London in December

I made a business trip to London last week and, quite unexpectedly, found myself with an extra day for some sightseeing. I've been to London before, but I enjoyed returning to a few of my favorite spots and visiting a few places that were "new" to me.

I started the morning at St. Paul's Cathedral. What a truly beautiful church. I learned that the current cathedral is the 6th church at this location -- there having been a church on the same site since about 600 A.D. Of course, I took advantage of the audio tour that was available and learned all sorts of neat things about the history of the building and its contents. Did you know that the word "cathedral" means "bishop's seat?"

I then met up with my two colleagues, Jim and Clarence, and we traveled together, by taxi, to Westminster Abbey. This is another great church which overwhelms me simply by virtue of the incredibly history represented by the tombs and memorials found here. The most impressive are those of Queen Elizabeth I and Mary Queen of Scots (located on opposite sides of the sanctuary). All the kings and queens of England have been crowed at Westminster Abbey since the 12th century, and there still exists within the Abbey the throne that has been used for coronation services during that entire period of time.

Following our time at the Abbey, we walked past Parliament and Big Ben and found a great pub where we had a bit of lunch. Then, it was on to the Royal Portrait Gallery where we spent about two hours wandering the halls and enjoying works by Rembrandt, Michaelangelo, Monet, Manet, Renoir, Degas and so many others.

It was a great day! And it was so unexpected that we had this extra time to enjoy the city.

Cape Cod Thanksgiving Greetings

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

We are all assembled for the holiday here at our house on Eider Lane in Eastham, Massachusetts -- on Cape Cod. The weather is balmy (for this time of year) and rainy, but inside it is warm and sunny. We are having a wonderful time.

Chris and I, as well as Mom, drove here (separately) on Tuesday morning. Jack and Rena flew into the Boston airport (from Kansas City) on Tuesday night, and Mom and I picked them up. Dad arrived (from Sarasota via Springfield) on Wednesday morning,and John, Karen and Gabriel were behind him by only a few hours. Finally, Katherine was delivered (courtesy of Eric and Bob).

Thanksgiving day, of course, was spent mostly in the kitchen. We had a great meal, and there were many hands involved in its preparation. Our menu consisted of (i) turkey (24 lbs!), (ii) meat stuffing (Zia Chiara's recipe), (iii) bacon smashed potatoes (with dill), (iv) braised carrots (with scallions, sage and thyme), (v) green beans with almond butter, and (vi) spiced cranberries.

For entertainment during the day, some of the group watched "The Best of Youth" -- the story of an Italian family, three generations, from 1966 to 2003 and the trials and tribulations they face. This was originally a TV show in Italy that showed in segments over several months. But Dad, Rena, Jack and Mom watched the entire collection of shows over the past two days.

It was 8 hours! They loved it and they can't stop talking about it.

Those of us interested in less cerebral fare, played Band Hero, and had great fun. Bob got the highest scores on the vocals; Katherine was best on the guitar; and Chris excelled on drums. I tried both the drums and the guitar, and liked the guitar the best. Sadly, my scores did not match my enthusiasm. I'll have to practice!

And today is to be a shopping day -- of course!

A Huge Thanks to My Dad

Trip to Italy - Postscript

This trip came about for me only because I invited myself to join my father who was already planning a trip to northern Italy. When I told him of my interest in making the trip with him, he graciously agreed to make some major changes in his original itinerary to accommodate my interests in seeing some of the classic tourist attractions in the country.

We had almost as much fun planning this trip as we had on the trip! From the hotel selections to the dinner reservations and all the planning in between, during the three months before the trip, we were in constant touch by email and phone. It was a lot of work, but it was also a lot of fun. Dad was also very generous in insisting on paying for most of the costs of the trip.

Thank you, Dad, for everything.

Baci e abbracci,

Carol

Caio Italia!

Trip to Italy - My Final Journal Entry - September 28, 2009 - 9:50am

And so my first - but certainly not my last - trip to Italy has come to a close. It was quite wonderful, and I look forward to doing it all over again. We saw some truly amazing sites. I took over 750 pictures! We ate better than I can remember. I wrote over 85 pages in my journal. And we were treated like visiting royalty by our family in Stradella. What a truly great time we all had.

Caio Roma, Firenze, Venezia et Stradella!

The Vineyards of Pavia

Trip to Italy - Journal Entry #26 - September 28, 2009 - 9:30 am

The plan for my final afternoon in Stradella, and in Italy for that matter, was to take a driving tour of the Provincipia di Pavia. Roberto was our driver and chief tour guide. Nikki and Paolo came too. We drove for about two hours up into the hills

around Stradella. Much to my amazement, we were in the middle of some very serious wine country. There were vineyards everywhere. Most of the grapes already had been harvested, but in some of the fields the vines were heavy with ripened grapes.

We had the fantastic luck of driving past a field where they were running a grape harvester up a row of vines. We stood at the top of the hill and watched the entire process. I got some great pictures (again)! Meanwhile, I should mention that the vineyards here are often planted on very hilly terrain. Some of the landscape is so steep that I cannot imagine how they do the

harvesting, But it's an impressive and beautiful patchwork of fields -- truly breath-taking.

For all the times, over all the years, that Dad and Aunt Rena, and so many others, have talked about Stradella, I had no real idea of what the countryside was like here. Stradella itself is a wonderfull smallish city, quite vibrant. The surrounding areas are full of beautiful rolling hills dotted with picturesque small towns and vineyards. Some of the vineyards are private and some are commercial. Others sell their grapes to cooperatives. It's a beautiful scene. Roberto drove us by some of the very vineyards that produced the wines we drank earlier in the day at our barbeque banquet. What a wonderful drive this was. Around every corner, there was a view that belonged on a post card.

Our last activity of this day -- before I made an early exit to bed -- was a walk through the center of town (Stradella) with Nikki and Chris. It was a pretty evening -- as has been just about every evening during this trip. The walk from Ca' Rossa to town is less than a mile. Roberto and Nikki and Maurizio and Barbara live in the center of town. They live in the same building -- in apartments one on top of the other. We popped into Roberto and Nikki's apartment for a glass of water. It was nice to see their home -- which is full of large airy rooms and feels very comfortable. It suits them!

We Say Thank You to Our Amazing Hosts

Trip to Italy - Journal Entry #25 - September 28, 2009 - 9:00 am

As our incredible barbeque celebration and the procession of dishes began to wrap up, Chris and I made a quick trip upstairs to retrieve our boxes of gifts. Dad had gone to great pains in advance of our trip to think through appropriate gifts for everyone and we had done all our ordering and wrapping state-side and shipped our gifts to Rosita's house in advance of our arrival. Rosita had jokingly commented upon our arrival that these boxes had arrived -- addressed to her -- but also with the instructions that she was not permitted to open them! Now, it was time to break through the tape and reveal the contents.

Chris helped me pass everything around. The guys all got fish rubbings T-shirts (from Chatham, Cape Cod), while Paolo and Luca got ball caps. The ladies all got Vera Bradley tote bags. Cecelia and Chiara also got fish rubbings T-shirts as well as 2010 daytimers. And Angela and Rosita got aprons with fish rubbings. We had a lot of fun taking pictures of everyone wearing and showing off their gifts (as shown here!).

And while all this was going on, the phone rang, and it was Jack and Rena calling from Kansas City. How nice to hear their voices -- and to be able to speak to someone in English! And this reminds me of the window into Rosita's house that faces the side yard. We took Jack and Rena's call through that window. This large window seems to be always open and people visit and talk through this window all the time. It is really neat and it is wonderfully symbolic of the friendliness and hospitality of this family.

We will never be able to say "thank you" enough to all of our wonderful hosts in Stradella and Portalbera. They went so far out of their way to make us feel welcome (which we did) and to keep us entertained (which we were), but at least we were able to leave them with a few small tokens of our gratitude.

An Italian Family Barbeque

Trip to Italy - Journal Entry #24 - September 28, 2009 - 8:30am

When we returned from our trip to Portalbera, we found that Rosita's side yard and driveway had been turned into party central. There was a huge, long table with over 20 chairs -- fully set for our barbeque. Maurizio was at the grill and Barbara was uncorking a variety of wines, champagne and other drinks. Nikki was putting plates of food on the table, and everyone was generally flying around the yard.

Here we met Roberto's best friend, Gianni, and his daughter Cecelia. Gianni visited Dad, with Roberto, back in March, and Dad really took a shine to him -- I think because he's such a good cook! He's also a very nice guy. And his daughter is delightful. She is about to begin her studies at the local university this fall.

It wasn't long after our arrival that we were served drinks. I chose champagne. And then the food began. In Italy, there is never just one appetizer; rather, there are many. We started with cold salami and boiled salami and bruschetta with tomato and basil. There was also italian bread with a tomato spread. Then, the meal really began. We ate thinly sliced, grilled eggplant, grilled yellow and green peppers, grilled pork, and grilled chicken. Most of what we had this day was grilled and the master chef was Maurizio.

There was also a lot of bread on the table and this reminds me to comment on the way that portions are sometimes served here. Everyone uses their hands to pass food around! For example, Barbara was distributing bread the way most of us deal cards. Using her hands, she put a piece of bread - or two - next to each person's plate. Hands are also used to distribute everything else on the table. If someone wants a piece of chicken and the platter is in front of you, instead of passing the

plate down the table, you are expected to just pick up a piece, with your fingers, mind you, and pass it down! It's a miracle these people are so healthy.

Back to the food. Our next "course" consisted of very salty beef (in very tiny cubes) on a skewer along with some grilled sausage. You have to remember that each item was presented one at a time and I kept thinking I'd seen the last course, and then something else

would show up! Dessert was the same way. Nikki brought out a huge bowl of fruit salad and served cups to everyone. Then Renza appeared with two huge 2-gallon cartons of gelato. She put huge spoonfuls of gelato on top of the fruit.

And then a beautiful sheet cake appeared (pineapple and cream). Cecelia made the cake. It was excellent. But that was not all. There was also a fruit tart that Antonia prepared. I took a slice to be polite, but, at this point, I thought I was going to burst. I could only eat a couple bites. I was a full as full can be. I should also mention that we were served several types of wine during dinner and we finished up with a very special champagne. And most, if not all, of the

wines we drank were local vintages.

What an amazing meal. When it was done, I was sure that it would be several days before I would need any further nourishment.