Rome to Palermo

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The alarm didn't need to wake us this morning, we were well & truely up at 6am. Already packed the night before so we were on our way at 7am.
The weather has been perfect in Rome which made getting around easy. Off to the Metro & it was already packed with workers...a plan was made if we got separated...
The prearranged Ryanair bus transfer with SitBus shuttle went without any problems...a bit of a tour in & around Roma...good time to be on a scooter if you are trying to get to work. Arrived at the Airport at 9.20am & as we had checked in online we were basically able to head through customs check. A bit of a wait until boarding at 11.05am. I had put Brian down for priority boarding so he could get our bags onboard first....once they run out of room they take them from you & put them in the hold. It worked just right & I was non priority & we chose not to select our seats (more €'s) & would therefore be sitting apart in allocated seating. Brian was at the rear of the plane & I was 4th from front. A 1hour journey & I was wedged between 2 men, one of which thought I was wrongly in his seat...but Karen was right & he was so apologetic..it all went down well. Brian ended up with a free seat next to him....cheeky airline, our flight was bought on the same ticket...they just wanted us to pay to sit together. Good flight arriving 10mins early. Thunder claps as we disembarked....
We purchased some Shuttle tickets for a 35min journey & sat apart again to get the window seats. Very dry here...until we arrived at our apartment. Had to get a little help from a young Sicilian in a shop just round the corner....with some broken english & italian we made sense of each other with a high five & leaving all smiles. Island people again you see.
Our host was five mins away while we waited with the threat of rain. In a renovated building next to an old Baroque Church SS Carita' di San Pietro our newly renovated apartment looks into the Cloisters of the church. We have 2 cute balconies. So we are living in the historic part of the city. Francesco was very happy to meet us....we are in one of a few new apartments in the building that he runs. We were fascinated by his digital gadetry....he picks his ringing mobile from his pocket waves his hand over it replaces it to pocket & starts talking to his watch (that looked more analogue)...Get Smart here we come..he was quiet familiar with it...he must have thought we were quiet antiquated compared.
By now it's nearly 3pm...time to do a little supermarche shopping. Lidl just one street over on Via Roma. The thunder came with some light rain...rainjackets, plastic ponchos, umbrellas...we were asked outside the info centre if we would like to join a walking tour that was about to set off...not today 'grazie' maybe tomorrow & we think we will if the rain stops.
Dinner all sorted in the fridge & we settled in for the night in the aircondioning, now 5.30pm & quite muggy outside. So a long day for a short flight. Hope to get into more sightseeing stuff now we've had a few days recovery. More info with the observations.

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