In Closing: Part 2 of 4

Right after Seal Team 6 made the world a better place and Pope John Paul II was beatified in Rome, we stormed from Palermo to Dallas for the incredibly memorable wedding of our friends Brennan and Elizabeth. There was much discussion of what we would eat when we first landed on American soil during a layover in Charlotte -- fried chicken from Bojangles, orange chicken from Panda Express, or quesadillas from Airport Mexican Joint?  We settled on bagel sandwiches that fulfilled a previously unsatisfied craving for hand held food items containing something other than salt cured pork.

We were greeted in Dallas by a barefooted best man that has been doing work for the Peace Corps in Malawi. His journey home included a day on the top of the bus with a pile of dried out fish, a rickety flight to South Africa, another to Senegal, and a layover in DC. I'm not sure if any of that explains his missing shoes, but compared to his week long journey, our 24 hours didn't seem so bad. Burritos from Chipotle were enough to make our bodies forget that we should be jet lagged.

Other than the indignity we had to suffer at the hands of Mavericks fans puffing their chests out following a sweep of the Lakers, the weekend was an incredible way to return to the US. Here's a rundown of the highlights:

• Rehearsal dinner with gorgeous views of the Dallas skyline
• Golf before the wedding (had to let the groom win)
• Poignant ceremony (groom cried, bride stayed strong)
• Smashing party of a reception (glow sticks and sparklers, need I say more?)
• Sunday brunch with the requisite bloody marys, Irish coffee, and mimosas that synthesize brilliantly with the body's desire for a nap
• A visit to the Sixth Floor Museum that commemorates JFK's assassination
• The first of many future tangos with cuisine from El Salvador. Mexican food has now been replaced in the pantheon of pallet pleasers. 
• The overall greatness of generous hosts

With the remnants of sangria-margarita slurpees coloring our minds, we boarded a plane back to Palermo.

Stop looking for me; I am not on this jolly trolly

The following weekend brought Mel and Kris Seifert to visit. Beyond the typical sightseeing, we were treated to Palermo's Gay Pride Parade invigorating the streets and shutting down traffic everywhere for hours. The city simply isn't structured to handle the amount of cars on an ordinary day, but adding in a parade that stretched for at least a mile was devastating. There was the added entertainment of the parade crossing paths with a traditional wedding party and the proud Sicilian fathers/uncles/ brothers that didn't want their little angel's big day ruined by a bunch of tomfoolery. There were some tense moments, but the crisis was averted when the parade swarmed the bride and groom in celebration.

The following weekend was special for two reasons: Palermo's soccer team was playing in the Italian Cup Final against Inter Milan in Rome and an aircraft carrier of US Soldiers was parked in the harbor. We spotted the ship first, because it is quite a presence next to the cruise ships and freighters that traditionally dot the harbor, but the 3,000 marines and navy personnel certainly didn't blend in with the locals. They had been out to sea for more than 3 months, so they let loose in as many ways as possible. One soldier was actually impaled on his first night in port when he attempted to jump a fence.

Palermo's team colors are pink and black, so all the military guys were buying bright pink memorabilia of all sorts: jerseys, hats, flags, banners. The vendors could not have been happier.

We were on a particularly rowdy bus returning from the beach when we invited a group over to our place for a drink. We spent the rest of the night in a number of bars cheering for Palermo with a bunch of guys that needed nothing more than a good time. I didn't work up the courage to ask them if they'd had any high profile funerals on their ship in recent weeks, so I'll just assume that Seal Team 6 was somewhere on board.

More to come tomorrow :)

Watching the game with a gaggle of military men, some of Meredith's students were sitting right behind us.