Biviano time!

We had such a great time earlier this month visiting with Matt's family in South Carolina. They are a big and boisterous group...and I LOVE it! We don't all get together that often, but when we do it is wild and crazy times. We had a whole week full of quality family time and bonding with some new additions. I can't forget the dinner Matt and I had with a college friend and his family, as well as an old friend of mine from Batesburg.

Let me introduce you to the family: Deacon Joe & Kathy (a.k.a. Mr & Mrs B. OR Dad & Mom), Oldest child - Bridget, 2nd in line - Matt (and me of course!), 3rd - Maggie, 4th - Sarah, 5th - Tony, 6th - Peter (and new wife, Kelley). Bridget and Maggie have both been in serious relationships (with Gregg and Brian, respectively) for a couple of years now...perhaps leading to more permanent relationships soon. Nudge, nudge, boys! Sarah is now living in Nashville and Tony will be heading off to Navy boot camp in mid-November. Some of us have spread our wings farther than others, but family is always close at heart no matter where we live.

The breakdown of the week (16-22 Oct):

• Tuesday - Arrived in Columbia and joined in birthday celebrations dinner with the family. (Maggie and Bridget both celebrated birthdays this month. Dad, Mom, me, & Sarah - as well as Cheyenne - celebrate birthdays in November.)


• Wednesday - I went shopping with Sarah, which included getting pampered at a nail salon. Matt and I had dinner with the Moores and Mendenhalls in Columbia. Jonathan Moore and Matt have been best friends since college. April Mendenhall and I were neighbors back in high school, out in the boondocks of Batesburg/Saluda.


• Thursday - More shopping! Matt, Bridget, Sarah, Brian and I hung out in Harbison before heading to Peter's for a sibling cookout. Brian wasn't able to stay for dinner, but Gregg joined us. We brought a bottle of Polish vodka to share and it made 8 shots even! Maggie opted to take the picture instead of drinking up. It was awesome!


• Friday - The first half of the day was dedicated to decorating the Family Life Center for the reception. With all of us working together I think we were finish by mid-afternoon. That evening was the rehearsal for the wedding party and dinner at the Bivianos. Around 30 people attended and it was nice to have an opportunity to meet Kelley's family and Peter's firemen brothers.


• Saturday - The Wedding Day! The groom and boys met for breakfast while the rest of the Wedding Party ran around getting dressed and such. The wedding took place at 3:30 at Kelley's church. The wedding party was then escorted to the Biviano family church by fire engine, with all the bells and whistles and caravan of honking cars. Of course the reception was a blast!


• Sunday - Bridget's Surprise Party! Sarah had been planning the surprise since the summer and enlisted us siblings and some of Bridget's friend to keep the secret and make sure the day went smoothly. Maggie hosted the party at her community clubhouse. The weather was wonderful and the birthday girl was definitely surprised. We ended the evening with dinner at Mom & Dad's, before saying our goodbyes and heading to the hotel for a few hours of sleep in anticipation of an early flight back the next morning.

I am not sure when we'll get a chance to go back or when we'll all be together again, but I am looking forward to it immensely.

Have fun looking at all of our pictures from the week! http://picasaweb.google.com/amber.biviano/October2007

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

On Monday our day started out at 3am in Columbia, South Carolina. We awoke that early to pack and prepare for our flight back to England. We got to the ticket counter around 4:25 and waited until it opened at 4:35. I checked in with minimal problems, but apparently Matt's itinerary was cancelled by the airline. We had a bit of trouble coming out and it appears that whoever was handling that issue dipped into the return arrangements. Unfortunately the flight from DC to London was overbooked and there was no chance Matt was getting on that flight. We were presented with a few options, none of which we really liked, and 45 minutes later we left the ticket counter. Our original flights were a 6:09am out of Columbia to D.C., a two hour layover, and then flight to London which had us getting in around 9pm. What we ended up with was a 9:30am out of Columbia to Chicago, about a five hour layover, and then flight to London which now had us getting in at 6am the next morning (Tuesday). We were not looking forward to that at all.

The customer service agent gave us meal vouchers for the Columbia airport. I decided to use mine at a Bar & Grill for a hot breakfast. Matt passed on the voucher all together. He decided to try to get a bit of sleep on the floor in a quiet seating area. I on the other hand was very uncomfortable as it was very cold in the airport and I did not have a jacket or anything to keep me warm.

We arrived in Chicago around 10:30am. Knowing we had five hours or so until our flight, we were curious as to how long it would take to get into town. We asked a nearby shop attendant how to get into town. She said that it would be about 30 minutes by taxi (and about that in price) or 40 minutes by train and $2. We decided to try the train and soon discovered it was the slow and rickety way into town. It actually took us an hour and the stop we were told to get off at by the shop attendant was no where near where we wanted to be. We had to walk at least a mile and take some wrong turns to get to the Hard Rock Cafe. Of course I had to get a HRC Hurricane glass for my collection! During our walk we came across Maggiano's, one of our favorite restaurants back in Denver. We decided to have lunch there and man did we enjoy it! Too bad we forget about dessert and the wonderful cheesecake they serve in our concern to get back to the airport in time. Unfortunately we did not get to see anything else in the city. We hailed a cab instead of worrying about the train. We arrived in plenty of time for our next flight - which was delayed.

One positive thing about the flight from Chicago to London was that Matt and I had a row of five seats to ourselves, which meant that we could spread out to sleep. It wasn't the most comfortable, but we had it better than others. We arrived to chilly London weather. Our ride home was at least an hour. I was a bit out of it, so wasn't paying that much attention. Within 10 minutes of arriving home (around 8am) we were both in bed and slept until 3pm! After taking showers we went to pick up Cheyenne from where she was staying. She was very excited to see us and even waited by the door while we were talking to our friends. She was a little impatient to get home, if only she knew what a long two days we had. (Overall we were awake and traveling for almost 24 hours!) After falling asleep on the couch, we finally went to bed around 10pm, I think. Matt was up and down the rest of the night between the livingroom and bedroom trying to get some sleep. I tossed and turned due to a headache and body aches. The traveling really took its toll on us.

Matt had to go to work, but here I am groggy and weak at home. It seems as though I can't recover from the jetlag as quickly as before. Hopefully we'll both be back to normal by the end of the weekend. I know this post wasn't that exciting, but just wanted to share the "joys" of our travels. I love flying, but could do without the long delays on top of the long flights. I'll post more about our South Carolina activities later.

ITALIA!!!!

A few years ago Matt and I decided that we would like to take a dream vacation to Italy. We kept putting it off for one reason or another until we heard that we might be moving to Europe. Shortly after finalizing our move in May I began research for our trip. We decided to go in mid-September, hoping to miss some of the scorching summer heat but still enjoy the weather. I put a lot of time and thought into planning our trip and while some things didn’t work out quite as expected, it was a great journey nonetheless.

We left London bright and early on Sunday, Sept 9th for Rome, traveled through Italy for 10 nights/11 days, and left Venice on Wednesday, Sept 19th to return to the U.K. To make traveling easier we only brought what we could fit into a rucksack on our backs. It was nice to get around that way, but it wasn’t as convenient to do laundry as we had hoped. Also, it limited the amount and size of souvenirs we could bring home. We had some ups and downs along the way (cultural differences), but are so glad we had the chance to explore the places we did.

Below is an outline of our trip. The pictures have also been loaded to our Web Album (about 800 of them), but are not yet labeled. Stay tuned for details of the individual cities and photo captions!


Rome : Roma
Dates: Sept 9-12
Lodging: Hotel Italia
Sightseeing:

• City Bus Tour
• Vatican City: St. Peter’s Basilica, Vatican Museum, Sistine Chapel
• “Caesar Shuffle”: Colosseum, Roman Forum, Palatine Hill, Mamertime Prison, Capitol Hill, Pantheon

Cinque Terre (Five Villages)
Dates: Sept 12-14
Lodging: Hotel Suisse Bellevue, Monterosso
Sightseeing:

• Cinque Terre Trail hike and coastal boat ride

Florence : Firenze
Dates: Sept 14-17
Lodging: Bellevue Hotel
Sightseeing:

• Science Museum
• Oltrarno Walk
• City Bus Tour, including trip to Fiesole
• Accademia (Michelangelo’s David)
  

Venice : Venezia
OUR FAVORITE CITY
Dates: Sept 17-19
Lodging: Hotel Riva
Sightseeing:

• Correr Museum
• Doge’s Palace
• Gondola Ride
• St. Mark’s Basilica
• Island of Murano
• Cruise Grand Canal
  

Recommendations before any European trip:

• Pick up a good guidebook or two. I highly recommend the Rick Steves collection, as well as his accompanying website, phrase books, planning maps, travel items. While $20-25 might seem a bit high, it is well worth it and will save you much more time, money, and energy if you invest in the right guidebook.
• Consult online websites for reviews on lodging, dining, sightseeing, etc. I highly recommend http://www.tripadvisor.com/ for personal traveler reviews and also suggest checking out the websites of cities, hotels, and attractions of which you are interested. Make reservations for main attractions as far in advance as possible. While it may not be your style to create a detailed itinerary, it is important to know when the attractions are open and what days are best for visiting. Some places require advance reservations.
• Invest in a good digital camera. We have a pretty decent digital camera for general pictures, but we wish we would’ve had a better one for indoors and nighttime photos.

Adventures in Poland

Hello all -- As you know from Amber's posts, I have been spending much time in Poland. I am sure you are wondering what in the world I am doing there. Well, for the past 10 months, I have been leading a project to setup an accounting shared service centre for First Data's European operations in Gdansk (see more below). On October 1st, we passed a huge milestone and onboarded our first wave of 25 employees. What a relief to get to this point. I was in Poland for 3 weeks straight getting the office ready for business, doing anything from assembling desks to configuring network switches. Ok, I know my degree is in Accounting, but that goes out the window when you have 25 employees getting ready to walk through the door and too much stuff to get done. Of course, I wasn't doing this on my own, but had a team of people in Poland working hard to get everything in place. What a team effort it was!! We kicked off their employment with 2 intense weeks of training and now the team is coming to the UK to begin their extended training period before we migrate back to Poland in a couple of months. For me, this means beginning the planning of the next country to migrate and more recruitment to get underway. Oh, yeah, and also more travels to another country. Never a dull moment!! Hopefully, though, I can remain in the UK for some weeks leading up to the end of the year before we migrate the team back to Poland. I am sure Amber and Cheyenne would like to see more of me!

About the Town
The office is located in Gdansk, which is a port town on the northern coast of Poland, and is joined with Sopot and Gydnia to form an area called the Tri-City region. For those of you who enjoy the beaches, you would enjoy Sopot, which is a lovely resort town. The food in Poland is really delicious, and the people are very friendly as well. I stay in a hotel in the Old Town and the buildings there are something else. My hotel is right on a river (see picture above) and so there are large boats outside my window...what a view to wake up to each morning! We are currently staying in a temporary office while our permanent office is under development. It will be ready April of next year. Oh yeah, add real estate developer to that list of odd tasks I have had to perform. The office doesn't outfit itself, so someone has to review the space planning.

The Language
I have found the key to fitting into any foreign country is to learn at least some of the language. The reception you receive when you greet them in their native language is quite pleasing rather than greeting them in English. With that, I began a daily ritual of learning a new Polish word from one of our Polish employees in exchange for me teaching him an American phrase. Phrases we say in our daily vocabulary just don't always translate over here, so you have to be careful of the odd phrases you use or they won't get the meaning. The Polish lessons started off with me learning very useful greetings and phrases, but as the project went on and got more stressful, I began to learn my range of rather 'not so friendly' words. Comes in handy when the taxi drivers attempt to overcharge you, but wait, that never happens in Europe. NOT!!!!!

Picture of the Old Town

Changing the Guard @ Buckingham Palace

On Friday September 28 I took a train into London to Buckingham Palace. Matt was still in Poland and the 28th was the last day that the Palace would be open for tours this year. Unfortunately it rained the entire day, but I did not let that dampen my mood. Haha! I had watched the weather earlier in the week to see which day would be best and Friday was supposed to be a clear day. That is England weather for you, I guess.

When I first arrived at the Palace I staked out my spot for the Changing the Guard. That ceremony began at 11:30, but I got there around 10:45 to get a good position. It was interesting just watching all of the tourists take in everything...and not listen to the guards when they told them to stay clear of certain areas. It is pretty cool to see the tradition of the ceremony and see the grandeur of it all...and know that they do this every day in the summer and every other day in the off season. Magnificent!

Anyway, once the ceremony was over I went to lunch before my 1:15 tour. Unfortunately I could not take pictures inside the Palace, nor did I get to see any of the Royal Family. It is an awesome place, really like a working museum. I mean, there are so many antiques and historical pieces in the Palace. Most of them are still used but in mint condition. If you ever make it to London this would be a great place to check out. However, if I would have to decide between Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle, I would choose Windsor Castle. Buckingham Palace has served as the official London residence of Britain's sovereigns since 1837. Windsor Castle is an official residence of The Queen and the largest occupied castle in the world. A Royal home and fortress for over 900 years, the Castle remains a working palace today.

CHANGING THE GUARD

The regular hand-over of guards in the forecourt of Buckingham Palace draws thousands of visitors to watch the soldiers and listen to the music.

Known as Changing the Guard or Guard Mounting, the process involves a new guard exchanging duty with the old guard.

The soldiers are drawn from one of the five regiments of Foot Guards in the British Army: the Scots Guards, the Irish Guards, the Welsh Guards, the Grenadier Guards and the Coldstream Guards.

The handover is accompanied by a Guards band. The music played ranges from traditional military marches to songs from the shows and even familiar pop songs.

When The Queen is in residence, there are four sentries at the front of the building. When she is away there are two.

The Queen's Guard usually consists of Foot Guards in their full-dress uniform of red tunics and bearskins. If they have operational commitments, other infantry units take part instead.

Household Troops have guarded the Sovereign and the Royal Palaces since 1660. Until 1689, the Sovereign lived mainly at the Palace of Whitehall and was guarded there by Household Cavalry.

In 1689, the court moved to St James's Palace, which was guarded by the Foot Guards. When Queen Victoria moved into Buckingham Palace in 1837, the Queen's Guard remained at St James's Palace, with a detachment guarding Buckingham Palace, as it still does today.

Waiting on updates...

I know everyone has been waiting on an update about our Italy trip. It is coming, I promise! It feels a bit overwhelming to try to recap our trip and also the software on my computer seemingly is not transferring all of the photos from my digital camera. I’ll have it finished before October 15, though, because we are going to SC for Matt’s youngest brother’s wedding.

Matt has been in Poland since last Monday and will be there until next Friday. Well, he’ll hopefully come home this weekend to visit his wifey and daughter. So, I’m on my own practically until we leave for South Carolina. Cheyenne is doing well. I think she enjoys me being home all day but doesn’t enjoy the rain. She loved the snow but prefers to stay out of the rain. It was a fairly nice summer and now we are getting into fall, which brings more rain. My volunteer aspirations are going slowly. I’ve got one thing going every other week or so right now. I’m actually thinking of trying to get a part-time job just to pass the time. We don’t need the money, but I need something to do besides my weekly trip into the town centre. The question will be if I do look for one, do I take anything I can get or take something that I can “apply” later when I return to the States. I do want something I'll enjoy, though.

I'll try to send out an email once I have the Italy post finished. Otherwise, check back in another week or so!