I am spending my mornings in the Public Library of Palermo. You first have to overcome quite a Cerberus who is guarding the entrance to the reading hall. He will do everything to make you go away. But if you don't, and insist, he will welcome you as a friend and even take care of you and your belongings (which is important in Sicily). This library reaches back into a time where Sicily contained a dual kingdom which reached up to the middle of what we call Italy today. That's when it was the "National Library". The chairs are crappy and the Internet is fast (sometimes). But this is not what makes this place special. After sitting there for ten minutes, you will not hear the two stoke powered scooters and the honking cars on the street any more. You will be gone from this time and this planet. It is wonderful. Over the morning, the reading room will slowly fill with students reciting basic analysis and function theory. It will not fill up though. There must be an exam coming up on that. If I only could tell them, that reciting this does not help. My Italian is too bad. You have to understand it! Repeating it useless. I tried to tell one, that for praying there is a Cathedral next door. The poor guy thought, I meant he is too loud. He was not. Never mind. Misunderstanding. They will figure it out. Maybe not.

I was reminded of the TED Talk Elisabeth Gilbert gave, and how she elaborated on how we can guard ourselves from the responsibility of having good ideas or not, by projecting this to someone else who is fictional. In Ancient Greek times, she says, they were called "genius" and lived in the walls. Or they were called "muse", and had the ability to spark creativity and inspiration. Feibai was also working somewhere in the library (close to a power socket, as her laptop battery was getting weak earlier). By that, the muse was given. Now I am wondering who lives in these walls.