March 11, 2017: Palermo

It is Saturday and our first full day in Palermo having arrived by train in the dark last night.  We have just a little Internet access this morning.  There was nothing last night.  But it is very slow and mostly useless, even just for looking up things to do around town.

We tried making coffee this morning, but it turns out that the large and very clearly marked sugar container in the apartment is actually full of salt.  So our coffee was ruined.

We started off the day getting some pizza next door.  Then we set off on a walk around the city to do some exploring.

While we were out exploring, and while we have effectively no Internet access, we found out that the blower on our furnace at the house in New York died and so we had to replace that today.  There was $1,200 that we did not have that we have to spend today.  Argh.  No fun.  We so want to sell that house and not have to think about it anymore.

The longer that we go without living in the house the more that the kids are not emotionally tied to it and the easier time that they will have being able to let it go.  We’ve been watching the market and things are definitely improving up in New York.  Maybe we will be able to sell it someday.

To make things even worse, this happened on a day when our apartment here in Palermo does not have Internet access and dad has been without power for fifty-two hours back home, so he is in no position to help us, either.  It was -5F at the house when this happened. So no way that we could wait to do anything.

We did a nice long walk of downtown Palermo which was decently interesting.  We walked lots of areas that I saw last night and we did the big pedestrian walkways through the middle of the city.    We got to see the big tourist district and got Arancinas which are awesome.

Arancinas in Palermo
Arancinas in Palermo

These is a classic Sicilian food.  It’s like breaded and fried rice balls with fillings.  They are cheap, very filling and delicious.  You can get them with just about anything in them.  This place must have had twenty flavours ready to go.  From meats and cheese to veggies and whatnot.  Very good, a must do when in Sicily.

Arancina store
Scott at ke Palle

It was ke Palle where we stopped to eat our first arancinas.

We also stopped and got desserts while I worked from my phone trying to resolve the furnace issue in Peekskill.  Some good desserts in Palermo.

We walked far enough north to get to the Palermo Opera House.  Then turned around and headed back home.  It was a long day of walking and the kids were tired by the end of it.

Pizza for dinner again.  We really like that place and are getting to know the people there already.

We discovered tonight that Steam finally has all of the Nancy Drew video games available.  Pretty excited as the girls and I are working our way through them.