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!

Mad Max and the Forklifts....

Ciao Amicis!!! What a time we've had in Trieste. I'm going to do a wrap up blog for the past few days to catch you all up on all that we've done. So day two of Trieste consisted of Mad Max as I like to call him magically finding us at the local coffee shop. We were about to head back to the hotel to meet our next hosts from the Rotary Club de Muggia, when this blue eyed guy with a wide smile and his quiet companion showed up at the coffee shop. We had thought they were Rotarians immediately but mistakenly thought they had seen our presentations the night before so we said hi, did the "Ciao, Ciao" thing a few times and then they kept standing there....THATS when we realized they were our hosts. And boy we're we happy to see them!

Mad Max was what we've started to call "cartoon character" engaging. He was super friendly, with a wide smile and a joking streak a mile long. Ferdinando, a past president of the club, was the gentle soul of the group, calm with a sweet smile. We hoped in a van with Mad Max at the helm, speaking very good English no less, and off we went.

First we went to Lipitzan to see the horses - which was super exciting for Tim as he had asked some of our previous hosts about the famous dancing white horses of this area. And dance those horses did for us - gorgeous!! We saw the stalls, the ring, the church of the area and enjoyed our visit immensely. Then we dashed off again with Mad Max to the Orient Express for a great lunch of the food of the area, which these days is considered Slovenia though the town had a very Italian feel to it. Hard to express how astonishing it is to all of us that all of these countries are so close together and borders are crossed within minutes. We have state lines that are easy to get to but somehow it's so different to be in another country where another language is spoken. After the local cuisine we hopped to it again and drove to a Slovenia port area called the Port of Roses. Tim and I immediatly dashed towards the 5 star hotel to see hospitality at it's finest - and it was. The Palace Hotel owned by the Kimpinski grop was an ancient palace for the local nobility that was converted to a hotel some 100+ years ago. Recently the hotel went through a renovation and added a very modern, but very well integrated wing of rooms. And since I took no less than 150 pictures of that hotel during our showroom tour, I will now apologize on behalf of Tim and myself to my team for dragging them along on our fascination with hotels. Our poor team has now seen probably way more hotels then they would ever like to see and heard WAY more discussion of hotel operations and renovations then they would ever want. SORRY Wendy, Kimmie and Dave!!!

Leaving from the port we went to an ancient church on a vista overlooking Trieste and Muggia. The fresco's and some marble engravings inside the church were from the 900s. 900s!!! That is one thing that keeps blowing our minds - the immense history that is centuries and centuries older than ours. After that quick stop (Mad Max kept saying "Allore, we must go" while pointing to his watch at each stop) we headed into the central village of Muggia for a quick walk around the square, which the Team has equated Muggia as their Sausalito while Trieste is their San Francisco - a beautiful seaside village. Then we were off to PastaZara2 factory. There we met up with some Rotaracters, Rotarians, and some Rotary exchange students from high schools in Australia and British Columbia. The tour of the facilities was fascinating - there was so much automation in the factory - they even had computer run forklifts. This was a scene straight out of Terminator - these machines were moving around by themselves. We were told to watch out for them, they would stop when they got too close, but personally those things scared the crap out of me. Giant forklifts moving pallets of pasta around....just by themselves....without humans. CRAZY!! And at the end of the pasta factory tour, we were whisked back from Muggia to central Trieste and back to our hotel. We called out our goodbyes to the lovely Maximillan as we hopped out of the car (who knew there would be so much in and out of minivans on this trip??)

A quick freshen up and then were back at the driving - headed to the Rotary Club de Muggia for our second formal presentation at a Rotary Club. Might I brag again about my team for a moment....they all did awesome!! This was probably our latest night at a Rotary meeting - dinner didn't finish until 10pm and we did our presentations AFTER dinner. I know my head hit the pillow that night but I honestly don't remember sleeping...because we didn't get to sleep for very long....to be continued.....

The horsey's of Lipitzan

Weinerschnitzel - YUM!

The Palace Hotel

Isn't Max a character??!!

Wait a minute... what day is it? Where are we?

*Let's give credit where credit's due! Wendy wrote this one, not me!  But her computer isn't connecting to the internet right now, so with the power of copy, paste and jump drives, here goes a team effort blog entry!*


You Told Us So!!

Each of us has had the pleasure of hearing stories of our predecessors on prior GSE trips and things to expect. This entry is dedicated to all those who have come before us and know the thoughts and feelings at the close of week #1. Here are a few things that are coming to life for our group.

On May 25, 2010, we said goodbye to our first host family, Guilio and Daniela, and left the mountains of Tarvisio for Trieste, a port city at the peak of the Adriatic Sea. We had a quiet, tearful ride to Trieste where we met the presidents (past, current, and incoming) of the Rotary Club of Trieste Nord. This group, though different, was welcoming and excited about arrival. Getting acclimated to a new group of people and a new place so quickly after such a great connection with our prior host is a bit disorienting?. They took us to Miramare castle which was built by the Austrian Arch Duke, Ferdinand Maximillion in 1860. The history here is affascinante (amazing!...My team thinks I say that too much?) and our hosts were rattling off stories of significant milestones in European history at every turn. After leaving Miramare, we were joined by a few other Rotarians at the Yacht Club Adriaco, the second oldest yacht club in Trieste with 800 members. More Proseco, wine, and sardines! We walked along the coast in beautiful sunny weather with our new host, Marco Meloni, sharing more of the history of Trieste. It is pretty hot and we’ve done a lot of walking.

Jess and Tim went on their first vocational meeting where they met the General Manager of the Hotel Savory. Jess is exposed to a bit of Italian machismo! Kimmie, Dave and I roamed the city streets of Trieste with another Rotarian. At the evening rush hour (5pm), the city is vibrant and alive and most people are in an outdoor café / bar sipping their wine and relaxing.

This is the first large club mtg and formal presentation. We were decked out in our uniforms and ready to go, seated at the head table to the President and his gang of VIP’s. Our presentation went off pretty well. We debriefed and bond in the bar afterwards. Salute!!

We’re finally starting to gel as a team. We’re getting to a place where we know the strengths of each team member, how we compliment and yes, challenge one another. Tired yet energized as you told us we would be?


Miramare Castle

Miramare Castle

Us at Miramare Castle with Rotary Club of Trieste Nord President Giorgio

Sailboats in Trieste

Yacht Club Adriaco

First club meeting with presentations, SUCCESS!

Well deserved drinks, ching ching!

Ciao!

Do you remember the time Tim ate two full plates of prosciutto?

amazing... AMAZING!

Okay, I am stealing this favorite line of Wendy's, but truly, our trip has been AMAZING.

*Note, this word will be used on purpose throughout this blog post*

So, day 6 was spent in the mountains:

Alessandro Lolli (Chairman of the Italian District 2060 GSE program) along with Giulio's friend Franco (el presidente del mundo!) met us at the Negroni's and Dave, Jess, Wendy and Tim packed into Giulio and Franco's cars while I took a grand trip in Alessandro's wonderful convertible. Soooooo, after dealing with motion sickness for as long as I can remember, I've decided I want a convertible! We were twisting and turning up the mountains for about an hour and a half and didn't feel sick once... AMAZING! Hear that Mike? We're getting a convertible someday! :)

Finally we made it to the town of Sauris in the Province of Udine. And in this town they produce the most incredible prosciutto, speck, lardo, salamis, etc. Very important, this family owned company doesn't give tours to just anybody... and we got a tour! Such a great experience to see the salting, smoking and resting process that all the meat goes through and then, the best part, the tasting of the meats! Prosciutto and lardo of such great quality and sliced so thin it melts as soon as it hits your mouth. And yes, I tried lardo for the first time and it was fantastic, just like butter! Of course you can't eat it all the time, though otherwise you'll be molto grasso! I think y'all got that one, right?

We were also fortunate enough to spend time with the wife of the Sauris Wolf factory owner, a wonderfully strong, kind Italian womyn who took time out of her day to tell us the story of how the factory came to be and how they don't expand because they want to maintain control of the quality of product. Quality, not quantity!

And as the title says, Tim was truly in his element at the factory. He was firing off questions to our tour guide and then when we got to the tasting, he finished one plate and then another. This is good living, y'all.

After the prosciutto factory in Sauris we headed back to the mountain to the casa de Negroni to rest before we got a tour of Tarvisio and hopped over the border quickly to see Slovenia. Giulio showed us the most AMAZING lake (lago). Truly, I hope to come back to camp there sometime. The view of the mountains was breathtaking.

When we returned to the house, the two playful labs (Astra and Scott) were romping in the front yard while Daniela was already in the kitchen at the helm of a magnificent machine that made polenta while also taking care to stir the porcini mushrooms (from their garden) in the melted butter (burro). Yet another AMAZING dinner with the our Camporosso famiglia - polenta, deer stew (cooked three hours to a point where it was tender as mom's pot roast), porcini mushrooms sauteed in butter, a multitude of different cheeses with cherry tomatos, fresh green salad, three kinds of gelato, various chocolates and then grappa to wrap up the meal. Don't worry about us starving over here!

Life with the Negroni's was absolutely phenomenal. We truly could have stayed there our whole trip and been content, they are our Italian mama and papa.

So as you can tell, we're trying to blog/talk about one day at a time, but we're a bit behind. So somebody else will talk about our AMAZING journey and introduction to Trieste later.

For now, goodbye our dear readers. We miss and love all of you dearly. Keep readin and we'll keep writin!

And now, some pictures for y'all :)



look, a mercedes benz garbage truck!

sauris wolf prosciutto factory

inside their store

prosciutto lab where these workers are specially trained to smell the meats to make sure they're still good to send out.

look at all those prosciuttos!

our tour guide explaining the curing process

happy campers at the wolf factory!

jealous yet?

look, the wife of the wolf factory owner, spending time with us little american folk!

our wonderful hosts - Giulio and Daniela Negroni. Our Italian famiglia. Noi ti amiamo!!!

10-year-old Aftra and her 8-year-old son Scott

if you haven't been to tarvisio, you're missing out...

one happy GSE team!

polenta machine!

look! Giulio and Daniela hung our flags up around the dining room table!

Ciao a tutti!

A Day of Surprises!

We are still in the gorgeous mountain town outside Travisio and having a great time!!! We had a small change in the program today because Monica (from the GSE team from Italy and incoming Rotoract District Governor) was having a "Spring Party"...well they called it a BBQ, although it was not a BBQ that we would recognize at home! My team has decided that the Italians now believe the term BBQ means "American Party"! This spring party was back in the area of Venice (Mogliano Veneto) at an awesome antique villa named Villa Zoppolato.
Our first surprise of the day was when we found the road blocked by a bunch of people and my colleagues, the Caribinieri! As they often do in Italy, we all got out of the car and said "What's up?" Well....little did we know but our route took us into the middle of the Giro d' Italia (Tour de Italia) bicycle race! We waited a few minutes and here came the pack of bikes, screaming by!
(Lance Armstrong-eat your heart out!)





After about 20 minuted the road opened and we arrived at the Villa. The grounds were beautiful and the "padrone d' casa" was very excited to tell us all about the space which was built in the 10th century! We then met with Monica and several other Rotoractors. Our host "papa" Giulio was also with us, since he had to drive us all the way there! Diego (team leader of the Italian team) and Alesandro (District GSE Chair) were also there. We had a great lunch "al fresco" and that is when we got our second surprise...Monica asked one of the girls "So, do you want to try out your presentation on our computer?" WHAT? No one told me we were expected to do our full presentation for this event!? Well, luckily we had someone as smart as Christine as our D5150 District GSE Chair who told us "Always be prepared to do a presentation at the drop of a hat!" Jessica (bless her heart!) had the presentation on a memory stick in her purse and we decided to wing it!


Well my team did GREAT! I felt like a proud father as my team went up and from memory gave their presentations, even throwing in a few Italian phrases! I am very lucky I was given such a talented and intelligent team of young professionals! I warmed up the crowd by doing my part in Italian and they actually laughed at my jokes! (Well maybe they were just laughing at me!) I started with the one about the Italian farmer, the priest and the rabbi...Just Kidding! The crowd of 50 was very receptive to our presentations and many came up to us after and asked lots of questions and all said how well we did!

We left that meeting and arrived back home in time to change into our formal uniforms for our first "official" Rotary meeting at the Rotary Club of Tarevisio! Our host "papa" is the president of the club and he and I compared notes about our two clubs, since they are similar in size. (Nice to know that Rotarians are the same all over the world!) Here is a picture of us all decked out with our host family before the meeting!
The meeting was held in a mountain top Alpine hotel with about 20 members of the Club. The members greeted us warmly and we were seated at the head table with Presidente Giulio! When he rang the bell (yes they do that here too!) to start the meeting, he began to describe my team and how happy he was to host such wonderful people. His compliments were so effusive, that at one point I actually started to blush! I was so proud of the impression that my team had made on him!
Overall, another great day in Italy, District 2060!