Travel meme #5: Unexpected fireworks
Monday, March 24th, 2008
Palermo for the uninitiated (we weren’t, at least initially) is the capital of Sicily, and an interesting clash of your average cosmopolitan city in Western Europe and somewhere just a bit more lively and exotic. One of the highlights of our trip there was stumbling on a restaurant for dinner just as a massive and unexpected religious procession unfolded in the main square before our eyes. Seemingly without any warning, soon after a barrage of fireworks were released literally fifteen or twenty metres from where we were standing, with people in the crowd even closer than that to the action. The locals, of course, seemed to be going about their daily business as usual, acting as if all this was normal. Apart from general appearances which are in any case a dead giveaway, you could certainly tell who the tourists were that night from the shocked, pleased and bewildered looks on their faces.
