Planes in the Mud, Carnevale, & Opera

Notice how the logo is disappearing...

Advanced Apologies to those Visiting by Plane

During a day trip to a few picturesque beach towns outside of the city, we found ourselves driving parallel to the runway of Palermo's airport. Ordinarily this would not have provided any sort of intrigue, but we were quickly reminded Sicily is rarely so straightforward. We spotted an airplane that appeared to be stuck in the mud at the end of the runway. Our guide for the day and friend for life, Davide, narrated the true story of a plane that skidded off the runway after a bumpy landing. It sank pretty deep into mud, but rather than tow it out while the dirt was still soft, the airport authorities and airline officials just let it sit there. 

Seeking to avoid the negative publicity and embarrassment associated with one of its fleet literally being stuck in the mud, the carrier decided that a more apt solution was to paint over the logo so that no one would have any idea which airline preferred to leave an anonymous monument to failure rather than spend money to tow it from the mud.

The plane at rest currently has no markings indicating who was responsible, but those booking flights into Palermo should be advised that WindJet cuts corners.


The Opera at Teatro Massimo

Meredith attended her first opera at Teatro Massimo a few weeks ago. A colleague had just one extra ticket, so I had to sit this one out. “I know, there will be other times...”

"Senso" was classic melodramatic Italian theater celebrating 150 years of unification. Having previously only viewed it from the outside, Meredith was overwhelmed by the theater's phenomenal décor indoors.

Godfather III had a few scenes filmed at the theater. 

Carnevale in Sciacca

We spent the beginning of this week in Sciacca (pronounced shock-a) for Carnevale festivities. The town is much smaller than Palermo, but there is a rich tradition of celebration in the days leading up to Fat Tuesday. Beginning on Saturday night, the streets are blocked off at sundown to make way for colorful floats and spirited revelers.

This year's theme was The Search For Black Gold, which is ironic considering the direction that oil prices are headed. The floats, constructed of paper mache and towed by Lamborghini tractors (seriously), were preceded by what can best be described as party wagons. Trailers stacked as many speakers, dancers, fog machines, and strobe lights as possible to create a mobile club experience. The space in between the club truck and Lamborghini float tractors was about 50 yards of Spring Break in Cabo.

While the younger kids dress up like its Halloween, the older kids take the opportunity to subtly offend as many parents as possible with their costumes.  Those familiar with Halloween in Isla Vista will have a good idea of what I'm talking about. America's Queen, on the right, was more tame than the men wearing short kilts that exposed a stuffed tube sock. But the atmosphere is closer to merry and jovial than it is to ridiculous and out of control.

The last night is punctuated by burning the main character and re-enacting the Allied raid on Sicily, or maybe those were just really loud fireworks.

Peppe Nappa went up in flames on the last night

What would a Monica Lewinsky include?

We have surpassed the half way point of our time in Italy, the past 5 months having been a blur of getting settled, making friends, enjoying visitors, and falling into routines. Meredith finishes teaching in mid-June, at which point we hope to travel for a month or so before returning home.

As the local beaches and Aeolian Islands beckon, winter's turn towards spring is taking a bit longer than we would like. Future adventures are more likely to be by boat than by car, which is great news for our vitamin D deficiency and sun starved legs.

Lamborghini tractors: fueled by 2 buck Chuck.

In case you had forgotten about the largesse of 90s rock and pop, rejoice in the hot jams that I have heard in the past week alone:

• Toto “Africa” might be stretching back to the 80s, but its hard not to sing along.  
• Michael Bolton, the greatest hits collection is on a constant loop at one of the cafes. The video appears to have been shot at Lake Mead and it deserves to be parodied.  
• Baywatch theme - to be fair, it was a dance remix at the gym and it was awesome.
• Queen, "The Show Must Go On" - once at the gym, and a few times at the Michael Bolton cafe. 
• A Jon Secada track would be over the top. 

Here's a short clip of the floats in motion.