first impressions

it is now the afternoon of the third full day in palermo. so far i'm liking it; the chaotic nature of the city is almost a complete opposite to helsinki. not to mention the climate -- for example today the forecast promises a temperature of over 40 degrees celsius and it is literally too hot to go outside in the few hours after noon. for a finnish person whose behaviour has been conditioned so that when the weather is good you go out, no matter what, this is at first somewhat perplexing; but one soon comes to realize that the weather can indeed be too good, so to say, and that the bliss provided by AC is something not to be frowned upon.

so as the temperatures are what they are, it comes without saying that running is possibly only in the early hours of the day (or in the late evening but that has never been my first choice). during these three days i have gone running around 8 am, but i'm beginning to think that this is at least an hour too late. i am on a holiday so i wouldn't necessarily want to be waking up at five every day, i get plenty of that at home, but on the other hand -- being on a holiday which lasts over a three weeks one doesn't necessarily need to fret about doing this and seeing that, so it is always possible to squeeze in a little afternoon nap. what can i say, suddenly in understand the concept of siesta very well.

like mentioned above palermo is somewhat chaotic, and this is especially true when it comes to traffic. green light for pedestrians only means that you might have a chance of getting over to road without being driven over -- emphasis being on the might. there are way too much cars and big roads for my taste, partly because the public transportation system seems to be somewhat inefficient and sporadic at best, and when i today made the mistake of running alongside some bigger traffic arteries i was actually able to taste the fumes in my mouth. so i'm still little bit figuring out where to run, but i'm sure it will be sorted sooner than later -- on my first run i already found a nature reservation area which provided not only a car-free environment but also much welcomed shade due to the trees, and yesterday morning running next to the sea and reaching a point i could imagine the end of the world looks like literally sent chills down my spine (while sweating like a pig under the blazing sun).

besides that, it is a great place -- the food is good, the coffee is amazing, the people are lovely --  so all in all so far so good, and i'm more than looking forward to the three lazy weeks ahead.