Before it was politically correct, I’ve been taking my kids to work. Yes even before they created the official ‘bring your kids to work’ day. Parker once sat through an all-day marketing meeting when he was 14 months old. I forgot to change his diapers so at lunch I had to duck into the local shopping mall and buy him all new clothes. My colleagues from Pilot Software were impressed that I brought Parker a change of clothes. Hah.Both Parker and Hunter have now seen first hand what dad does at work. Several years ago, I took Parker to London on an analyst tour, and this year, it was Hunter’s turn.
Our destination: Rome. Our pictures can be viewed here.
This business trip was focused on building customer loyalty and gathering the senior executives from our largest European customers to discuss how we can help them gain more value from the software they have already purchased from Oracle. We expected 50 and 17 attended. The global recession has cut back business travel significantly. The business meeting wasn’t great but the experience of exploring Rome with Hunter was phenomenal.
As Hunter was flying on a United Awards Ticket, we got to Rome the long way…through Washington DC. We arrived early Sunday morning and found our way to the hotel without any delay. We unpacked and went to the lobby to have breakfast in the hotel…European Breakfast that is. Capucine, a friend from Oracle France, and her boyfriend were about to begin exploring as we met them in the lobby. We decided to take a short breakfast with them and go together to the Vatican. We arrived at St. Peter’s square mid-day on Sunday.
The Cathedral was definitely a high point for Hunter. She was intrigued by all the statues of previous Pope’s. We decided to take the journey to the top of the dome and explore Rome from St. Peter’s cupola. From the lift, it was only 320 steps. My left knee remembers each and every one.
It was a partly cloudy morning in Rome with temps in the mid-50’s. We headed down to the main part of the Cathedral to find a large ceremony getting underway with 30+ important looking church officials processing into the center of the Church. We think they were all Cardinal’s but weren’t 100% certain. They looked important: lots of security and photographers.
The Vatican Museum was closed so we would have to do it another day. Together with Capucine and David, we walked back across the river past the Saint Angelo Castle to make our way over towards the Piazza Novena to have lunch. We found a great café on the square and ordered classic Roman Pizza as Hunter began to fade. I thought she was going to put her face right into the Italian pie. She made it through lunch…just barely. We headed back to the hotel so that Hunter could take a nap and I could begin preparations for our conference on Monday.
Day One, Part Two. Hunter joined the Oracle team for dinner on Sunday night which was located on the top of the Spanish Steps. In transit, we saw several street peddlers quickly pickup shop, sloop their wares over their shoulder and hustle up the Spanish Steps and vanish out of site. Rome police were obviously coming but nobody saw them. As expected, two hours later the peddlers had setup shop again on the Steps to hustle another tourist. Filmmakers occuppied the Spanish Steps that night and it was cool to see the action. Very entertaining.
Monday our business meeting started at 2pm and Hunter sat in the back while I moderated a discussion on risk management. The subject is obviously a hot topic now but unfortunately ½ of the customers spoke very little English. Five in fact only spoke Polish. My polish is minimal. Ted Bories, a close family friend was Polish and taught me: Na zdrowie. That means cheers. Oh well.
Hunter and I took a wonderful walk towards the Spanish Steps after our meeting on Monday evening. We found the shirtmaker, Dan of Roma and explored the shopping district a bit. Dinner was a classic four course Italian dinner with excellent mozzarella salad and of course tiramisu. Hunter was quickly becoming a connoisseur of tiramisu because I think she had it nearly everyday.
Tuesday our business meeting went until 2pm which gave Hunter time to work on homework. It is so awesome that she can do school work using online lessons that her teachers setup 6,000 miles away. Isn’t it great that she could explore another country and still keep up on schoolwork at the same time? The wonders of technology.
In the category of a strange coincidence, our neighbors from Pleasanton were in Rome the same week. Hunter and I joined Scott and Debbie Myers for a great dinner at a small café in the piazza by the Pantheon. We walked the streets and found a great gelato shop where we all indulged in some home made Italian ice cream. Late that evening we saw the Trevi Fountain. Magnificent. It was their 20th anniversary and they were headed to Florence tomorrow.
Wednesday was our first chance to explore and Hunter’s first choice was to check out the Coliseum and the Roman Forum. We had a great time walking through these ancient ruins. Being in the presence of these environments, it’s easy to visualize emperors hailing from Palatine Hill above the peasants. We saw doors on one building made of copper which were dated to 74 BC. Now that’s old, really old.
Walking up, down and around the forum, we were both exhausted. We covered many miles and countless flights of steps. More Motrin please. We had a great lunch near the Piazza Novena and headed over to the Mouth of Truth. The Mouth of Truth hangs in the lobby of the Santa Maria church built in 1632. A bit of history can be found
As Hunter was flying on a United Awards Ticket, we got to Rome the long way…through Washington DC. We arrived early Sunday morning and found our way to the hotel without any delay. We unpacked and went to the lobby to have breakfast in the hotel…European Breakfast that is. Capucine, a friend from Oracle France, and her boyfriend were about to begin exploring as we met them in the lobby. We decided to take a short breakfast with them and go together to the Vatican. We arrived at St. Peter’s square mid-day on Sunday.
The Cathedral was definitely a high point for Hunter. She was intrigued by all the statues of previous Pope’s. We decided to take the journey to the top of the dome and explore Rome from St. Peter’s cupola. From the lift, it was only 320 steps. My left knee remembers each and every one.
It was a partly cloudy morning in Rome with temps in the mid-50’s. We headed down to the main part of the Cathedral to find a large ceremony getting underway with 30+ important looking church officials processing into the center of the Church. We think they were all Cardinal’s but weren’t 100% certain. They looked important: lots of security and photographers.
The Vatican Museum was closed so we would have to do it another day. Together with Capucine and David, we walked back across the river past the Saint Angelo Castle to make our way over towards the Piazza Novena to have lunch. We found a great café on the square and ordered classic Roman Pizza as Hunter began to fade. I thought she was going to put her face right into the Italian pie. She made it through lunch…just barely. We headed back to the hotel so that Hunter could take a nap and I could begin preparations for our conference on Monday.
Day One, Part Two. Hunter joined the Oracle team for dinner on Sunday night which was located on the top of the Spanish Steps. In transit, we saw several street peddlers quickly pickup shop, sloop their wares over their shoulder and hustle up the Spanish Steps and vanish out of site. Rome police were obviously coming but nobody saw them. As expected, two hours later the peddlers had setup shop again on the Steps to hustle another tourist. Filmmakers occuppied the Spanish Steps that night and it was cool to see the action. Very entertaining.
Monday our business meeting started at 2pm and Hunter sat in the back while I moderated a discussion on risk management. The subject is obviously a hot topic now but unfortunately ½ of the customers spoke very little English. Five in fact only spoke Polish. My polish is minimal. Ted Bories, a close family friend was Polish and taught me: Na zdrowie. That means cheers. Oh well.
Hunter and I took a wonderful walk towards the Spanish Steps after our meeting on Monday evening. We found the shirtmaker, Dan of Roma and explored the shopping district a bit. Dinner was a classic four course Italian dinner with excellent mozzarella salad and of course tiramisu. Hunter was quickly becoming a connoisseur of tiramisu because I think she had it nearly everyday.
Tuesday our business meeting went until 2pm which gave Hunter time to work on homework. It is so awesome that she can do school work using online lessons that her teachers setup 6,000 miles away. Isn’t it great that she could explore another country and still keep up on schoolwork at the same time? The wonders of technology.
In the category of a strange coincidence, our neighbors from Pleasanton were in Rome the same week. Hunter and I joined Scott and Debbie Myers for a great dinner at a small café in the piazza by the Pantheon. We walked the streets and found a great gelato shop where we all indulged in some home made Italian ice cream. Late that evening we saw the Trevi Fountain. Magnificent. It was their 20th anniversary and they were headed to Florence tomorrow.
Wednesday was our first chance to explore and Hunter’s first choice was to check out the Coliseum and the Roman Forum. We had a great time walking through these ancient ruins. Being in the presence of these environments, it’s easy to visualize emperors hailing from Palatine Hill above the peasants. We saw doors on one building made of copper which were dated to 74 BC. Now that’s old, really old.
Walking up, down and around the forum, we were both exhausted. We covered many miles and countless flights of steps. More Motrin please. We had a great lunch near the Piazza Novena and headed over to the Mouth of Truth. The Mouth of Truth hangs in the lobby of the Santa Maria church built in 1632. A bit of history can be found
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