13 June
2015
13 June
2015
Where I agree with Italy :-)
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!!!
10 June
2015
Interesting sight
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” 🙂 (I was trying to say “friend”) 🙂
10 June
2015
The art of speaking Italian
10 June
2015
Ready to take off!!
9 June
2015
We are in for trouble…
9 June
2015
This is going to be interesting for me…
For visiting purposes, I am not the Europe kind of guy – I am the South or Central America guy. I have never been much into castles, forts, architecture, famous paintings… or for that matter anything else that has to do with long dead people. I love the beaches, mountains, oceans, forests and anything to do with nature. Plus they let you drink your wine more freely there 🙂
But here we are, on our way to Italy – I being completely outvoted by three girls in the house. On the other hand, I hear there are some nice bottles of wine there with my name written on them 🙂
25 May
2015