Palermo, Sicily (Italy)

I had always wanted to visit Palermo - especially since the first time I flew over it. Unfortunately, (until today) the time off was never available. We more than made up for it, though, with an early wake up and drive across the island. When we got there we were a little disoriented (no map) - but while we "explored" we walked through several pretty city parks. Eventually we found the impressive Norman Cathedral (it actually has influences from many other conquerors). Met a nice elderly couple who were returning to their cruise ship. They let me have their city map - that helped tremendously for the rest of the day. After exploring a few Baroque era churches, we found a museum that displayed the famous medieval puppets that were used in the "Punch & Judy" style performances. I was amazed at the variety. We stopped for a late lunch (at Osteria Cavalieri di Malta ?) and I ordered the "Fruti di Mare" dish (included several local seafoods) - might be one of the first meals I didn't enjoy on the island. Afterwards we walked back to the car so we could drive over to tour the nearby "catacombs." When we got there (Capuchin Catacombs), we found that it was filled with bodies of people from Palermo who died during the last five hundred years. It was a little spooky, to say the least. One of the memorable bodies was "Sleeping Beauty," a 2 year old baby who looked like she was taking a nap. Amazingly, she was buried here over 100 years ago! On the way out of the city, we saw several monuments to the Mafia. Drive home went alright - back by 2030.