GiuseppePingitore

I am in serious need of some sort of re-entry program now that I have arrived back in Minnesota.  The last two days are sort of a blur of planes, trains and automobiles.  I left Selinunte Thurs. morning for the drive back to Palermo.  I had my GPS programmed with the address to the auto rental company, and had an easy drive back.  As I was about to enter Palermo where I could use a bit of help finding the right street, the battery on my GPS died. But, I was pretty confident I could find my way, having walked all through a good portion of Palermo.  So much for that idea.  Speaking of randomness, you would think that randomness would mean that at least once in say a hundred times, I would accidently happen upon the correct turn instead of always opting for the wrong way.  I added about an extra 45 minutes to my trip by endlessly cruising the streets of Palermo looking for a familiar landmark.  Really, it is a port city on the sea with big ships in t...

Laura, please, please don't say I told you so, but I already broke the car.  I'll  blame it on the guy who parked on top of me last night at the restaurant, but the car now has a good size ding on the rear bumper.  I am sure I will be thrown in prison when I try and turn the car in.  I'm thinking of taking to the hills of Sicilia where I understand many people have disappeared for years. I spent the morning with Gaspare looking at a couple more properties.  We then went to his friend, Giorgio's, who deals in all products needed to rehab properties, such as windows, marble, tiling, etc.  He also had a model of a place Gaspare and I checked out that with the total rehab including a pool, could probably be had for 600,000 euro.  But, I could hold off on the pool till later, and maybe get this for only 500,000. We went again to look at the place next to sheepherder.  It does have great potential and can probably be had for more like 350,000 eur...

I arrived in Selinunte about 2:00.  It is not only when walking that I get lost.  Of course got lost on way here, even though I had a gps unit.  I did end up touring Trapani, out of my way, and not very exciting.  I was also forced to stop at least twice to ask for directions.  Selinunte was a greek colony dating back to about 650 b.c.  I'm staying a nice B&B on the coast called Sicilia Cuore Mio.  Here is the view from my rooftop: View toward the sea.  The same view as out my bedroom doors. View the opposite direction.  The temple of Hera.  It was and is still a rainy day here, so hope to explore more of this tomorrow. Carlo's brother, Gaspare, showed up at 5:00 to show me a couple properties.  These are for Laura, as they most definitely fall into the category of "May require restructuring work." Actually, the plan for this is to use this foundation to erect an essentially new house.  The land is good, and here...

Pasquetta, the Monday after Easter is a holiday here.  Palermo was very quiet on this, my last day.  I did journey to the sea, where if you dip your feet in the water, your sins of the past year are washed away.  Just on the very slim chance that I might have committed one or possibly two, I gave it a try.  It was not easy as I wasn't really on a beach. I decided to treat myself that night to a good final dinner in Palermo.  I went to Al Cancelletto Verdi, advertised as typical Siciliano cuisine.  (Thanks again Caternina for the recommendation.)  It was good.  Started with bucatini con sarde (sardines) followed by pesce spada. I splurged on a good bottle of vino rosso rather than the house wine.  When I had arrived, the waiter said the place was booked. But, he made a place for me at a table outside.  I then was able to watch him turn away party after party due to fact they had no reservations. The waiter insisted on a little ...

Arrived safely in Palermo at about 7:00.  Since my blackberry was dead with no alarm, I awoke to sounds of ship dropping anchor.  Arrived at the Astoria Palace, but way too early to check in. I sat in the lobby with their wifi for a bit to get my bearings and figure out what to do.  I left my bags there and set out to explore (get lost) in Palermo. One thing about having a terrible sense of direction, it is a good way to keep in shape, as I'm sure I add at least an extra mile to any place I'm walking to.  Since this was early Easter morning, it was very quiet.  I wandered through center of Palermo, and here are a few sights.                                       My hotel room is without a kitchen, so I couldn't take anything home to cook This last picture is most interesting, as we knew my grandma as Maria, and her middle name as Caterina.  But, on N...

I am hoping this saying about Napoli is not literally true, as it means "You see Napoli, then you die."  Having now seen Napoli (even though way too briefly), I still have a few other things I'd like to do before dying.  The saying means that Napoli is such a beautiful city and has everything, that once you see it, there is nothing else.  I need to return to Napoli when I have much more time.  I arrived in Napoli by way of a comfortable train ride, and was picked up by Davide, who then drove me to Sorrento. We went to his sister Elda and family's home, where again this homeless person was taken in by a wonderful family for another simple but excellent meal.  Elda had prepared pasta with a sauce made from fresh cherry tomatoes.  We had salami, bread and fresh mozzarella.  For the meat course, she fixed some chicken fillets with a simple sauce of olive oil with parsey and pepperoncini to pour over them.  Perfect, but as always, more food than yo...

Seems to be a day of saying goodbyes.  I've become very used to my favorite bar here around the corner form school, where I start my day with a capuccino and brioche, usually warm out of the oven. The young barrista now knows me, and as soon as I walk in, she goes to grab the brioche to hand to me as she starts making my capuccino.  Here she is, but I should have snapped this as she turned around. Said good bye to her, and she said she hoped I'd be back soon . School is now out, and now time for a much needed vacation.  Said ciao to my classmates, all who will be continuing on without me.  I think I hit if off best with the Cavita, the Japanese girl in the picture. Tomasso, (not his real Korean name) was just ordained a priest yesterday in a mass with the Pope. For lunch stopped into a great hole-in-the-wall place that according to the sign, dates back to 1898.  As you walk in, there is a big porchetta roast, that they take slices off to make a nice pa...

I was being a tourist one day last week. (I had to delete video of strolling accordion player, as post didn't work).  See Mary, if you'd stuck with the accordion, you could be working here.  Actually, he was seranading Laura for her birthday tomorrow.  Buon Compleanno Laura.  Sei bellissima e ti amo! Just got interrupted here with Maria and student belting out "Put Your Head On My Shoulder" as part of her English lesson.  They were reading lyrics and following along on Youtube.  I made mistake of applauding, so then got dragged into joining in next couple Paul Anka songs.  We did a mean "Diana." Here's a few more pictures from whatever Sunday we had our excursion to Capitolino.  Alba had taken many photos, and delivered them to me on a disc.                                            Cannoli for Mom This is m...