Palermo

Palermo is NOT what I expected. It's chaotic, dirty, and it seems to lack focus.
I arrived at my hostel around 9 last night, and after taking my stuff up to my room, where some dude was sleeping in his underpants, I went out to take a look around.

Navigation in a new place is always fun. For example, I arrived at the airport with the intent to take a train to the city. I saw no such train, so I hopped a bus instead, assuming it would go to the station, which was the only place in Palermo I could locate my hostel from. ULtimately it did take me there, but first it started making stops all over the goddamned city, and I started to worry about the fact that I didn't know where the hell I was. I was too stubborn to ask for help, so I waited for the last stop, which turned out to be the station. Thank god.

But I got a map at my hostel, and I went out for a walk, a bit concerned that I might get mugged. Mostly that was paranoia due to the fact that I was carrying all of my money, my cards, my passport--basically everything that matters--because I forgot to bring a lock to Italy and I didn't trust the guy in his underpants in my room. But the walk was fine, and then I came back and crashed with all my valuables in my small backpack in my bed with me. Paranoid much?

Except good thing I WAS paranoid, because I carried all my valuables again all day today, and I discovered this evening that someone went through my bag. I'm like 98% sure. I don't think they took it out of the locker, but the two pockets that were accessible without moving the bag were definitely both rifled through. I know because my dress pants ended up on top of the rest of my clothing, all of which was rumpled, and I haven't worn my dress pants all month. Oh, and I don't fold my dress pants in half the way I fold my jeans. And they weren't even folded well, on top of all that. But I don't think anything is missing. I had all my documentation and electronics with me, so I guess the guy in underpants didn't like my clothes enough to steal any. He was checked out by the time I got back to the hostel this evening. Dirty bastard. Tomorrow I guess I have to figure out where the hell one buys a lock in Italy.

That said, not all hostel experiences are bad. A girl who checked in this evening came in while I was reading, about to take a power-nap. She's from Brazil, her name is... shit, what IS her name? Luziente? Anyway, she spoke in Italian when she came in and asked which beds were available, so I responded in Italian, and a few minutes later she said (in Italian), "So, you're Italian?" I said, "No, I'm American. Where are YOU from?" And she said Brazil. She never reverted to English, but Italian has worked well enough so far. We chatted a bit. Her Italian is better than mine, but she understood me, at least. I must have answered her first question REALLY well, or else she just has no idea what Italian is supposed to sound like.

So today I walked all over Creation. I started with the Cathedral of Palermo, which is very pretty but is the reason I call Palermo "unfocused." There is no clear FRONT of that church. It's just a big blob of architecture surrounded by palm trees. I walked past the Norman Palace without going in because there was a line and I didn't want to pay €8. I saw another church which was interesting from the outside but creepy inside. There were statues of priests and Jesus that looked like ventriloquist dummies, so I hauled ass out of that place and found Ballarò, an outdoor market district. It was... interesting... The whole street smells of dead fish (because they sell alllll kinds of fresh dead fish and seafood), and there are stalls of fresh fruits and vegetables, a lot of tacky junk stalls, and I didn't know what to do with it all. So I kept walking, got lost, couldn't find the church I was looking for, gave up, and went to the Vuccuria, another outdoor market, and at this one I bought a loaf of bread for 70 cents, since I hadn't eaten, and a chilo of bananas. It was a boring but cheap lunch. Then I regrouped at the hostel, walked way the hell back past the cathedral and the Norman Palace, and found the Catacombs of the Capuchin monks. I arrived around 2:15 and had to wait until 3 for the catacombs to reopen, so in the meantime I made friends with two girls, one from Austria and the other from Australia, who both used to live in England and both moved, and then we went into the catacombs together.

The catacombs are surreal. There are literally semi-mummified, skeletal corpses hanging off of the walls. Thousands of them. Pictures were forbidden, so I was only able to sneak two or three (oops...), but seriously Google the capuchin catacombs of Palermo. I've never walked through underground tunnels while being leered at by the corpses of Palermo's 16th-19th century noblemen and monks before, so that was a very new experience. It was eerie. Kinda gives you the heebie-jeebies. Then I went with Antonia and Sophie (the Austrian and Australian) to the Norman Palace, where we got in for only €5 with student IDs, which I didn't know would get me a discount there, and even though I don't love paying for tourist stuff, their guidebook said the Palatine Chapel (inside the Palace) was THE "premier tourist attraction of Palermo," and the Australian kept calling it THE premier tourist attraction of Palermo, and it was so hot, and we'd all walked so much, that the heat was definitely getting to our heads, and we laughed so much and built up so much expectation that I was surprised by how cool the Palatine Chapel actually was. I snapped some pics, and then we trekked back into the center of town, where we said our goodbyes and went to our separate hostels, but then I decided to go down to the seafront instead, so I walked around even more way down along the harbor, and then I finally turned around, came back, ate the entire rest of the loaf of bread and two bananas, and tried to take a nap. I was only moderately successful, but I read a bit and listened to music a bit and chatted with the Brazilian for a bit, and then I finally fell asleep for like 30 minutes and then I woke up and showered and thought about going out, but I am freaking tired and I might just go pass out. Yep, I think I will just go pass out.