A Short Visit to Italy

After endless repeated talks about completing the technology transfer and making a trip to visit Modella, Italy from which the knowledge to be acquired for almost two years, we finally left on May 27, 2009 from Minneapolis to Amsterdam. The ride was smooth and pleasant despite some discomfort from swelling of my feet and angles. The plane, Airbus A330, had on-flight entertainment, such as music, video games and video-on-demand movies. The flight took nearly eight hours to Amsterdam. WE stopped for a coffee break before heading to Bologna, Italy. The coffee was quite different – bitter, but rich in favor. We finally arrived after a 2-hour flight. As I stepped into the Airport, a group of people in dark-blue uniform seemingly was looking for certain arriving guests. They turned out to be security agents. One of them stopped me and questioned where I was heading and where I lived. At first, I was annoyed since they did not stop anyone else. Later, I realized that they were only performing their duties to spot for unusual travelers. My travel partner who had visited Bologna many times before decided to take a different route to Medolla – our final destination. The drive took much longer than he had anticipated because of the rain storm and detours due to a major fire occurring on the path to our destination. However, I got to see many small towns, farms and ruins along the way. Finally, we arrived at La Cantina hotel at Medolla – 2 Km from the company at which we would conduct business. The hotel was luxurious. My suite had a separate bedroom on a second level. It had a sofa, a view of the garden, dinning table, bar, refrigerator stocked with wine, beer, water and chocolate bars. The hospitality was great – the hotel offered free champagne, appetizers. The dinner was delicious – a 3-course meal – egg and cheese keesh, squid and fettuccini, mixed grilled meat (lamb, sausages and veal), and lemon drink with vodka, red wine.



Second day – After a wonderful breakfast with fresh fruits, egg, and Italian sausages, we worked all day until 19:00. They (the people at Rand) took us to dinner at a farm house that had been converted into a restaurant in the country. We had salami + assorted dehydrated meat wrapped with bread first, followed by truffle salteed with pasta (pasta con tartuti) as the main dish + red wine.



Third day – the same routine. They took us to another farmhouse for dinner. It was a stormy night. Not too many customers there as a result. We had BBQ lamb, Italian sausages and veal, red wine, and plum/lemon vodka after dinner drink. The owner was glad to see us and liked to talk about the U.S.


Fourth day – We returned the rental car to Bologna Airport in the morning and then took the hotel shuttle to Sheraton. It took almost an hour to find the shuttle since the sign was located in a remote parking lot and no one seemed to speak English well for direction. Since we had the entire day for ourselves, we decided to take a train to Firenze. The train ride was very comfortable and quiet as it was powered by electricity. It was a great way to see the mountains, valleys, screams, structures and buildings of small towns. We had no idea where to go when we stepped off the train and simply walked around the streets and took a lot of pictures. Florence is one of the most popular travel cities in Italy and holds many attractions for the tourist. Florence, a Renaissance city in the heart of Tuscany, has some of Italy's best museums, beautiful cathedrals and churches, and interesting streets and squares with elegant buildings and shops. Florence's most famous square is Piazza della Signoria, the heart of the historic center and a free open-air sculpture exhibit. The Loggia della Signoria holds some important statues including a copy of Michelangelo's David. The piazza has been Florence's political center since the middle ages and Florence's town hall, the medieval Palazzo Vecchio, sits on the piazza. The palazzo contains elaborately decorated public rooms and private apartments. Around the piazza are cafes and restaurants. Unfortunately, we only had a few hours to spend there as we must return to Bologna to prepare for an early flight next morning (at 06:00) back to the States. I like to visit Italy again on vacation instead of a business trip! The food was great, but did not have enough time for site seeing. There are so many places that I want to visit.