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Published: October 1st 2007
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This morning dawned rather early for me after staying up late to finish my blogs. Fortunately, our host was running a little bit late, and his email was a sign to sleep thirty extra minutes. The first order of business for the day was to have breakfast and meet with our hotel liaison. The breakfast is held on the second floor, and we ate outside in a small courtyard, which was extremely inviting. I've noticed that I drink more coffee in Europe - it's so ingrained in the culture, that not to is almost an insult. So even though I have mostly given it up at home, I began the day with a cappuccino, and have already had an espresso as well! Following a quick breakfast, we toured around the conference rooms at the hotel and peeked in some of the other options for hotel rooms. Our hotel liaison also promised that they would be renovating the lobby from January to June, so by the time we are back next September, the hotel will be in beautiful shape.
We next headed to
Casina Valadier, one of our options for the Welcome Reception and Dinner. It is a short walk from the
hotel, and along the way, we were treated to a stunning view of Rome, and in particular, Saint Peter's Basilica. It is situated in the heart of Villa Borghese, and is the highest point in Pincio, where past great Roman faimilies owned vast gardens. Built from 1816 to 1837 by Giuseppe Valadier, a well-known Roman architect and urban planner, it is considered a very fashionable place in Rome. Our cocktail and dinner would be held in the gardens, as long as the weather was good, or in a room on the top floor, overlooking the view I mentioned earlier. Either way, it will be a delightful way to kick off our 2008 European Regional Meeting.
Next, it was a short walk to our firm's offices, down the Spanish steps. I should mention that although I enjoyed all of the walking we did today (especially since I need to prepare for next week's Avon Walk!), I have been wearing these new shoes for about a week now, and they've been causing some blisters. I feared wearing them today would only make them worse, but my other shoe options were heels, flip flops, or sneakers. Not super professional. So I'm now
sporting some serious blisters all over my heels, and the strange bandaids that I brought with me seem to make them worse and not better. I've given up on wearing the shoes until the blisters heal, so I'll be wearing my flip flops to dinner tonight - nothing like wearing a cheap pair of crappy flip flops in Rome, probably one of the best places in the world to get shoes. I definitely plan to shoe shop the next time I am here!
Our firm's offices are in an old building, built in the 15th or 16th century. However, the offices themselves are very modern, juxtaposing the old with the new in rounded archways and a view to a historical courtyard in their conference room. We greeted all of our friends there, and I was able to meet the only partner that I didn't already know and then we sat down with our two main contacts to discuss the business of planning the meeting for next year. I won't give away any of our secrets, but I think it will be a fabulous and successful meeting!
Next, it was on to lunch, which was originally scheduled for three
hours, but we managed to make it in one and a half since we had talked for longer about the meeting than we had planned. We walked down to one of the firm's favorite little restaurants, where we sat outside at rickety tables and ate bread and drank lots of water (and vino for the others). I ordered amerticiana (I think), which was basically rigatoni in a red sauce (and some other things). It was delicious, done perfectly al dente with a wonderful sauce. I'm still full now, so luckily dinner isn't until about nine or ten tonight. The best part about lunch though was the company. I have always enjoyed our Italian lawyers, and having lunch with all of them only reinforced this feeling. They are all close friends, entwined not only in business, but in each others' lives, and it was wonderful to see the rapport they have with each other, and be a part of such a fun and friendly group. I think their warmth and enthusiasm alone will make for a terrific meeting next year, much like with the Turks during last week's meeting.
Once lunch was finished, we were off to see another option
for either the Welcome Reception & Dinner or the Gala Dinner, Ara Pacis. The new
Ara Pacis Museum opened in the spring of 2006, and was designed by international architect Richard Meier. It is an extremely modern museum, which houses the Ara Pacis, a more than 2,000 year old "Altar of Peace" which was used for sacrifices. Currently, the museum is home to 300 of Valentino dresses, which have been placed on mannequins dotted around the museum in a haunting way. It is quite a thought-provoking look at the old and the new together, and we were very fortunate to have a private tour of the museum and its facilities in preparation for our decision on where we will hold the dinners. We anticipate that we won't be using the Ara Pacis Museum for any of our events, only because it does not appear to be traditionally Roman, which is what the group will expect. But it was still interesting to see, and I was particularly tickled to see on display several dresses worn by famous women like Halle Berry, Audrey Hepburn, and Julia Roberts (my "twin").
By this time, my blisters were really starting to get painful, so I was
happy when we decided to part ways for a time and rest at the hotel. We will be joining our lawyers again this evening, first for a cocktail to celebrate their secretary's birthday. Then, we are off to dinner, and finally to the Castel Sant Angelo, another option for the Gala Dinner. From what our hosts have told us, I think it will be spectacular, and I fully expect that we will be having our final event there - and from our preparations this morning, it will truly be an event!
So now I can check two things off my list of to-do in Italy - having a piece of pizza, and having a dish of pasta. I'm already excited to come back here, and I haven't even left yet! I'll have to really put together a list for my next trip here (including Bill's great suggestions!) and when I come back, I'll take more time to see the city and the surrounding country!
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