Francesca e Maria Vanno in Sicilia!

EPIC honeymoon weekend with Ali. Or should I say Maria. But let's start from the beginning...

Thursday night: went out with my friends and attempted to meet up with my French friends but it got too late. I had an early flight to Milan to meet Ali and was leaving at 5:30 so I just stayed up all night. (NOTE: Beauvais Airport, Paris, is NOT in Paris!!!! Its actually an hour and a half outside of the city! wompwomp) When i arrived in Milan, Ali was already there and Milan airport was not nearly big enough for the scene we made. Let me tell you, Italians are not used to the massive displays of excitement and squeals that came from Ali and I reuniting around 8:30am. We caught up lots and finally boarded our flight to Palermo, conveniently befriending the flight attendant, Ivan.

Sicily was fantastic! When we arrived in Palermo airport, we haggled a cab and were on our way to Castellammare del Golfo, the greatest town in the world. Small, quaint, on the beach, best food, big portions (unlike Paris), greatest people. But we'll get to the people. We had a great dinner at the best restaurant in town, tasted several wines (including a great sweet dessert wine) and crashed. Saturday we spent on the beach. On our walk there. we met a dog who we named Alberto. I swear Alberto was human in a past life. Seriously! This dog LED us to the beach. When we wandered down a hill that led to nowhere, he waited at the top of the hill for us and proceeded to walk towards the sand. This dog was incredible! Beach: hot, sunny, lots and lots and lots of pictures. Water + surrounding mountains = so peaceful. Not to mention I brought all my art flashcards with me so I was beyond thrilled. Wait until you see the pictures - it really was our honeymoon! We already are planning on printing and hanging many of the pictures in our apartment-to-be! The fun really started in the afternoon...

We went wandering around the town and, being us, found a great shoe store. To make a very long story short, I couldn't decide between two pairs of boots so the guy working there, Emilio, told me to forget the boots, took one of each pair, and brought them across the street to treat Ali and I to cappuccinos. The boots got their own seat at the table. As it turns out, that night was Bruno's (Emilio's brother) birthday, and we got invited to the birthday! the first ting they did, was christen me and Ali with Italian names. From here on in, I am Francesca and Ali is Maria. Ali and I got to see the city of Palermo, and it was a great night with all of our new Italian friends (there are many of them and all talking on facebook now! Emilio, Bruno, Roberto, Nino, Vincenzo, Rosselia, etc...) This post will get too long so perhaps I'll respond to individual emails for more details, but definitely one night that Ali and I will put down in our history. Epic and fabulous! The people in this small all know each other, and in the words of Emilio, "are one big family!" Ali and I met Bruno and Emilio's parents, grandmother, and he knew everyone in the town.

Side note: I was very excited because my French friends texted me to hang out on Saturday while I was away. It made me so happy that I really have legitimate French friends :)

Sunday, needless to say, we were exhausted. We wandered around Castellammare some more and went to see the little castle there! Mostly, we just ate and enjoyed each other's company. Emilio and Bruno came to see us on our castle wanderings. I think its very symbolic that I was in total paradise with Ali in Sicily, and I loved Italy, but I MISSED PARIS. I missed Paris. I didn't miss New York. But I felt sad without Paris!!! (A sign perhaps?)

Our flight left for Milan at 10:30 and we landed at midnight. Tired. And...cranky? True story. We had a 7 hour layover. While the rest of the people in our situation came prepared with sleeping bags, and pulled up floor to go to sleep, Ali and I recapped our trip with picture reviewing. Around 3:30, we were crying with laughter and I'm not sure we let everyone get the sleep they wanted. In any case, the security guard woke us up around 4:45 to make sure we weren't homeless or dead. Never mind all the other people doing the exact same thing as us. Talk about life as a traveling student. Never again. What an experience. Would have been terrible. But what could be bad when Ali and I are together?

When I got back to Beauvais airport, I realized it was going to be a real pain getting to Paris. I took a train back but the traffic was bad, so although the weekend was unforgettable, I was in a vile mood and lugging luggage in heeled boots (they made my suitcase too heavy) by the time I got to Paris. Finally! Home! I am in serious Ali-withdrawal  and Italians are fabulous but I belong in Paris. I could not have felt more at home arriving at my apartment. Ali she is buying her Paris tickets and I'm all set to visit her in Prague, so I'll be seeing her soon enough!

My Sorbonne class was a killer yesterday, but I found out that my favorite art history professor will be my personal tutor at NYU for it so I am psyched. Lots of work to catch up on and I am sleepy (so I apologize for the fragmented sentences - I promise I am usually a stickler for grammar!)

Pictures to come!
Also to come tomorrow...MAMA AND PAPA! Can't wait to see them.
I haven't forgotten my lists of favorites! Those are coming too!
Mon amour to all :)