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!