are no performances on Monday or Tuesday.

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The Piazza that Fronts Teatro Massimo

Ellen found me relaxing in the piazza.  I suggested we take a tour of the theater and off we went.  The tour is inexpensive takes about half an hour and is well worth it.  The stage curtain was down; we did not get a sense of the size of the stage. The number of box seats surrounding the stage was stunning.  We visited the royal box, which is available to “us peasants” at a reasonable rate!  The royal box can seat more than 40 people, has an anteroom with over stuffed chairs and couches, and has its own elevator.

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It Is Difficult to Convey the Sheer Size of the Theater

Leaving the theater we realized we were famished.  We had been walking most of the day without eating after breakfast.  We headed back toward the hotel while looking for a good place to eat.  I knew of two well regarded “cheap eats” in the area. We set off to find them.  I had an issue with my cellular data limit with ATT, and worked around it. We found that both places were closed while setting up for dinner!  It was now 15:30 and most places close between 14:30 and 15:30.

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The Left and Right Box Seats, Teatro Massimo

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Architect’s Model of The Theater

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Murano Glass is Used Throughout

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Detail of the Ceiling, Teatro Massimo

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The Royal Box as Seen from the Stage

Aside from the tour of Teatro Massimo, our outing was unsuccessful and left us hungry and irritable.  Lesson learned: do not assume you can have lunch anytime you want.  Plan to eat between 11:30 and 13:30, period.  We did find a pasticceria that saved us. We shared a very good buffalo mozzarella and prosciutto crudo  sandwich.

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The Marina and Mountains Surrounding Palermo Bay

 

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Back “home” we recovered from our walk, cleaned up, then took the elevator down to Donna Franca Florio, Villa Igiea’s Michelin rated restaurant.  I will not go into the details of our dinner, but to say it was fabulous.

 

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Taking a Photo & Studying the Menu

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Evening’s End: Maitre D, Sommelier, Bar Hostess, General Manager

The sommelier said he had a bit of a very special wine if we were interested.  We shared a single glass of this outstanding Trapanese wine.  There are only 1000 bottles produced annually.  The vines are ancient and produce very small grapes in very limited quantity.

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Wonderful, Unforgettable, Expensive.

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Tomorrow is another day!

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