Firenze, la Fior di Italia

Bistec a la Fiorentina

Memory has begun to fade, but I'll do my best to do justice to lovely Florence.  After a very pleasant Eurail trip from Rome, we arrived in Florence and walked through the center of town to our hotel, Hotel Monna Lisa. This lovely little boutique hotel is really more like staying in a well-to-do family's townhome than a proper hotel. It's a calm oasis in the middle of Florence with furnishings that are unique and shabbily genteel, and a lovely atrium in the breakfast room with a view to the back garden.  Florence was my favorite city in Italy on my first trip, and this jaunt only confirmed my preference. I love Florence.  The cobbled streets, choc-a-block with chic shops, art gallerys, churches and museums are a pleasure to stroll through and the myriad food options are all amazing.  I could spend endless afternoons wending my way around.  This trip, we got more of an inside scoop from Mom and Dad's neighbor, Amy, who was studying abroad while we were there.  She introduced us to two of the best gelaterias in Florence, Carapina and Grom, which were so good that we made sure to go at least once a day while we were there.  I highly, highly recommend the crema di vin santo at Carapina, but everything was excellent. For dinner, Amy took us to Il Gatto e La Volpe for excellent pizza, pasta and some of the best house made balsamic vinegar ever - if you go, definitely try to pack some home, it's amazing. Another night, we took a bus to the residential part of Florence and had one of the biggest steaks I've ever seen - the waitress brought it out for Dad and I to approve before we ate it. You have to love bistec a la fiorentina - more meat than an American can handle!  I took Mom and Dad for the prerequisite trip to the top of the Duomo, where we had beautiful views out over the city.  The one-armed-bandit photo I took of me and Mom is one of my favorite from the trip.

Mom and me, from the Duomo

The Uffizi Gallery remains one of my favorite spots in the world.  If I could curl up in a chair with a good book in the gallery overlooking the Arno, with it's lovely whitewashed ceiling and delicate hand-painted detailing, surrounded by Boticellis and the watery sunlight streaming through windows that have begun to weep with age, I might be happy forever.  It has to be one of the world's most impressive collections of art, but it's also just a beautiful space in the world, and oddly cozy in its own way.  From the Uffizi, we took a stroll through the Piazza della Signorina and made a stop at Rivoire for the famous hot chocolate -- possibly the best in the world, if you ask me. Our art tour of Florence ended with Michelangelo's spectacular David.  The statue always makes me wonder about the boy who inspired it and the sculptor who was so fascinated by him; David and his Goliath seem the lesser subjects of the work.

You cannot leave Florence without some retail therapy, so we tried on gloves in every color of the rainbow in the leather market, bought chocolates for Dad, lovely ruffled opera gloves and a python clutch for me, and introduced Mom to the wonders of Missoni scarves. A return trip to Bartolucci secured wooden music boxes for Niels, Cordi, and Ronin, plus a fair bit of entertainment for all of us 'adults' as we wandered through the shop testing them all out. There are endless joys behind the tiny shop doors and through the alleyways of Florence. Rome was charming and not to be missed, but if you have one stop to make in Italy, perhaps in all of Europe, make it Florence - you will never regret it.

Rome, if you want to...

After a summer filled with PSA scans and surgeries, bad boyfriends and yucky prerequisites, the Mackh family was ready for a break. We decided the eschew our normal, lovely Thanksgiving for a vacation abroad. Mom almost didn't let us go because she was sure that my MBA-stressed brain couldn't handle it, but we did all right. I decided that Italy was the most digestible, and Rome and Venice were still on my list of places that I need to see, and soon. I also thought my history-buff dad would LOVE Florence and all the glories of ancient Rome, so off we went.

I was so pleasantly surprised by Rome. I feel as though with the Vatican at its heart, Rome has a tendency from the outside to seem immense, as though its reach is endless and one would become lost there. While the city does have modern-day sprawl to it, the heart of it operates like a bustling village. I suppose it helped that we were there in the shoulder-season, but really Rome was lovely, welcoming, and easy to meander through. Our first day, we didn't make it much farther than a late lunch and the Piazza del Popolo before jet-lag won, but it was still great fun. And we had this amazing torta di ricotta with dark chocolate shavings on top that, in itself, was worth the price of the flight. We got a little lost in the park, as we wended our way back to the hotel, but who's complaining? The moon was full and the storm clouds made the perfect Gothic backdrop - very Ides of March, heavy with foreshadowing (don't worry, we made it home).

On our second day, we tackled the Vatican, which was beautiful. Work never quite goes away, so I was madly text messaging my peer from the top of St. Peter's, which must be sacrilege, but I made it out, so perhaps all is forgiven. The Sistine Chapel, is swathed in low-light loveliness and hushed whispers. It is hard to imagine the years it took to perfect each gesture and symbol in the intertwined figures. Surfeit with art, we wandered back through Rome to the Piazza Navona and had a late, late snack in a cafe there. About halfway through the meal, a Chaplin-style clown set up shop in the center of the piazza, making fun of all comers. He was hilarious and soon had the whole crowd rolling with laughter. It was idyllic, and so not the way that Americans spend their evenings...just lovely. After our snack, we wandered through the Pantheon, which has been a temple to so many faiths, and listened to musicians playing in the piazza outside. I could truly live in a city with this type of culture. After the obligatory coin toss and wishes and the lovely Trevi Fountain, we ate dinner at Colline Emiliane, near our hotel and the Piazza Barberini. Everything was excellent, but the show stopper was my dessert: torta di ricotta, laced with amarena cherries, and crowned with a crumbly top...seriously one of the best desserts of my life; I must try to figure out how they made it.

Day three was all about Ancient Rome. We walked from our hotel to the Victor Emmanuel memorial, with it's amazing views of the city, and then went on to Colosseum. It did rain on us a bit, but the interplay of the storm clouds, shot through with the occasional rays of sunlight, did tremendous things for the ruins. It is amazing to think of the culture (and mayhem) that emanated from this tiny locus of Roman life. After Ancient Ro

me, we wandered through Trastevere on a somewhat fruitless search for restaurant that one of my friends recommended, and listened to part of the Mass in Italian in the local church. After a long walk back to our neighborhood, we had a yummy dinner at a local family restaurant and crashed early in preparation for our train to Florence in the morning. All in all, I really loved Rome and would go back again in a heartbeat. The people, history, and food were all amazing. We had an absolutely lovely time.

A Moment In Time

Dimple sent around this email today, and aside from being a total crack-up, it made me think about how fleeting pop culture is. I wonder if I'll remember in 10 years what all of this stuff means and what the 'early' Facebook culture was like. Will "Facebook official" still be a way to define a relationship? Will I still be considering the politics of "un-friending" someone? Maybe yes, maybe no. But, either way, it's such a phenomenon of who we are today, whether you're in your thirties, like me, or in your teens, or whether you're in your sixties like my aunt and my mom, who've now joined up - it's worth remembering...

If Facebook Existed Years Ago...

Do This In Remembrance of Me

The holidays are upon us again, and with all the lovely parties, planning, and family events come swirls of memories. I have been thinking a lot about my friend Jody, who passed away last year in Nepal. I am in Tahoe again, staying with Jody's friends Bill and Teresa, and skiing the slopes of Squaw that she loved. For me, this place and these people will always bring Jody's spirit to life, and it is so nice to feel her presence here. Jody had many wonderful qualities for which she should be remembered, her love of people and animals, her generous spirit, her sense of adventure, her creativity, and one of the best places to do it is here. I decided that this is the year that I will learn to ski properly. There is a cabin to go to every weekend, new boots, new skis. As I point ski tips down the mountain, I'm sending much love Jody's way. Hopefully, before the end of the season, I'll make her proud.

This is one of my favorite songs about missing someone, sung by one of the a capella groups from Stanford.

French Idyll

In November, I had the privilege of attending my friends Ally and Alexis' wedding in France. For me, it was the opening act on a week-long business trip to the UK, and what a stroke of luck to be able to combine business with pleasure and be present for Ally's wedding.

I left San Francisco on Thursday at midday, and roughly 24 hours and 5 airports later, found myself in Lyon getting picked up by Alexis' mom and her friend Bernard, just in time to make it to the rehearsal dinner on Friday. The wedding was held in Alexis' hometown, which is about halfway between Lyon and Grenoble, France. I had been to Lyon before on a prior trip, but hadn't been out into the countryside, so it was lovely to go skimming along through the fall foliage and pastureland, with snow-capped mountains in the distance, and just soak it all in. We met up with the bride and groom at the church, which is just down the street from Alexis' family home. The church itself was lovely, made of stone with beautiful stained glass. I would call the style French gothic, but that's probably chronologically incorrect. The overall effect was beautiful and timeless. Just the perfect setting for a modern fairytale wedding. After the rehearsal, it was off to a lovely dinner at the local country club, which opened up just for Ally and Alexis' families and those of us few friends who made the trek from the US. Replete with a tasty ham dinner, good wine and conversation, we headed back to Domaine St. Chepy, the chateau that hosted the guests and would be the site for the reception, and hit the hay in preparation for a busy wedding day to come.

The day of the wedding dawned with storm clounds shot through by sun rays. I suppose it would have been more convenient to have had bright sunshine, but the combination of newly-washed greenery, fall colors in the trees, and the sun glinting off raindrops was quite beautiful in its own right. We spent the morning bustling about with preparations, hair-dos and makeup, primping and pressing collars, and taking pictures. It was fun to be a bit player in it all and I hope I earned my keep as Ally's Girl Friday for the day. Ally looked beauteous in a strapless gown with lace overlay. I know that she was stressed getting ready, but it all came together and soon enough we were off to the church for the ceremony.

The wedding itself was beautiful and went off without a hitch. We had to jump a few rain puddles on our way in and out, but the ceremony was lovely, with many friends and family in attendance to celebrate Ally and Alexis wedding. We headed back to Domaine St. Chepy for the cocktail hour and reception. Apparently, in France, not everyone goes to the reception and it's common to invite your broader circle of friends just for cocktails and hors d' oeuvres. There were tasty snacks and plenty of champagne to go around for a couple of hours before the reception started in earnest.

The reception started with a conga line. You have to hand it to the French. They bring the party with them when they come. As Ally and Alexis entered the reception hall, everyone was on their feet, clapping, dancing and yes, conga-ing their backsides off. It was so much fun, and so great to see their marriage begin with such joy. We had a truly lovely dinner, complete with a cheese course of divine fromage. (I decided, when I grow up, I'm going to run away to the French countryside and become a cheese-maker). The wedding cake was a croque en bouche, profiteroles filled with cream, stacked in a tower and spun round with caramelized sugar - delicious. Alexis band played, Ally made a toast in French, and Alexi's mom threw a hip and beat me out in the game of musical chairs for single ladies. We were up dancing and drinking until well after 3am, crowing the night with the pot de chambre, a French wedding tradition where the bride and groom, and wedding guest still standing, are made to drink champagne and party leftovers from a communal bowl. It was a little gross, but most definitely a required right of passage. I headed for bed shortly after and left the wedding party to close the night down. So much fun....

The next day, we all sleepily had coffee and croissants before packing up and heading out. Alexis' mom threw a lunch at her house, so we all gathered there before heading off to the airport. For me, it was off to London and a day of work at our office there, before heading up to Leeds for a site visit. The airport shuffle to get there was impressive, but it was all worthwhile. What a lovely, lovely wedding.