It's my friend Kimberlee's 56 birthday on July 2. She has invited 21 of her closest friends to celebrate her destination birthday in a villa outside of Florence, Italy. Today in June 30 and the culmination of 4 months of organization for this trip.
Offering to be the organizer seemed like a good idea at the time, given she's tried this trip twice before without success, but over 4 months this has turned into a full time job. I am learning that it's hard enough to organize for people you know, much less complete strangers. Suffice to say - NEVER AGAIN. Anyway, these 4 months have sped past and today people are actually arriving, or trying to.
My flight was good, no issues. I even got a taxi driver who lived next to the villa. The villa was very difficult to find for most taxis.
I think everyone flying (except me) was affected by a combination of bad weather and bad baggage handlers. I got calls from Anju that her flight was diverted, she couldn't get euros and didn't know what to do. Wendy was diverted and she took the train. The Croone's landed in Milan, rented a car and got a flat tire. A kind truck driver changed it for them, they drove back to Milan to change cars and finally got to Chiesanouva - the village near the villa. This was at about 9 at night and Kimberlee and I had to go to try to find them. Along the way we saw a small wild boar/pig which was kind of cool. Unfortunately no pictures. After a few wrong turns, I got out of the car and walked to find them. We finally got back around 9:30. They had no luggage, so, thankfully all the craft night and birthday stuff didn't make it. BTW, all this was done with Eleonor Croone - their 90 year old mother - who was exhausted by the time they arrived. Kimberlee's luggage was lost from the time she left Riyadh. She told me that happened to a friend of her's and it took about 6 months to arrive - not intact and moldy. Renee and Mark Hafften's luggage didn't arrive with them, but, thankfully, was on the next flight. Tracy's connecting flight was canceled. She ended up spending the night with complete strangers who "seemed already" and arriving the next day. So of 17 people - 6 had luggage problems. Over a third which seems like a big percentage. I think only 3 flyers had uneventful journeys.
I finally saw Kimberlee and Anju outside of the airport, looking bedraggled, hot and tired, outside of the Florence Airport.
The villa itself is quite charming, in a run down sort of way. On top of a hill which is great when there's a breeze:). You can see Florence and the Duomo from our window
The welcome reception at the villa wasn't what I expected and was just in the dining room.
This was probably due to my not being present to give them direction as to where to set it up. On top of that, the rooms list and room numbers sent by the owner didn't match the villa, so my brain exploded when Kimberlee decided I would sort this out and I had to totally reconfigure everyone. Dinner was quite nice. The wine was adequate.
The villa is very pretty and was either built, or purchased by the current owners, in the 1940s. It's seen better days and needs some work. There is no air conditioning, but the fan worked pretty well. The plumbing smells awful and we have to shut the door to stop the smell or open all the windows to help it dissipate. The current owner, Cristiana, is about 90 years old and remembers when Mussolini was murdered in the area nearby. She, her friend, and nanny was in the general area when it happened. It is situated on a hill and is very nice when there's a breeze. Other than that it is very hot and humid with a lot of mosquitos.
Shortly after arriving I met Cristiana, the villa owner, and some of our other participants - Sonia, Julie and Robin.
The attendees spanned the gamut from hillbillies to people who are experienced and have been in USAID for many years/now retired. Some were 4H people who Kim has known since she was 16.
Kimberlee - USAID and Birthday Girl. Resident in Riyadh
Kia and Kirsten Croone - Sisters and Teachers. Minnesota.
Anju Gupta - Prosecuting Attorney for State of NY. New York City
Renee and Mark Hafften - Hartford Insurance and roads worker. Live in Minnesota
Julie Garner - Pringle - retired. Minnesota
Sonia Kuhlmann - retired. now working at Cabela's. Cincinnati, OH
Elisabeth Kvitashvilli - retired from USAID. Resident in Rome
Omar and Nadine - Nadine works for city of Graz. Resident in Graz.
Solita - USAID in Srilanka
Tracy - no earthly idea. Minnesota
Wendy Wilder - some charity in London
(the birthday girl having a swig)
After dinner there was some more drinking up on the patio and then people gradually went off to their rooms. Because I was sleeping with the birthday girl, we had lots of guests coming in and out. One of them was Anju who is someone I would want on my side in a courtroom, but is extremely annoying everywhere else. She came in and sat down. Kimberlee and I were having a discussion and eventually I looked over and saw Anju texting on her phone. I thought she was. Then I noticed she wasn't moving and was fast asleep sitting in the chair and holding her phone. Kimberlee and I tried to rouse her, but we couldn't. At one point we were concerned she had a medical problem. We eventually got her standing up and walked her to her room and got her into bed. Next day she told us she took a sleeping pill after quite a lot of alcohol. I guess we were lucky she didn't need to go to the hospital.
There was a full moon and you could see Florence and the Duomo lighted.
I had a short wash around using the bath with a hand held shower, getting water all over. The heat wasn't so bad with the fan, but during this night I was bug food and it was so bad that I got no sleep.
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