So I will be very surprised if I haven't put on five pounds by the end of this conference because of all the good food! We have yet to do any touring, so tomorrow, I will actually have a blog about the Coliseum and the Forum (yay!). But today was still all about the food. For lunch, we went to Obika, a local mozzarella bar which is opening locations around the world. I expected there to be a lot of mozzarella, but I had NO idea how much! We had our Board of Directors lunch there, so about ten of us [View Full Entry]

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I have finally returned to Roma, and this time for more than a day! The weather is beautiful, and I am excited to see the various sites that we have planned for this week. But first, about my journey... It all started with the bad news a few weeks ago that Alitalia had declared bankruptcy. I hoped that this wouldn't affect the flight, and it didn't, though I could see a little why they had declared bankruptcy (ie, rather un-helpful flight attendants). I knew I was in trouble when I arrived at the gate pretty early, with two hours before boarding, [View Full Entry]

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I think I may explode before this trip is over from all the delicious food! This afternoon's lunch was at Bar Ciampini, on the Via Sistini just up from our hotel, a preview for Saturday's lunch there. We planned to try the same menu we will be having on Saturday, which was delicious. I also anticipate it will be too heavy, because I was full after three courses - and there will be four! We began with an interesting juxtaposition of salty parma ham and sweet cantaloupe - although I knew there were other courses to follow, I enjoyed it so [View Full Entry]

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How cool is it that I'm in the airport, and able to log on to the internet (for free, PS) and write my final blog from California? Man, I love technology. Hopefully the battery on my laptop won't die now! Normally on travel day, I don't have much to report, but since I am taking the red eye tonight (and have about two and a half hours before my flight), I was in and around San Francisco for most of the day. I woke up early in my hotel room, and my tousled sheets told me that I hadn't slept as [View Full Entry]

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Although I did not greet this morning as leisurely as yesterday morning, this hotel must be agreeing with me. For the second day in a row, I woke up before my alarm (could just be the time difference), only to realize that I must have stayed asleep in the very position that slumber had found me. I literally slept like a log, a heavy one, unmoving until the sun slunk into the corners of the room and I twisted myself awake. Although that sounds restful, I still have gotten less than eight hours of sleep each night, and midway through the [View Full Entry]

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Holy cow, what a busy day! So, where to start? Well, I'll start with this gorgeous hotel that I'm staying in - the Four Seasons San Francisco. After arriving slightly later than intended last night, thanks to all the wacky storms lately which held up my flight on the runway, I made it to the hotel much more quickly than I expected. When I arrived, it reminded me of shopping at Lord & Taylor - I know that sounds weird, so let me explain. Whenever I go to Lord & Taylor and purchase something with my L&T charge, they always hand [View Full Entry]

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At last, the conference is over, and for the first time in almost four years, I feel sad to leave this group! I really enjoyed myself this conference, and felt much more relaxed than I have in the past. Although I am so ridiculously tired that I almost fell asleep during this morning's session! I did have a nice relaxing afternoon though, with one short side trip out to the Old Town to get a marionette as a souvenir. I'm looking forward to hanging it up! But the highlight of the day was certainly the Gala Dinner, and I'm not just [View Full Entry]

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Ah, another night of less than five hours of sleep - I think this trip is slowly killing me! Today marked the official start of the business proceedings for the conference. The morning session went well, and was only slightly delayed. Then, we were off to Petrinske Terasy restaurant, a terrace restaurant situated in the middle of the Petrin Hill, with a truly stunning view of the city of Prague. We took a rather bumpy bus ride, over streets of cobblestone to the top of the hill and then wandered through a beautiful garden on the way to the restaurant. It [View Full Entry]

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This morning again dawned too early, and soon I was off to our Board Meeting, at the offices of our host firm. Following the meeting, I just about made it back to the hotel in time to rush upstairs, change and head out to the tour of the Jewish Ghetto. Known today as Josefov after Joseph II, the Holy Roman Emperor who emancipated Jews in 1871, it is completely surrounded by the Old Town. Jews are believed to have settled in Prague as early as the 10th century, and were eventually concentrated within a walled ghetto (prior to the first World [View Full Entry]

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Today was such a whirlwind, I don't know where to start! This morning dawned WAY too early for my jet-lagged body, but I got up and out by 8:45 to head to Cesky Krumlov. A small city in the South Bohemian (yes, I said SOUTH) Region of the Czech Republic, it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, best known for its fine architecture and art of the historic old town, as well as Cesky Krumlov Castle. Sounds delightful right? Well, it was, except for one tiny little detail that the events planners forgot to mention - after we were underway for [View Full Entry]

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