Views on Palermo

Comme d'habitude...began today with breakfast at Casa Stagnitta.  Got to say, this has become a highlight of our day!  The byline for the shop name is "sorsi e morsi di caffè" - sips and bites of coffee - and their cakes and croissants all feature coffee flavour.  Next door to the café there is the Ideal Caffè Stagnitta store where you can buy their coffee.  Today we were greeted with a smile and buongiorno from our usual waiter.  I asked if they had a marmellata croissant...he wasn't sure.  I said I'd be happy with any croissant, and he said he'd choose something for me.  I was feeling kind of spoilt right then!  The waiter returned with "speciality of the house" - a coffee flavoured croissant, filled with coffee creme.  Superb!

We visited the la Rinascente department store - this is one of only two department stores in Sicily and it has a rooftop terrace that gives a great view of Palermo across Piazza San Domenico and, in the other direction, towards Teatro Massimo.  Brent did a little business-shirt-shopping...the assistant didn't speak English, but she did speak French, so we had a lot of fun conversing en français!  She was much more accomplished than me!  If we return to Italy, I'd like to spend some time getting a grip on the language.  We've met a lot of people this trip who didn't speak English and, while we've managed with gestures, broken Italian/English and writing things down, it's a much fuller experience when you don't need the locals to speak your language.