Christmas 2006

As we get into the holiday season one of the things I look forward to is writing the holiday letter. It is a great time to look back over the year and see how much there is to celebrate. This year Paul’s mom finished with all of the radiation and chemotherapy treatments. She is feeling well and still singing in both church and local community groups.

Both Paul and Steve have spent another year at the same places of employment. As with all jobs, the year has had its ups and downs. This was a hard year for Paul as he was on a project “from Hell”. A term and type of project many of our friends with a computer background will understand completely. ESPN has re-organized the department again this year and there are still many changes to come. We are very hopeful that the change will be for the better. RGIS is also undergoing radical changes from top to bottom.

Paul finished his work with the board of CONCORA this June. The winter auction that he work on so hard last year went very well and raised about $5,000 for the organization. (WWW.CONCORA.org)

Both Steve and Paul are active in the life of our church. This time of year we are preparing for the annual festival of Nine Lessons and Carols. This years performance will be on Sunday December 17^th at 4pm, please do come and join us! Directions to the church are available at www.southchurch.org.

One of the highlights of our summer was singing in the CONCORA summer workshop. There were over 100 voices this year as we presented Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. The performance was held at the Manchester Community College auditorium to a packed house. We may get the opportunity to sing this piece again with the Hartford Chorale in the spring.

The biggest and best trip of the year was the week we spent in Italy with 8 of our friends. We were able to join in the last week our friends were spending at a house in a small town called Iesa, which was in the Tuscany region. When asked what was our favorite part of the trip, our answer has been everything between the plane rides. While the flight was uneventful, it was a long flight (8 hours) in a coach seat. Of course the fun started the minute we got off the plane and picked up our luggage. We flew in and out of Florence. As we left the airport we went outside looking for the rental car. It turned our that the rental place was next to the airport and a short walk across the parking lot and we were standing in line outside to get our car. Of course it started to rain with a little lighting in the distance. Once secure in our car we headed out from the airport to join the others, which was about an hour and a half drive south. As we entered the highway, we noticed that we were getting onto a toll road and we had not converted any money yet, so we got off on the first exit and went in search of an ATM. As it turns out the ATM was easier than finding the right road to be on. We took a lovely tour of the outskirts of Florence before getting our bearings and heading in the correct direction. Google works wonders with directions even for Italy, but I thought it would be better to ask the locals as the directions had a going 75 meters and turning followed by another turn in 60 meters. We stopped in the center of town (don’t blink or you will miss it) and asked two people for Aunt Viola. We were told to park in the center and walk “that way”. We gained notoriety as the only guests to show up at the proper house and knock on the door; the rest of the crew called in with a cell phone and were lead into the house, once from the next town over.

As I said the town we stayed in was small. There was a general store which also served as the local bar and cappuccino shop. We would start our day by walking up to the store and having cappuccino and fresh pastry or breakfast pizza. There was very little English spoken in town, but we were able to get what we needed. Aunt Roe spoke some Italian and was able to find out about the local shop keeper and his family.

During the week we took many small trips in the area. For major towns we saw Florence and Siena. Rome was too far to drive in a day when you are only spending a week there. It is something we will definitely go back for. In Siena we climbed to the top of the fort which sat on top of the hillside. There was a great 360 degree view of the surrounding town. You could see for miles as the day was very clear. We found there was a lot of walking in Italy, many steps and many hills. We found parking in a local garage in Siena outside of the city walls. We had to take five escalators from the street level to the town.

Florence was the largest city that we were able to visit. We were able to see the major sights that we wanted, but there are still things I would like to go back for. We stood in line at the Academia for over an hour to view the David. The wait was well worth it. I have seen many pictures of this, but to stand in front of it was an experience that is hard to describe. From there we grabbed a bit to eat in a local sidewalk café and then went to the Duomo. Looking up at the dome and the frescos were incredible. We decided to pay the 6 euros to walk up the 463 steps to the top of the dome. Along the way the path takes you to a walkway just under where the frescos start and looking down to the floor below. The people standing on the floor look as small as dots. The view from the top of the dome was breathtaking. We could see below us the city stretched out for miles, and all of the terracotta roofs, houses that have stood in place for centuries.

The area was covered with many wineries, olive oil and cheese producers. Some of the ones we stopped at ranged from major manufacturers to ones in a single family home. Everything we stopped to taste along the way was great. Being in a small group, not on an official tour, allowed us to see sights we would have missed. We headed out one day in search of wine and cheese. We were looking for one place in particular, so with map in hand all three cars headed out in follow the leader style, which is how we traveled all week. We stopped in a local garden store that look very similar to our local Agway. Of course the person at the sales desk did not speak a word of English, but one of the customers did. We ended up following this couple back to a local winery. This place was well off the beaten path with spectacular views of the country side. Not only did we taste the wine, but we also toured the wine cellar, the bottling room and the olive press. The couple that took us to the winery stayed with us as we toured, we spent a couple of hours there. No where in the state has anyone ever lead us out into the country side and spent a few hours with total strangers!

Steve did all of the driving for us while we were there. Our rental was a Volkswagen Polo, not a car we have seen in the states, but will have to look for – even if we have to go to Italy to buy it and ship it home ( J ). It was small, but very comfortable and great on diesel at about 40 MPG. The first thing we noticed about the roads over there is that there is no direct way from point A to point B. It seems like all of the roads twist, turn and go up and down the hillsides, some of which rival some of the roller coasters we rode last year at Cedar Point. We did end up doing a fair bit of driving while we were there as Siena was about forty minutes from the farm house and Florence was over an hour. At least the trip to Florence had a two lane highway for a major portion of the trip.

We know that we will need to once again visit Italy, next time for a much longer stay.

Check out our website for pictures of Italy and 2006. http://members.cox.net/steveandpaul

I hope this Christmas letter finds everyone safe, healthy and happy. We wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Paul and Steve