Will flesh out later
- caught 10:34 train to Palermo (running a bit late)
- wandered a bit, found a tourist office, and a map, and a guide book
- poked heads into a couple of churches, including one where a wedding was taking place (it's a Saturday)
- got some lunch (some trepidation choosing restaurant after last night's effort, but perfectly adequate with very good service)
- got some umbrellas, as it had started raining again, heavily but not monsoonal like Thursday night in Ponticello
- walked up to the duomo, a hodgepodge of building styles, reflecting construction, repairs, renovations, alterations over several hundred years
- then on to Palazzo dei Normanii (no photos allowed in the Royal Apartments) and the Capella Palatina (12th C Arabo-Norman design, ceiling decorated with rich gold mosaics)
- boys (and JD) utterly over it, so we head back to the train station in the light drizzle
- arrive at station around 3:45pm, and identify train (16:14) and platform (2), and find coffee/tea in the half hour until it is due; get on train
- get off train when advised train not going, and race across to another train, a limited stops train which will get us to Bagheria, the stop before ours (Santa Flavia)
- train was supposed to leave half an hour ago, and still hasn't left a half-hour later
- everyone gets off, and some one with a little English explains that the (only) line out of Palermo is cut due to the rain, but he can't tell us more as there are those who decide, and those who do, and he is one of the ones who does.
- we split up: I get bus tickets (having already validated our train tickets) while JD tries to find out where the bus goes from
- meet up, and go to bus stop (unmarked, but others also waiting for bus to Bagheria) for 5pm bus
- at 5:25pm, decide to give it another 10mins, and then get a cab (I'm reluctant as we're already 20 euro out of pocket for this trip)
- bus shows up at 5:30, and into Bagheria a half hour later or so. My bastardised Italian identifies that we should get out here (not in fact the end of the bus route) for the train station, and us four plus three other English tourists with less Italian than us, get out. They decide to catch a cab; we've been assured it's only a couple of kms from Bagheria to Santa Flavia, and our place is this side of Sta Fl, so we'll walk.
- forty minutes later, walking along the non-existant shoulder of a busy road in the drizzly rain, we get home.
- make bolognaise for dinner using miniscule kitchenette using ingredients bought yesterday
- caught 10:34 train to Palermo (running a bit late)
- wandered a bit, found a tourist office, and a map, and a guide book
- poked heads into a couple of churches, including one where a wedding was taking place (it's a Saturday)
- got some lunch (some trepidation choosing restaurant after last night's effort, but perfectly adequate with very good service)
- got some umbrellas, as it had started raining again, heavily but not monsoonal like Thursday night in Ponticello
- walked up to the duomo, a hodgepodge of building styles, reflecting construction, repairs, renovations, alterations over several hundred years
- then on to Palazzo dei Normanii (no photos allowed in the Royal Apartments) and the Capella Palatina (12th C Arabo-Norman design, ceiling decorated with rich gold mosaics)
- boys (and JD) utterly over it, so we head back to the train station in the light drizzle
- arrive at station around 3:45pm, and identify train (16:14) and platform (2), and find coffee/tea in the half hour until it is due; get on train
- get off train when advised train not going, and race across to another train, a limited stops train which will get us to Bagheria, the stop before ours (Santa Flavia)
- train was supposed to leave half an hour ago, and still hasn't left a half-hour later
- everyone gets off, and some one with a little English explains that the (only) line out of Palermo is cut due to the rain, but he can't tell us more as there are those who decide, and those who do, and he is one of the ones who does.
- we split up: I get bus tickets (having already validated our train tickets) while JD tries to find out where the bus goes from
- meet up, and go to bus stop (unmarked, but others also waiting for bus to Bagheria) for 5pm bus
- at 5:25pm, decide to give it another 10mins, and then get a cab (I'm reluctant as we're already 20 euro out of pocket for this trip)
- bus shows up at 5:30, and into Bagheria a half hour later or so. My bastardised Italian identifies that we should get out here (not in fact the end of the bus route) for the train station, and us four plus three other English tourists with less Italian than us, get out. They decide to catch a cab; we've been assured it's only a couple of kms from Bagheria to Santa Flavia, and our place is this side of Sta Fl, so we'll walk.
- forty minutes later, walking along the non-existant shoulder of a busy road in the drizzly rain, we get home.
- make bolognaise for dinner using miniscule kitchenette using ingredients bought yesterday
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