Mary - Italy's Lady Gaga

Happy New Year from Sicilia!
Bill and I took today to explore...even more!!  If we haven't convinced you yet, Sicily is BEAUTIFUL.
We ordered our first gelato (in Italian!) today.  Success!  We also went shopping in the beautiful city center that was set as my screen saver for months as inspiration to get through the semester...I didn't expect to really see it in person.  Super cool!  It was decorated with Christmas lights and hopping with people. 

To explain the title of this blog- as we were walking through the shopping center, we saw a place that looked like a store with a HUGE statue of Mary with lights all around.  A little strange, I would say, but I guess I don't blame them.  Mary is pretty cool.  Anyway, Bill commented that Mary seems to be to Italy what Lady Gaga is to America.  I thought it was funny.  Thus, our name for our entry this evening.
We made our first meal in our apartment last night and it was yummy- pasta (bowtie OR butterfly...however you want to call it) with pesto and mushrooms.  However, we seem to have trouble not sleeping in past 12...heheh.  I mean, we don't have an alarm clock, so...
Nonetheless, the city comes alive during the late afternoon/evening, so we don't miss much!
Now we are on our way to find some dinner (our first time really trying to order any in Italian...wish us luck) and then we're going out to explore the night life on New Years Eve!  Don't worry, mom and dad..we haen't run into anybody super creepy yet.  ;)