Sailing the Adriatic!

On the Sunday after the Rotary District Conference, Lolli picked us up at 8:00am for a day of sailing on the high seas!! At dinner the night before after two sweaty walks into and out of Venice, we tried to persuade him for a later start time, but Lolli promised the only activity planned for the boat was to sunbathe and rest. So 8:00am it was:)

We left the hotel in Mestre and headed to the fish market in Chioggia to pick up some fish for our lunch. The fish market was an open air market with about 50 booths for fisherman to display and sell their catch of the day. We saw many types of fresh fish (eel, octopus and more).

After the fish market we drove out to the area where Lolli’s boat was docked and met his son 5-year old son, Nicolo and his wife Kiara. Loaded everything up and headed to the boat.

The boat is a new 43-foot sailboat with 3 rooms and 2 bathrooms. It was probably as much (if not more) sq footage as my condo in San Fran. (This photo is from the boat as we left the marina.)


We sailed out the Venice lagoon to the Adriatic Sea. Nicolo liked to call us ‘The Americani’s and made sure all five of us were accounted for on a regular basis (uno, due, tre…) like any normal five year old. Nicolo’ did a lot of drawing and coloring while we sailed. He asked Lolli to tell him a story. So Lolli shared the historic story of how the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor to start World War II. Heavy stuff for a 5-year old, but he was intrigued. So curious that he asked Lolli to draw it for him! Tim and Dave put their drawing skills to the test!














While the drawing and history lessons were taking place, Eduardo, an avid sailor and Rotoractor who had been recruited to help with the sailing, was shepherding the boat out to the Adriatic Sea.



























Lolli and Kiara prepared Kiara’s favorite seafood risotto for lunch and it was out of this world. We drank, ate, and then napped in the sun. It was nice because (this is going to sound crazy, but...) we each got time to be quiet. It was truly a day of leisure!!





















The day ended with a comedy of errors including a dead battery in Kiara's car, a 2-hour trip from Chioggia back to the hotel in Mestra (we were all climbing the walls), missed our train to Verona so our massive luggage, 7 adults, and 1 child crammed into two cars for a crazy ride!! Kiara and Nicolo both had to ride in his car seat. Jess and I were in the back of the BMW with bags piled on top of us! Stopped at the autogrill (aka gas station) for dinner and went on to meet our host families (still in our beach attire) at 1am!! After dropping Dave with his Rotarian host in bathrobe and all, we headed to the train station to meet the other hosts. We were driving in tandom and Lolli drove off and lost Kiara. There was some stressful Italian shared between the two vehicles and when Kiara got off the phone with Lolli she shared with Tim (in her broken English) that Lolli was 'Hungry' with her (meaning he was angry with her). (For those of you who know Tim, ask him to share his version of this!)

What does this picture say to you? Well if you are part of the District 5150 team - this is the official start of the "Love, Sex, American Express" dance. The dance started because two of our team members, Wendy and Tim, were driven back by our District Chair Host, Allesandro Lolli, from the Ferrari Museum in his BMW Convertible with a very popular song in Italy playing over....and over....and over....for a total of 20 minutes until Tim asked how long the song was. This song became an instant story and memory and this picture was taken as they replayed the scenario for the rest of the team and "Lolliwood" - as we like to call him.

So let me back up a bit. After Padova - we were taken to the city of Mestre - which is basically the suburban city of Venice. Our van dropped us in front of the Laguna Palace and all we could think was - where the heck are we?? This building is extermely modern with all glass covering the exterior - very different from all the ancient buildings we had seen. And boy were we happy when we got into our hotel rooms - so much room!!! And so many mirrors - we ladies were very happy!!

At the conference, we met many lovely Rotarians who welcomed us with warmly and listenly aptly while we and the Italian GSE teams gave our presentations. This was about our 10th time giving a presentation, so it went off without a hitch. The Italian team gave a GREAT presentation that we got to see for the first time on their visit to District 5150. Filippo did a summary page with statistics and numbers on all things that he collected during their visit. I wish I could remember the numbers - especially the number of pins he collected - I vaguely remember it being around 40!! It was such an entertaining presentation - the crowd ate it up.

After our presentations, we were treated a lovely, but quite long dinner at the restaurant of the hotel. There were about 7 courses and dinner didn't start until 9pm. Needless to say, some fun ensued at the "GSE" table....I think these pictures speak for themselves....

CIAO Amicis!!!! (If you remind me later - I'll demonstrate in person how I said this everytime we gave our presentation)....Jess

Padova!!!

Hi Everyone! Oh, I must say, after 3 weeks, we all are starting to really miss home, our beds, our loved ones and of course our work...seriously, I do. Ha ha.

Anyways, We are in Padova now. This is the home city of 2 of our Italian GSE counterparts; Fillipo and Francessca. They both say Hi. They have been great at taking us around and showing us their city.

We started our day with the Rotaract of Padova with a light lunch, a drink and then a walking tour of the town.

The architecture here has blown us away!!!

There was even a memorial for 9/11

We ended our day at the Rotary Meeting where we gave an improve presentation... PRESENTATION!!!! to the Rotary Club of Padova.

Padova has impressed us with their melting of old and new. From their mix of people to architecture like the University, and Monuments. A very modern city with a fantastic sense of history!

Vocational in Vicenza!

To all our fans out there, we must apologize for having neglected the BLOG for a couple of days! Internet connectivity is actually a bigger problem than I thought it would be! In any event, the day after arriving in Vicenza was a Sunday and our host Rotarians decided to give us a day of rest with some local Rotoractors (Rotary for folks 18-30 years old-for the non-Rotarian readers!) It was an unusual day of Vespas (small mopeds), mountain roads, a club named Messi Pieni (Half Drunk!), and sushi. Yes…I said sushi! I will let my team describe the rest of the day for you all but I will say that I really enjoyed a good sushi dinner in Vicenza!

On Monday, the team split for some vocational visits. I was fortunate enough to visit a base, which housed both the Center of Excellence for Stability Police Units and the European Gendarmerie Force. Now, I had no idea what these two organizations were about, and actually neither did my Rotary hosts, since they had never been inside the base! When we arrived, I noticed that the base was guarded by Carabinieri (Italian Military/Civilian Police), but when we entered we were greeted by a person in full BDU’s (battle dress uniforms or camouflage stuff for the non police/military readers!) When I looked closer at his uniform I saw he was a U.S. Marine! He introduced himself as Colonel Mark Franklin USMC, assigned as the second in command of the Stability Police Unit organization. He and another commander of the Carabinieri then brought us to meet the director, Brigadier General Umberto Rocca (Carabinieri). The General spoke little English and when I spoke to him in Italian, he turned to Colonel Franklin and said, “I wish you spoke Italian as well as he does!” Colonel Franklin laughed and explained to me that he was attempting to learn the language but English was the primary language spoken in their organization.

I was then given a very professional briefing on the organization in a meeting room, which was part ancient palace and part Star Wars! The technology was state of the art and I found out that the organization was born out of a G8 summit in the early 2000’s and was staffed by police and military from the G8 countries. Their directive was to assist countries with policing and the amount of assistance depended on where they were deployed. They were able to go into a country and assist the local police with training, technology and criminal investigations. They also brought police managers and middle managers to their base in Vicenza for intensive courses in police management and police tactics. They also participated in mentoring programs for police managers in other countries. Colonel Franklin advised me that he was assigned as the U.S. representative to the organization because he had been an MP (military police).

We then went to a different building which housed the European Gendarmerie Force. I met the Director, Colonel Jorge Manuel Gaspar Esteves, who was part of the Portuguese national police. I was also given a briefing by his staff and found that this organization was a completely European one, in which countries which only had police agencies which were also part of the military, were represented. The directive of this force was three fold: if deployed to a failed state, they would provide actual police protection for the population, which would come in after the military, and they would be responsible for civilian policing; although they were also considered a light infantry unit and could also go into combat! They could also be present as advisors if a police force already existed in the state they were deployed too or just provide training and mentoring for native police forces. Currently, I was told that they had personnel deployed in several countries including Bosnia, the Middle East and Haiti. This was all VERY interesting for me, but for all of you non-police types out there, this may be a little boring so I will transition to our next stop when the team got back together at a winery!

We visited the Zonin winery which has cantinas all over Italy and also in West Virginia! We had a tasting of prosecco and then a great lunch! That evening we were very fortunate to have a Rotary Meeting outside, in the garden of a beautiful villa in Vicenza Nord! The club members were great and many of them spoke English. They had even set up a screen and projector outside for us to do our presentations. My entire team thinks that has been the best meeting we have had so far in Italy, and I agree!

Day Due In Padova!!!

Ciao Amicis!!!

Day Two from Padova and what a DAY! We got up, and got loaded into the cars, and headed out on a 2 hour drive to Modena, where we all got to pay homage do the FERRARI GODS!!!

I realised about 1/4 of the way through the tour... I was taking pictures of EVERYTHING!!! So some of my main highlights were; making memorable video recordings, ;-p seeing some the best engines known to man!

After everyone did some souvenir shopping, we headed for lunch with "Ale-wood" and "The General," our Rotarian Hosts for the day. At lunch I found a NEW wine that I've not tasted before Lambrusco di Lorbara, its a red wine, served chilled and is very light but goes great with a hot summer day. I'll be buying some when I get home for when I'm sitting on the balcony enjoying the day.

Well, this is a short post, we have many days to catch up on. So for now, c-yah.

Vicenza, here we come!

So, it is time to head to our next city to visit, Vicenza…the only problem is that we have no way to get there! Due to a little snafu, we end up taking the train! Another 2-hour adventure for the D5150 GSE Team! Here we are, with 10, yes TEN pieces of luggage plus your assortment of carry-on bags, various sacks with dirty clothes and numerous Rotary banners and gifts at the Trieste train station! “Picollo” George, assisted us in getting ALL the luggage on the train and finding our seats. We had luggage under and between every seat! I warned the team that when they called our stop we had very little time to get all of our luggage off the train, so we staged it near the exit door. When the conductor called our stop, I yelled “ready?!” and as soon as the train stopped we started literally throwing the luggage off the train! I asked the nice conductor-lady who was saying “forza ragazie!” not to leave since Tim was still aboard the train. In the end we made it off the train with ALL of our luggage!

We were met by Rotarians Bruno (DGN of D2060) and Ida from RC near Vicenza. They told us that our hotel was very close to the train station, but when they saw our luggage they hesitated and called for a taxi! We arrived at the Hotel Christina outside the walls of Vicenza…I will allow my team to describe to each of you the Hotel Christina…In any event we had made it! We took a brief tour of the City (where Tim found a small portion of Roman road he wanted to take a walk on!) and went to lunch with Ida and Bruno. Ida spoke English very well and was actually one of the GSE board members who quizzed the outgoing Italian GSE team in the language. Ida told us that she had a connection to get us into the Teatro Olympico to watch the symphony rehearsal (Bach). She went on to tell us that this was the most beautiful theater in the world…well we just nodded and said “of course it is.” Well, she was right! The theater was AWESOME! We were not able to take photos, but I was able to sneak a few photos I have added! (I hope my colleagues at the Questura are not reading this!)

Ida then told us she was taking us to a restaurant with the best pizza in Italy…by now we should have believed her because she was right again! A small pizzeria in the mountains above Vicenza, and boy was it good! They even had a dessert pizza made with Nutela!

A good start to Vicenza!

Trieste Wrap Up!

So I wanted to add a couple of photos to Tim's post about our last couple of days in Trieste!

Here is a picture of just two of the large packages we have sent home! They are going by ship....along the old Spice Route I believe...who knows, maybe they will discover a way to the Orient?






Here is a great photo of my AWESOME team and out new friends from Teieste including Dino of Generali Insurance Co., and of course "Picolo George!" Also included is a great photo of the Trieste City hall at night!

Stay tuned for our adventure on a train to Vicenza!

Piccolo George

Trieste is such a beautiful seaside city. We started our morning (after my due or two espressos) by gathering together our collections of Rotary "Schwag" and packing up a box each, to send home by Italian Post (I bet we get back to the USA before the boxes arrive, LOL). The President of the Rotary Club of Trieste North, "Little George" was our host for the day.

He was great and so was his secretary Rafaela. They helped us fill out the waybills and translate to the Italian postal workers what the heck we were trying to do. Let's just say a bunch of American people sending boxes via Italian Post was an adventure in of itself.

While we were at the Post Office we met up with our other hostess for the day Francesca, a Trieste Rotaractor! When we finished at the post office it was time for lunch so we all went to"Generali Insurance," one of the largest insurance agencies in Italy. There we met Dino, and a few other Rotarians who were hosting us at their office's rooftop cafe. The food was great, the wine was amazing but the company was memorable. I enjoyed the Pinot Nero so much, Dino offered us a case to take home!!

(Below) Proseco on the rooftop deck before lunch at Generali

(Left) Preparing to feast!

(Left) The view from the rooftop deck at Generali.

(Left) Dino and Silvio leaving Genarali after lunch.

After lunch we departed Trieste proper for the high plateaus immediately outside the city, where we took a tour of the local Nature Museum. Honestly I've never seen a nature museum done so nicely (must be the benefit of the tax rate). Anyways, it was great seeing the local flora and fauna. Big George had a very political career and this museum happened to be one of his legacies. We also enjoyed the living roof (not quite the CA Academy of Sciences, but nice just the same).

We ended our day by taking a nice walk to a local pizzeria, where we met Dino again, and 2 other Rotaractors; President Allesandro, and Incoming President Francesco.

We've all has such an amazing time so far, but it's nice to make a quick phone call to loved ones. We miss our friends and families and will keep you all posted with many more blog posts soon!

Yes, flat irons DO melt eventually.

Hi all!

I keep forgetting to put this in a bloggy entry...

So when we were in Tarvisio I attempted to use my flat iron to do my hair. BIG MISTAKE, I should have just bought one in Italy! \

This is what happened - I changed my converter to what I thought was the appropriate voltage and plugged it in. It seemed quite hot but I thought it was fine until I tried to do my hair. I now have two chunks of fried, frizzy hair that have yet to go back to normal. Also, after I tried to do those two chunks, one of the ceramic plates actually half fell out of the flat iron because it was so hot it melted the plastic casing!

I have now learned my lesson and will buy flat irons in whatever country I go to from now on....

I do have to say, though, it's been quite nice to not do my hair! Air drying all the way!!!!!!!!

We'll have more blog entries soon.

Now we're off to the Ferrari museum and restaurant. Ciao amicis!

Day of Maratona (Part Due!)

Ok, so I had to add a few picture to this marathon day! The RC of Trieste (the second oldest Club in Italy behind Milan) had a very packed schedule for us on this day and besides the title we have given this day, we had another one. It was, "What? Another Board Meeting??!" All of the Italian officials received us as quasi official U.S. delegates! At one point, the President of the Trieste Chamber of Commerce told us that he wantged to increase trade between our two countries and I almost responded, "Sure! I'm all for more trade! Tariffs? Blah! Who needs them!" But, I decided I did not want to create an international incident that our State Department would have to clean up so I held my tongue!This is a photo of the "Board Meeting" we had with the President of the Chamber of Commerce.

As was already discussed, I was really in my element in our meeting with the "Questura" of Trieste! It was great to see my Italian colleagues and learn about their way of Law Enforcement. I also found that when they learned that I did the same job in the U.S. they visibly relaxed and were very open with their conversations with me. We discussed crime treads and methods of combating them. I was amazing to me how similar issues are in both countries. Just another example of the advantages of this program, a collaboration and exchange of ideas to bring two diverse culture together!

Ciao a dopo!

Una Giornata di Maratone (a day of marathons)

 *Like before, let's give credit where credit's due... JESSICA wrote this one, not me! Again, it's a team effort - she took the time to write it and then I'm taking the time to paste it in and update with pics (cause uploading pics takes a looooooooong time!). Enjoy!*




Okay...so all of you out there reading this blog know I run marathons and half marathons. Running, outside of work, is a big passion of mine and I spend many hours during the week running with friends and training on my own. There is no marathon in the world that could have prepped me for the incredibly busy day that was planned for us....

So as I said, we didn't get much sleep after our trip through Slovenia and Muggia, and we were expected to meet our next host at 8am. Let's do some math here....3 women + 1 bathroom + 1 hairdryer that is working + 8am meet time = a very well coordinated schedule of who is getting up first and how much time each will need. Dave and Tim are so enjoying our discussions of hair prep and makeup products - all part of the GSE experience!!

Alberto "Uno" met us exactly at 8am and thankfully took us to caffe lattes in a square near our first visit. Coffee!!! we NEEDED coffee!! Alberto was the picture of a professional lawyer, as he introduced himself quickly, and immediately impressed the group with his impeccable English. He took careful pains to speak to the group always in English and even took some of the load of interpreting Italian spoken to us into English off of Dave's shoulders throughout our day. A BIG SHOUT OUT to Dave for constantly interpreting - even if he sometimes interprets English into Italian for us by accident when a host actually speaks English to us :) But back to Alberto "Uno" - I'm going to stress again that he was incredibly polite with a gentle smile and the professionalism of a true gentleman. This was daytime time Alberto "Uno" - we'll get to nightime Alberto in a few minutes....but let me tease with a quote from Dave, "who put the quarter in him and powered him up??"

Alberto "Due" meet us shortly after our caffes and joined us in meeting the president of the Trieste Chamber of Commerce and then we continued on our tour of the Chamber of Commerce museum. We immediately fell in love with our second "cartoon character" engaging host - who loved to call Dave "Cop Bertini" and enjoyed our American sarcasm. What we learned in the museum is Trieste and coffee have a long relationship. That is a huge part of the history of importation and exportation of the port of Trieste. Illy coffee - we've now seen the birthplace. It was stressed heavily to us in the tour, something that was mentioned over and over through our visit in Trieste, that the diversity of the port city had a big impact on the culture and industry of the city as a whole. AFter the museum we trekked around the city squares a bit, seeing the various buildings that indicate the diversity - a Greek shipping building, a synagoue, a Slovenian family home.

After a second caffe latte (thank DIO for the caffe!!) we went off to our appointment at the Regional police station. Dave was in his element. We met the chief and some of the divisions leaders in a central chamber. We were given a warm welcome followed by a tour of the bomb diffuser truck, a police vehicle, a tour of the dispatch chamber, and finally a view of their "CSI" division. The dispatch chamber was incredibly interesting - Trieste has 70% of the city covered with cameras that constantly patrol the public spaces for disturbances - we got to see the place all those images come into the police centrally. The camera locations are publically known and were published in a local newspaper - Alberto Uno joked that the tiny amount of crime that occurs in Trieste is found in the 30% of the city that isn't patrolled by cameras. The CSI division was interesting for the old model of a crime scene recreation that was out in the hallway. We learned that in the past, before the days of the CSI we know of, the police in the division would have to build models depicting crime scenes that often took 3 years to build!! Very detailed models but talk about old technology!

After our numerous pictures and goodbyes at the Police Station we went to meet the Mayor at City Hall. He was very gracious, welcomed us in a booming voice, gave us a gorgeous book on the area, and then left us as quickly as he came in. We did a quick tour of the building and headed off to our lunch meeting at the Rotary Club de Trieste. After a truly affascinante lunch, we all quickly got up, gave our presentations and basically ran out of the meeting to get to our next appointment - a "board meeting" at the Research Park - calling out goodbyes to our favorite Alberto "Due" on the way.

WOW! Silicon Valley, eat your heart out - there are some amazing intelligence firms in Trieste!! One CEO of a new product line the Research Park showed us software that helps in solving crimes involving video or surveillance tapes. Dave and Wendy would like to buy a copy for their work places.
So at this point, you must be thinking "that's it - their day has to finally be over"....but it's not. It's a GSE trip after all!! We then went for a quick car ride to the Electron Accelerator plant that houses a large source of energy and scientific research for the Trieste area. We were joined by the President of the Rotary Club de Trieste, Pierpaolo. The accelator was amazing and our tour guide was so nice and informative...but we started to get a little rummy. I'll go ahead and out myself, I was falling asleep while standing listening the talk of how light and energy is created in the accelator. At one point I was swaying while standing and trying desparately to hold my eyes open. Oh did I mention that we wore our uniforms and at one point all of us had heels on?? Kimmie was smart enough to think of the idea of a change of shoes, so those puppies were off pretty much by the time we finished the Chamber of Commerce tour :)

We finally headed back to the hotel for a quick change of clothes before embarking on our nighttime adventures of a cocktail in a famous bar/coffee house followed by dinner at a famous fish restaurant. Here is where we get back to Alberto Uno. Alberto left us at the hotel and went to work for an hour. When he came back to pick us up - the lawyer was gone and the rockstar had joined us. He was cracking us up with jokes, told us some great stories of Trieste, and showed us a fabulous time at both establishments. Alberto and I had gotten into a great conversation on our way to the Rotary lunch meeting earlier in the day about true hospitality and the meaning of the GSE exchange. Our conversation over dinner was so memorable - I left with his business card filled with the names of books he wanted me to read and a you-tube clip of his brother's rock band video he wanted us to see. Thank you Alberto Uno for your amazing hospitality through the day and night and for the entertaining and engaging conversation over dinner!!!

Ciao for now!!


look at the original coffee makers

Dave in his element with the chief of police

The bomb expert explaining how the robot works

I channeled the film The Hurt Locker and tried the bomb helmet on, so heavy!

Dave and one of the head police officers

Look, all the pics on the screens are from cameras placed all around Trieste. The police know your every move...

Small model recreation of murder scene. They said it took three years to complete it.

This is a look inside the model. Yes, that white sheet had red spots and is covering the miniature body

Mayor of Trieste showing Wendy, Alberto Uno and Tim the book

The whole group (including Alberto Uno and Due) with the Mayor and our group.

Us with the President of The Rotary Club of Trieste. Thanks Pierpaolo!

Picture of what the accelerator place looked from overhead.

Look at all those beam lines in the place!

Our wonderful tour guide of the accelerator place is in the orange. Thanks to him for trying to make all the technical jargon understandable!

Well deserved drinks with Alberto Uno at a famous cafe in Trieste

Dave and past president Giorgio at dinner

Thanks for reading, everybody! Night night!