In Palermo

Woo hoo I made it and it rocks! >Flight -- easy. However, those of you traveling together - I would opt to risk sitting separately to have a window seat if you are on a large plane. It makes it much easier to sleep (resting your head on the window). And whatever you do, don´t get stuck in any way shape or form in the middle section!EW! (4 ppl across). I made sure not to sleep too much the night before and so I managed to basically pass out from about 12ish until about 9 a.m. local an hour before landing (slept thru breakfast). Getting out of the airport takes a while -- customs LONG and slow. For those of you traveling on a weekend, factor in some delay mainly at your initial airport (Mtl, Van) since you are flying thru the US. And a bit more in the US but that one was much quicker. I met a guy on the flight from Mtl, recently relocated from Venice Beach to Chelsea in NY, who had been up at Trem-blah-n-T skiing. Of Cuban origin and likes to travel so we had fun chatting about places we´d been or would like to go. He works for yahoo in marketing so I felt a little guilty when we traded emails but I was sure to point out that several of my friends use yahoo as their primary email hahaha. On the flight to BA I met a girl (21) who is moving here for 4 months (semester abroad) from Chicago, studying studio arts & design.

I was still pretty tired when I got in so napped a bit and then went out around here (Palermo) and Recoleta. We went to the fine arts museum for a talk about Klimt and then to the Design Centre (Argentine designs and generally just high end design (home) stores. Saw the botanical gardens and zoo from far and the entrance to Evita´s tomb but it was closed. The parks are huge and really nice, lots in this area. Crazy thing about the parks - there are TONS of stray cats in them they live there, just kinda hanging out and suntanning. I saw at least 20! Some are quite cute, some look like strays.

Did other walking around - Recoleta is really nice, reminds me a bit of the upper east side in NY - nice tall buildings, trees, narrow streets, wide sidewalks - although a little bit edgier not quite as pristine but really nice. People remind me of Montreal - everyone has a style, just not always the same style! Some ppl look like they could be anywhere - young casual, or funky, others are chic in that ubersimple the French can do (but bronze!), and others look like they are literally chanelling Donatella Versace (long blonde hair, orangey skin, tight clothes, lotsa makeup)... there is no one ¨look¨ per se. Not sure what we will do tomorrow. It is a bit cool today (20s) as it was raining in the morning and remained a bit overcast until about 5ish. It is totally warm though. Kinda tired. anyhow time´s up gotta go but will be in touch tomorrow probably.

Day 2
Not much time but it´s cool again (20ish) and a bit overcast. Just went to the zoo and saw the baby white tigers - sooooo cute! Now off to lunch, loving it! OLE!