The first night at the convent was very restful, a comfy bed, lots of blankets as I decided to sleep with the window open in order to listen to the waves crashing against the rocks, so comfortable that I overslept. Good thing that we had a free day.
Our day started with a lots of rain, not a good sign for the Carnavale parade this evening. On the plus side our guide had informed us that if it rained we will have a happy hour at the Convent. Did I hear right? Is it wrong that I'm secretly hoping that it rains so we can have happy hour at the Convent? This mean actually being able to drink without having to sneak in the alcohol like we did in high school?? OMG how far have we come!!
A short morning stroll around Cefalu, a visit to the local museum and a visit to it's beautiful Duomo to see the portrait of Cristo Pantocrater (Christ Creator of all) this Byzantine mosaic is by far the most beautiful depiction of Christ that I've seen. Back to the story at hand, Fat Tuesday at the Convent... The rain continued throught the day it was obvious that we will have happy hour at the convent. The kids that go to school at the convent were not able to have their parade either. That means party at the convent! Loud music, confetti, costumes, wow this looks promising. If they let the kids party this hard there's hope for us!!!
After a little nap and another quick stroll around town, I headed back to the hotel for our happy hour, I was determined to get Mother Superior to have some wine with me. No such luck, although I was able to get my picture taken with her when she came to check on us.
The nuns were nice, as I said, Mother Superior came to say hi (although I'm sure she was checking on us), then another one of the nuns brought us oranges and home made chiacchiere, which are typical Sicilian cookies made during Carnavale. Everything was going great, there was a big flat screen TV in the room where we were at, I was already planning to charm the Madre into letting us stay in the room watch TV at least until the 11p curfew.....
..... no such luck, suddenly our guide comes in with an announcement: " the mother wants us out in 5 minutes" WTF??!! it's freaking Fat Tuesday, we are just getting started, there are at least 3 more bottles of wine to be had, it's not even 8pm yet!!! The nuns have done it again, just as in High School they take all the joy out of you in a single moment. And what is worse, we had to clean the room, well mainly because I was afraid the Mother was going to be mad if we left a mess. Yep, good old Catholic guilt.
At least I got to chat with her about the Pope resigning, she's sad because he really can't do it any more, his body is giving up, I beg to differ but I still needed a place to stay and was not taking the chance to let her know what I thought.

Imagine my surprise when we got on the bus to travel from Palermo to Cefalú, when our guide informed us that the hotel we were supposed to stay at was having power issues because they were hit by lightning. Those news were followed by "we will be staying at a convent"...

My heart skipped a beat, memories of years in catholic school dealing with Sister Lidia our school principal and her gang of nuns, memories of hours spent in her office not necessarily for good behavior, and lets not forget about our retreats, being chased by dogs as we tried to beat curfew, etc, etc ...
Curfew, did I mention curfew?? Well our guide informed us that we will have a curfew which apparently after a little convincing the mother superior has allowed it to be 11pm.

I'm I surprised that the Catholic Church has a capitalist side?? mmmm not ... apparently the nuns in order to make extra income they rent out their empty rooms in the convent.

As I try to digest this information while at the same time trying to enjoy the scenic views along the way, my mind is filled of crazy thoughts... the Pope resigned today and I'm spending the night in a convent, it's freaking Carnavale and I'm spending the night in a convent, what! Fat Tuesday and I'm going to be in a convent!!! Breathe, think positive, things happen for a reason, it always works out, keep calm and dream of Italy... all my mantras ... WTF I'm in Italy and I'm spending Carnavale in a convent!!!
On the plus side, it's Carnavale the kids are out in custumes strolling the streets having a good time, tomorrow weather permitting there will be a parade of some kind.
We arrived at the convent and it's prime real estate location, ocean side, walking distance to the center of town. The nuns are LOLs (little old ladies) eager to help us out, since there are no young nuns I guess that's why they have so many empty rooms to rent.
After the shock has worn off, after I got over the creepiness of the place (long dark hallways with lots of religious images around) I can't complaint. I have a room with ocean view, a comfy bed, I can hear the waves crashing against the shore, it's quiet, very very quiet, only the sound of the waves, I may have a good night sleep after all.