10 June 2015

I do not make these things up…

Flew in with the family to Milan and then a few hours of drive to Bologna. And then another half an hour drive to the top of the mountains in Varignana to reach an old castle recently converted to a beautiful resort.

Our other vacation friends – Sunil and family from Dallas – reached us later in the evening. After walking around the beautiful property, taking in the beauty of the valleys from the mountain top, we settled down at the restaurant bar to try out some Italian wine.

As unlikely as it might sound, I thought I spotted somebody – even in this really distant spot – that I might have met before. After excusing myself from my table, I walked to the other table and politely asked if I could interrupt. And that is when the yellings started!! There was not one but two friends from my past who were having a company meeting there!! Made a few new friends too!!

Remember how I met Cindy in a remote resort in a bar in a small place in Costa Rica? Or how I ran into Suman from school days while laying by the pool at a resort south of Kolkata? It appears, that streak continues – this time with Patricio Remon and his team!!!

image

10 June 2015

Interesting sight

You know how you can often find a McDonalds or Subway attached to a gas station in U.S. for hungry drivers. You know what you can get in Italy? An open bar!!!

And this is in a country with tougher drinking and driving rules than US (penalties start at 0.05% and progressively increases)!!!

image

10 June 2015

The real fun of visiting a country

We have a couple of hours drive from Milan airport to the resort outside Bologna. Our driver understands zero English and my Italian is nothing!! One hour into the journey, the girls are all sleeping and so far I have learnt all the numbers and about fifty words for daily use from our driver Renzo.

Now comes the fun part over the next seven days as I mix up all my newly learnt words and make a fine mess of it. Past experience has shown that actually these mess ups make for some memorable moments.

Already, I mixed up “amore” and “amigo” leading Renzo to believe that the owner of the resort (an old business and personal friend of mine) is my “lover” πŸ™‚ (I was trying to say “friend”) πŸ™‚

image

10 June 2015

What’s up with Indian moms?

The new surgeon general of US – in fact the youngest one ever – is an Indian American. Looking at the picture of what seems like his swearing in or whatever they go thru to start on their job, I am reminded about a hilarious observation Sharmila had made once – “Indian moms never smile in pictures”. As incredible as it sounds – almost all pictures I have seen after that (especially if they are visiting the U.S.), that has turned out to be true!!! Good to know some of this truisms hold at the highest levels too!!!

image

Category: Humor | LEAVE A COMMENT