Buon giorno!
Today is the 958th anniversary of the Battle of Hastings which allowed the Norman Conquest of England. What many people do not know is that even before William the Conqueror set his sights on England, some Normans were already doing some conquering in Southern Italy and Sicily. As I am of Anglo-Norman heritage, I always celebrate the day. There happens to be a fine gelato shop just around the corner from my digs, so I am having some chocolate ripple and hazelnut gelato. It. Is. Divine.
It's Monday, and the museums are closed, so I have to wait until tomorrow for yet more celebration of my Norman Heritage, but I did do a tourist activity and got my quota of steps in.
I began with a trip to the grocery store where I was bemused by the sight of Italian shoppers loading their carts with enormous bags of sad looking potato chips. They like them for apero, but I thought they preferred the flavored kind to go with their Aperol Spritzes.
Having dropped off my groceries, I set out once more in the opposite direction of the way I usually take. Fortunately the route was straightforward, and I was able to cross the major boulevard all right.
Villa Guilia is an estate that was donated to the city and turned into a botanical garden. Wandering among the trees and flower made a highly refreshing change from the intensity of the streets of Palermo.
There was an event being held on the grounds by Wines Sicily that looked pretty posh. I headed away down the cool green walkways and the traffic noise faded to be replaced by bird song.
I strolled at my leisure down shady avenues lined with citrus trees heavily laden with fruit. Very tempting, but I did not pick any, and some I didn't even recognize. Palermo is full of palm trees, and the garden was no exception. There were also many stands of various sorts of bamboo.
This was a lovely way to spend some time. The only problem is that eventually I had to venture back into the real world of broken sidewalks and crazy traffic, and occasional whiffs of raw sewage.
I had my limoncello and green tea apero and for dinner I contrived a dish of pasta with some tuna and a little jarred sauce (It's pink and has ricotta and nuts plus a bit of tomato) that I thinned with some pasta water. It needed salt, but dang! It's good. Clearly I am a culinary genius.
Ciao for now
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