Robin very kindly arranged a cab to take us to the airport. The hotel is supposed to provide us with a bag breakfast -- also very kind of them.

Pickup is at 4:30 AM, which should do the trick nicely. Although the general rule is to arrive at the airport 2 hours before an international flight, and the trip to the Palermo airport takes around 45 minutes, everyone figures that there's just no point in arriving at 4:20 AM. Nobody is going to be there!

So, we reach the lobby at 4:28:30, and drop off the keys. The deskman hands me four bags of breakfast, and tells us that our taxi is ready to go.

Out we go, and sure enough, he's there, in what looks like a fairly small hatchback car with a very small trunk area. Somehow, the driver manages to pack all our baggage in, and we're on our way. I've got the "shotgun" seat.

What a ride! Palermo streets are confusing. While in the city, we're taking what looks like a commuter lane, and the traffic lights are strange: vertical or horizontal white line. Huh? The speed limit is 100 kph on the autostrada. He's going 130 most of the time. And there were definitely some testosterone challenges going on, jockeying for position in exit lanes.

Breakfast? A pre-packaged factory "croissant", a couple of slices of "toast", and a box of peach drink. No caffe. Nothing open in the airport, either.

dawn over the west coast of Italy

Brigid catches up on her beauty sleep. (Recognize the earring?)

Well, that's pretty much it. Erin and Lora are with us as far as Rome, and then we're on our flight home, via New York.

Sigh. Time to start planning the next vacation...