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| Car Sneaking Up On Judi |
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| Silver & Gold in Monreale Duomo |
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| Phallic Fountain-Monreale |
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| International Holy Families |
April 1, 2014
Mistakes
I look forward to writing at the end of each day, but as a reward I've been nibbling on chocolate. Just one square does the trick.
Judi also writes long emails home. When I read hers last night I realized I'd forgotten to mention the aqueduct we saw on our vineyard hike yesterday evening. It was more than half buried in the ground so the top was nose level to us. We stood on tiptoes & peered into the trough. I'd never been that close to a Roman aqueduct. It was stirring to actually see the channel where water flowed so long ago.
There's a learning curve when traveling. This morning David pulled the cord in the bathroom thinking it was a fan. Soon afterwards our phone rang. The desk wanted to know if there was an emergency in the bathroom. I feel so cared for ;)
Judi & I have been gasp-free for days now. But when David pulled into a space near the laundry we reacted in unison. What looked like a close call must not have been. We slid into the space with no bangs or crashes. Not only was the laundry place open, but our laundry was waiting for us. It was folded, sorted, & gift wrapped in plastic. Even our hotel laundry bags were returned. Well worth it. We pulled into the American style parking lot of Penny's Store, a grocery. We picked up a few necessaries & leisurely stashed the laundry in our luggage.
Finding Palermo was a piece of cake. Driving up to see Monreale was like driving round & round the levels of a multi-layer wedding cake. Parking outside the town but near the Duomo was obvious, & they even gave us a brochure for a pizzeria. They said if the restaurant stamped our receipt, parking was free. What a deal! We saved E$2 per hour.
We had lunch al fresco with about 200 high schoolers, mostly boys, at said pizzeria. Dining outside has its downside & it wasn't the well-mannered young men. The piazza of the restaurant was an ideal short-term parking place, turn around area, & throughway. Judi's back was to the action but David & I had a bird's eye view as each vehicle crept up behind her.
I look forward to writing at the end of each day, but as a reward I've been nibbling on chocolate. Just one square does the trick.
Judi also writes long emails home. When I read hers last night I realized I'd forgotten to mention the aqueduct we saw on our vineyard hike yesterday evening. It was more than half buried in the ground so the top was nose level to us. We stood on tiptoes & peered into the trough. I'd never been that close to a Roman aqueduct. It was stirring to actually see the channel where water flowed so long ago.
There's a learning curve when traveling. This morning David pulled the cord in the bathroom thinking it was a fan. Soon afterwards our phone rang. The desk wanted to know if there was an emergency in the bathroom. I feel so cared for ;)
Judi & I have been gasp-free for days now. But when David pulled into a space near the laundry we reacted in unison. What looked like a close call must not have been. We slid into the space with no bangs or crashes. Not only was the laundry place open, but our laundry was waiting for us. It was folded, sorted, & gift wrapped in plastic. Even our hotel laundry bags were returned. Well worth it. We pulled into the American style parking lot of Penny's Store, a grocery. We picked up a few necessaries & leisurely stashed the laundry in our luggage.
Finding Palermo was a piece of cake. Driving up to see Monreale was like driving round & round the levels of a multi-layer wedding cake. Parking outside the town but near the Duomo was obvious, & they even gave us a brochure for a pizzeria. They said if the restaurant stamped our receipt, parking was free. What a deal! We saved E$2 per hour.
We had lunch al fresco with about 200 high schoolers, mostly boys, at said pizzeria. Dining outside has its downside & it wasn't the well-mannered young men. The piazza of the restaurant was an ideal short-term parking place, turn around area, & throughway. Judi's back was to the action but David & I had a bird's eye view as each vehicle crept up behind her.
Missions
The main reason to go to Monreale is to see the Duomo. There's a saying, "Anyone who comes to Palermo without seeing Monreale arrives as a donkey & leaves as an ass." Norman kings were in competition for the biggest & best religious institutions. William II wanted to outdo them all. In 1174, at the age of twenty, he claimed that the Virgin revealed in a dream the location of a great treasure at the little hill town of Monreale. He promised to use the treasure to build a cathedral, thus rationalizing his use of huge sums of money for the project. The Pope gave him a special blessing, & construction began.
I often have a hard time seeing a lot of churches & cathedrals, but it hasn't been a problem on this trip. I knew I was in trouble when we entered the gold leafed, gold encrusted cathedral built on William II's lie. Gold & silver statues guarded the altar. I have never seen such opulence lavished on a place of worship. Artisans from the known world were brought to show off their skills. There is a definite Arab influence in the mosaics & Byzantine craft shown in the structure, design, flow, & artwork.
And thus the trigger for my angst & a reminder to you all that these emails are my gut reaction to time & place. How many faithful might have been fed with that silver & gold? How many victims of abuse could be remunerated for their suffering? The building was rife with hollow expositions of glory, prayer, & faith, but where was the holiness? Where was love of humanity? This was a tribute to the vanity of a man.
There was a gift shop, of course. We browsed around the postcard stand, & then I noticed cute figurines of what looked like children. On closer examination I realized they were all depictions of the holy family. They were labeled by country & ethnicity. There were Mary, Joseph, & baby Jesus as Muslims, Hindus, Africans, Eskimos & even Apache Indians. I kid you not. This was a global tour of stolen cultures. They just don't get it.
Misadventures
Our travel agent had given us an Italian cell phone to use here. It rang as we
exited the cathedral. It was the woman who was to be our guide in Palermo. She
was at our hotel ready to take us on our 2:30PM walking tour. OMG! We re-read
the itinerary & we'd missed it. We saw our arrival at the hotel April 1,
but didn't read far enough ahead to see another listing for April 1, a 2:30PM
tour. We apologized profusely & asked to reschedule. She was able to do so
but at a price. Our fault. We'll pay.
With guilty hearts we continued on to the Benedictine cloister adjacent to the Duomo. It didn't seem worth the E$6 admission, but we're in so deep, we bought the tickets. It echoes the style of the cathedral with ornately carved marble & mosaic columns. There was what the guidebook called a "phallic" fountain that must have spurted water at one time. That was the excitement.
Descending the hill went well until we got into rush hour in Palermo. Believe me, you never want to experience it. David said he's never driven in that kind of chaos. Rome & New York City were easy in comparison. He's usually not an aggressive driver, but this tried even him. He took lessons from a man who successfully made a right turn across three lanes of traffic. These drivers are lurkers & pouncers. If there's an opening they'll seize it.
Our hotel, The Excelsior Palace Hilton, was a welcome sight. It's situated in an upscale district close to the historic quarters. We were warned that parking was E$30 a day & had decided to drop off our luggage & find a nearby garage. As we pulled up to the hotel, we saw a man frantically waving at us. He pointed to a parking spot on the street & rattled rapid fire Italian at us until we pulled in. Judi & I went to the hotel desk & asked the clerk to come outside to see if the space was legal. She assured us we could leave the car there our entire stay & that it was, indeed, free. David paid "protezia" of E$3 to the man who "owned" it & we were set. The payoff did pay off. That same man later came into the hotel & told the desk we'd left a window open.
With guilty hearts we continued on to the Benedictine cloister adjacent to the Duomo. It didn't seem worth the E$6 admission, but we're in so deep, we bought the tickets. It echoes the style of the cathedral with ornately carved marble & mosaic columns. There was what the guidebook called a "phallic" fountain that must have spurted water at one time. That was the excitement.
Descending the hill went well until we got into rush hour in Palermo. Believe me, you never want to experience it. David said he's never driven in that kind of chaos. Rome & New York City were easy in comparison. He's usually not an aggressive driver, but this tried even him. He took lessons from a man who successfully made a right turn across three lanes of traffic. These drivers are lurkers & pouncers. If there's an opening they'll seize it.
Our hotel, The Excelsior Palace Hilton, was a welcome sight. It's situated in an upscale district close to the historic quarters. We were warned that parking was E$30 a day & had decided to drop off our luggage & find a nearby garage. As we pulled up to the hotel, we saw a man frantically waving at us. He pointed to a parking spot on the street & rattled rapid fire Italian at us until we pulled in. Judi & I went to the hotel desk & asked the clerk to come outside to see if the space was legal. She assured us we could leave the car there our entire stay & that it was, indeed, free. David paid "protezia" of E$3 to the man who "owned" it & we were set. The payoff did pay off. That same man later came into the hotel & told the desk we'd left a window open.
We're in Palermo for three nights. Tomorrow we do a guided walking tour. We figured that what we have to pay for missing the originally scheduled tour is partly made up in what we're saving in parking. Unless the car gets towed.
Toby
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