Omar, Mike, Andrew and Lauraàs Excellent Adventure...in Italy

So I finally got to the internet without having to pay! Pardon any punctuation errors because the keyboard I am using is in Italian. I guess I will not be able to use contractions. Darn. Well here we go. I have been keeping a journal so I am pretty much copying word for word from there:

Day 1\ Palermo

The flight down to Italy was absolutely beautifl (the part I was awake for). When we neared Sicilia everything just got brighter. The sea was more blue, the grass greener, the countryside browner. Everything was just very vibrant and that was obvious from the air. We got off the plane and it was just a wave of perfect weather. In the mid-70s and perfect humidity. No nosebleeds for me the next 10 days. They have palm trees here! Palm trees. After we figured out which bus took us into town we found our hostel and checked in. We soon discovered Palermo is not a very toursity town. Exactly what I was hoping for. We got to ease into the culture and not feel rushed into seeing the sights. Although there was some beautiful architecture and gardens in town. We hunted for some food and stumbled upon a pizza joint. It was pretty much like a fast food pizza place but WHOA it was good. Easily the best Siciallian pizza I have had in my life. Afterwards we headed down to the Mediterranean Sea...oh boy was it blue. I have heard people talk about out clear it is but it is a different thing actually seeing it. We sat on some rocks and just basked in the sun. The water was so clear and very warm. We wandered around some more and hit up a market. This was one of the biggest markets I have seen ever. It kept winding through the streets and each block there was something new. Tons of knick-knacks, food (including skinned animals). My initial thought was those animals were dogs or something and I have not been convinced otherwise. Who knows...We also saw a massive fish, at leas 1 1/2 feet long. After stopping at the hostel once more the receptionist pointed us to a restaurant. Absolutely superb. We had a 3 course meal, including wine, for 20 euro. I started out with a giant plate of mussels then moved onto a flat pasta (not quite sure what kind but it looked like tentancles) with a meat sauce covered in ceese and potatoes. My main course (yea, Italians like to eat) was grilled Mediterranean King Prawn. Of course we all tried each others meals. I tried fried chickpeas, eggplant, seabass and swordfish stuffed with a bread mince, pine nuts and raisins. We even had entertainment for our meal. A guy came and played accordian (asking for tips of course) but he was really good so we though him some money for a serenade. On the way back to the hostel we bought a bottle of wine and drank on our balcony overlooking the streets. Tom0orrow we are goign to explore some more and then take a train to Napoli. Until then.

Ciaociao