A nice surprise today!

---

Geo: 38.0699, 12.0591

Off to Cefalu. Good thing I grabbed train times and info off of the Internet. There was no information on the train tickets - I would have had no idea about where I would need to change trains. I hope the Internet is right ...

Before leaving, I exchanged Crime and Punishment for the "Piano Tuner" at the apartment. I have never heard of it before but I'll give it a shot. Hopefully it was a book exchange! If not, I just stole from Agostino! Crime and Punishment was a really interesting examination of a young man's psyche ... but the ending/epilogue left a little to be desired.

It felt a little bit tacked on, but it still had some significant story elements to it. Raskolnikoff (protagonist) finally allows himself to love again, forgiving himself for previous mistakes in life. I think that more could have been done with the ending ... the right sentiments and ideas are there but the execution felt a little bit contrived and clumsy. The book did have some weak parts, but it was a realistic portrayal of one man's descent into insanity as he succumbs to his guilt.

The train conductor on the train was quite nice. He told me which platform to change at when I arrived in Piraineto. I managed to catch an earlier train to Palermo but ended up waiting for the same Cefalu train anyway.

Finally got to Cefalu ... it's quite beautiful here. I walked around town and along the ocean. There was a big beach with decent quality sand. Too bad I didn't wear my swimsuit. But I was kind of lazy anyway and didn't feel like worrying about rinsing out and drying the swimsuit, and also showering again afterward.

As I walked back to the hotel, who did I see? Maryam and Sheree from Siracusa! It was a nice surprise. At first I didn't recognize them and just saw two girls waving at me. That never happens to me, so I figured it must have been them!

They were having lunch at an outdoor cafe where we all sat and chatted for a while. I didn't expect to see them here. I thought they would finish Palermo, then the Eolie Islands, and then Rome.

We made loose plans to meet up at the fish festival that night. So I relaxed at the hotel for a bit before hiking up La Rocca, to the castle and the Temple of Diana. It was fairly steep and tough in some parts with loose rocks. There were some nice views at the top. The hike down wasn't so great. Nearly slipped and fell a few times on loose rocks and slippery sections. They take your ID at the entry in the event that you fall to your death, I guess. The hike itself isn't that dangerous - but at the top there are no guard rails at the castle ruins. If you climbed the wall and fell, you'd be lost in the surf below. Or impaled on a bunch of jagged rocks.

Back to the hotel. A disturbing incident ... I noticed a little "loaf" hiding in the communal toilet bowl. But the really disturbing part? There was no toilet paper floating in the bowl with it. Somewhere, someplace, someone has soiled shorts.

It's a luxury having a TV in the room. I watched tons of music videos. The new Evanescence song is not as good as the old stuff. Perhaps the departure of Ben Moody has resulted in this? I had heard previously that he was the creative brains behind the whole thing. The song has a bit more of a "pop" flavour to it.

Went down to the festival and ran into the girls. For dinner, we picked a place on the water as it was everyone's last night in Cefalu. The girls were pretty upset about it - they loved Cefalu. I had a set menu for 13.50. They had an amazing antipasti buffet - probably 30 or 40 types (many were variations on eggplant, peppers, and tomatoes). The girls had only the buffet.

There were signs stating that "overfilled plates" or "return visits" would be charged extra. These signs must have been placed there only for North Americans! My plate was definitely borderline. Sheree commented that I made great use of space on my plate. A polite way of telling me that I'm a pig, I think!

There were too many other things to fully describe - cheese, meats, mussels, fish ... all very good. My main course was a stuffed swordfish roll, possibly with cheese and breadcrumbs and more fish. Fried, with a lemon wedge. Good. Also had the usual tomato salad - good as always. I had a nice house wine with it (red). Dessert was Tiramisu. Not very good.

We walked around the festival after. You need to buy a pass that entitles you to unlimited wine, bruschetta, pasta, fried fish, and other tasty items. It looked amazing. Too bad we didn't do it - but the girls had a night train to Rome at 21:30 - I doubt we could have fully enjoyed the festival before they had to leave.

If felt like a big Italian block party, at least, the stereotypical image of one that I have always had in my mind. We said our goodbyes and I went back to the hotel. There is a small chance that I may see them again if I go to Bologna. But after hearing them describe it to me, I don't think that is likely.

I watched some more videos and an interesting documentary about Muse (Brit musical group). Wrote in the journal a bit and did some reading. Saw a horrible Robbie Williams video where he tries to rap. Crap!

The Piano Tuner had a bad start to it. Choppy and short sentences ... very poorly written. It improved greatly shortly after, but it is still lacking in many regards. There was a bizarre conversation with the protagonist (Edgar Drake) and his wife. There were no quotation marks and no separation of dialogue ... I guess it was done on purpose for effect. What effect he was hoping to achieve, I have no idea. Whatever the intent was, it failed miserably. Unless the intent was to baffle and bore the reader. If so, mission accomplished!

---

Photos

a
Exploring my artistic, photographic side - using the lamp as the main subject and the building as background. Just copying a technique I saw on a postcard! If you can't be the best, at least you can still copy the best!

b
b

c
c

d
La Rocca, in the background.

e
Some ancient baths.

f
The view from the castle.

g
g

h
The parade that started the festival.

i
Sunset in Cefalu

j
The streets were packed with festival-goers.