Trip to Italy
Our friends, A&M, took the opportunity of her milestone birthday to have a party in Umbria. Half a dozen guests joined them in a country villa near Perugia that rents suites and spent several days exploring the area together.
Janet and I took a long week, ten days in all, and spent the latter half of it on our own in one of my favorite cities, Venice. Janet's expertise with travel bookings paid off by securing for us excellent rooms at the Hilton on Giudecca, which had its own launch to ferry guests back and forth to the city proper.
The good ship Molino Stucky Hilton VeniceOn our way to Venice, we stopped for one night in Ravenna. The medieval mosaics are remarkable indeed; but the side trip was primarily so that I could visit the grave of my grandfather, who is buried there in the Commonwealth War Cemetery.
Wall Street Pillow Fight
Apparently there was a
pillow fight on Wall Street yesterday. I heard some noise, but from 25 floors up it's a little hard to tell one brouhaha from another. When I went out in the evening to meet Janet I was nonplussed to see white feathers in the gutters and cracks of the sidewalks all up and down the block. It seems that the pillow fight is an annual event, normally held in Union Square, closer to the student population of NYC. It was moved to Wall Street this year, presumably because the Financial District denizens are in greater need of the catharsis.
The Old Boys Club is the Knickerbocker
The colourizing of my middle school miseries has progressed considerably towards a nostalgic sepia. Few of my peers at
Upper Canada College, which I attended for grades seven, eight and nine, are remembered with great fondness (although not none). But I've recently discovered that these poisonous little boys have grown up into the captains of industry that we were told they would, and the difference between the idea and the reality is surprisingly genial.
This comes up because I have recently been discovered by the UCC alumni association and consequently opportunities have been arising to mingle with ex-pat Old Boys here in New York. In early February, there was a reception for UCC and Bishop Strachan School alumni at the Canadian consul's residence. And the other day was the annual reception for New York alumni at the
Knickerbocker Club, which is exactly the kind of place, apparently transported directly from 1890s London, that you'd expect to find UCC grads congregating. It has been strange to see people I last knew at age 14, now with thinning hair and jowls; but as I say, surprisingly pleasant.
Our friends, A&M, took the opportunity of her milestone birthday to have a party in Umbria. Half a dozen guests joined them in a country villa near Perugia that rents suites and spent several days exploring the area together.
The good ship Molino Stucky Hilton Venice
