It seems that once your crazy car days start, they won’t stop, so the Palermo parking fiasco reached new heights!

I read in a tour guide that searching for  parking in Palermo would take ten years off a person’s life. This is true!

That morning, Dad and I waited in the hotel lobby for the Renault people to bring us our repaired car. We intended to drive the Renault back to the lot where we parked the Lancia.  After returning the Lancia to the leasing company, we can park the    Renault and go see the sights of Palerno.   Since we had great hotel rates we decided to spend another night, but we had to switch rooms because our current room was booked.  Sounds fairly simple.  Not so.

Dad and I took care of the car switch, and sent the Lancia back to Rome. Glad to have a bigger car again, dad started looking for a different parking lot. It turns out that covered lots don’t really exist in Palermo. After driving around for half an hour, dad dropped me back at the hotel while he continued to look for a parking lot.

We needed to clear out of the apartment by 11:00 a.m. I ran upstairs and knocked on the door, but Lance could not figure out how to open it.  In my frustration the key was not working! Again!!!!!

I had to run downstairs and bring someone to open the door, which looked incredibly stupid since there were people inside the room. I was hot and tired, but we managed to get everything out of the room quickly. Unfortunately, Dad had still not found parking, so the four of us waited in the hotel lobby while playing car smashing games on my iPad.

Finally dad pulled up to the hotel, and said that he could not find any parking, except the alley lot from last night. Besides the key issue, the problem with this  lot was that they did not allow you to access your car past 8 o clock.

Dad proposed we bail on Palermo, cancel the hotel room, and go to the beach! Yes! We all agreed!

After canceling the room, we headed off to Mondello beach. Parking was a little easier there, so we got some lunch and spent the rest of the day lying on the beach.

For dinner that night we tried a restaurant called “Bye Bye Blues”. Only one word can be used to describe the restaurant “heavenly!”   They absolutely deserve their Michelin Star!  We feasted on parmesan and sesame encrusted bread sticks, tuna tartar spaghetti, stuffed swordfish, and cotton candy cheesecake!

delicious

Cotton Candy Cheesecake and Creme Brûlée

The restaurant definitely lived up to its name and chased away our Palermo blues!