My hips don't lie, neither does my sunburn

Hi all. Blogging a bit begrudgingly from Palermo, Sicily. We last told you our exploits about Munich, and not much about Prague. Well let me tell you, Prague is effing amazing. Both Tina and I look back on those days with longing and euphoria. Petr and his friends made the time really fun and rewarding, and the buildings and public transit, and awesome exchange rate were also good for us. We saw the Mucha Museum, visited the Jewish Quarter twice, met a very strange Czech woman named Blanka, learned about some good Czech Musicals, ate a lot of pizza and dried fruit and kombucha, and experienced one of the most intense lightening storms of our short existence.
We went to a music festival, went bar hopping, and played a bit o' beach volleyball. I surprised everyone with how terrible I was. The good news concerning that sport is
I learned that though I may not have any game, I do got a lotta heart.

From Prague we went to Rome, taking an hour and a half plane ride, complete with Tom and Jerry cartoons and fashion shows repeating on those tiny little screens in front of us, and a complentary sandwich of white bread and, um, bread in the middle. The bread was soaked with olive juice or something. Tina wanted to spew. I dunno. In Rome we stayed at the Fawlty Towers, where it was very hard to escape the sweltering heat, despite the one ceiling fan in our huge free room. I just ended up sleeping with my sleeping bag on the floor directly underneath the fan. We also made a friend there! His name is Aaron, and hes a huge Australian guy with a shaved head. He bears a striking resemblance to VIn deisel. He was very smart and funny, and nice. He ended up being a really good companion walking the streets of Rome near Termini Station at night, with his huge biceps bulging and his stern face indicating an attitude with very little tolerance for funny business. He loved our jokes, and is now our friend on myspace.

I dont feel like getting too detailed, but a few quick notes about Rome: 1) I highly recommend Penne Alla Vodka, and tortellini soup 2)It is fun to get as close as possible to those creepy tableau people in big touristy areas, to see how awkward things get 3) We saw a guy peeing on the sidewalk on our way to our hotel one night and 4) Air conditioning is a Godsend.

After our 2 days as Romans, we were off to Palermo, Sicily. It was an 11ish hour train ride, during which I took a great deal of time thinking about many things. One of which was how I was going to clean my apartment when I got home, and another was about how I actually really don't like trains that much. Sorry Station Agent starring the brilliant Peter Dinklage.

We finally arrived, though, and took a taxi to our bed and breakfast. We have since been maxin and relaxing here in and near the salty green waters of the warm Sicilian Sea, making some observations, learning a few life lessons, soaking up a lot of rays, and taking to heart that one should never, ever drive in Italy. Seriously, though. You hear about it, you think you get it, but the moment we got here and started walking around, it really sunk in. These people are maniacs. Pedestrians are like second class citizens, and car horns are heard more than peoples voices! It is terrifying.

A few notes on Sicilians. They are rough and real, loud and direct. The streets of Palermo can be dirty and disheveled. We've seen over 6 stray dogs walking lazily around in one day alone. The cars are smelly, plentiful, and obnoxious. But this area is still, despite all this, incredible and exciting. The woman are full and tan, confident and classy. The men have been either gorgeous or intolerably unattractive. The teenagers are sweaty and silly. They line almost orderly in the ocean just to make out with their sweetheart, or stick their salty heads out of
the automatically opening bus door every stop just to feel the wind on their faces.

I bought a two piece bathing suit just to go along with the unfaltering self confidence that the women here exude. Yes, I've got a spare tire or two and yes, my torso's palor is comparable to Casper's ivory visage,(quick side note to Tina " Daniel Johnston singing Casper") but what of it? I saw a 350 pound woman sitting calmy on the beach today, smiling sweetly as her friend picked flakes of sunburned skin off the wide plain of her back, one after another, over and over again. It's cool, man. We're in Italy. Today we bought a bright green volley ball and played poorly in the water for everyone to see. My triceps have never been this sore in my life.

I'm done for now, I've got my mind set on some gelato and I will not stop until my desires come to full fruition.

Internets a bit harder to come by around these parts, so you might not hear from us for a while. After this, we go to Athens, then home!

Eternally pale and forever flabby,

Devra and not Tina because she was on the phone