26 Ottobre – Aftermath

 I was awoken just after midnight with a call on my room phone. It was the president /CEO of the company – she apologized for the hour but said she felt compelled to call and speak with me in the aftermath of the storms in the Cinque Terre. Firstly she wanted to check if I'm okay and the guests are okay. Everyone is fine, we definitely “made do” with the changes. She thanked me for my responses to the weather and moving things immediately. I told her that credit goes to Ettore and the weather / traffic reports on his phone. If he hadn't seen them and alerted me to action we would have been sitting on an autostrada stuck in traffic for hours possibly. She asked if I had seen the footage yet on the news and I said I hadn't, there wasn't any available yet when I saw the news last night. She said there are clips taken on cellphones and it is shocking and very sad. She thanked me again and said they think the world of me.

How nice. I haven't met her in person but my name is out there in the corporate halls now. Woo. I got up and googled the footage. My heart sinks at this. Here are two videos I have found in the days since:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rPtVoqCUDS0

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBtv7dhjWBM&feature=related

I managed to get back to sleep without playing the “what if” game too much longer. At breakfast I gave the update on what we had missed by diverting faster to Firenze. There were a lot of shocked faces when I pulled out the footage on my laptop.

But let's not let this stop us altogether... we took our walk into the Oltrarno and Santo Spirito areas, saw Massaccio's frescoes and back past the Palazzo Pitti. There was a light sprinkle the last 20 minutes but the skies still had a lot of blue in them so it would probably just be scattered all day. They had the rest of the morning and afternoon free until we needed to go to the Accademia at 5PM.

Back at the hotel I called “the Signora” - the woman I stayed with when I first arrived last month for school and invited her to go to lunch tomorrow. She was happy to hear from me and agreed to meet me at Antico Paoli, one of my favorite places in Florence. I will be a lady who lunches at leisure. Fancy.

I took a walk down to Santa Croce and went to Cafe Oibo, the place I had coffee every morning during that week of school. As I walked in the door the baristas, Sascha and Gianmichele, threw their hands in the air and yelled out “caffe doppio e sfogliatto per Kristina!” They remembered me, a month later. I opted against the coffee and breakfast pastry and sat down for a salad instead. While I was there two of my instructors from the school came in for coffee. They saw me and came over with hugs and cheek kisses. Laura was my “business and hospitality” course teacher so I told her how the lessons have come in handy for me. Without her help I wouldn't have negotiated as easily for the restaurants I needed in Rome and Florence. She assured me that my communication skills would have been just fine, I have a good grasp of the language, whether I know business related phrases or not. Very kind. Katarina, my conversation teacher was very proud as well. I told them that I would be happy to write testimonials for the program and will write to the director about doing just that. Hugs and cheek kisses goodbye from them, I finished my salad and went back to the hotel.

We set out for our appointment at the Accademia and visited our tall friend David. On the way back I decided the time was right to hit the San Lorenzo Market and buy some scarves. I love scarves and usually buy a bunch in Florence. I purposely only brought one with me, a knit black thing, so that I could fill my suitcase with more – colorful, soft, warm scarves. I might need an intervention at some point in my life. I accept that. My “uniform” for when I'm working is a black skirt and sweater and some kind of blouse, most of them black as well, but not all. It's just easier to reach in the closet and grab something. Black matches black. For years the gondoliers near the hotel in Venice have called out to me “La Vedova Felicita” - the happy widow, because I'm always in black (and a little tipsy) when I was out at night to go home. I don't have to worry about patterns or shades not going with something else. I am not a fashion plate by any means so the less time I take to concentrate on what I'm going to dress in, the better, as far as I'm concerned. The exception is the scarves. That's my splash of color and my change-up from day to day.

I found the vendor I usually head for first. I like his prices and selection best. He cracked me up with his salesmanship technique. I'm interested in the colors. I would point at one in the stack and he would pull it out and unfurl it, telling me how it was a pattern for Armani this season or one from Missoni. In Italian I said “Hey friend, I'm going to buy at least five scarves from you. You don't need to 'sell' me on this. I know these are not Armani and Missoni patterns. I just want the colors I want, and that they are pashmina.” He laughed loudly. “Signora, I appreciate your honesty. What colors do you need?” Three minutes later I was the proud owner of six gorgeous wraps/pashminas for 20E. Color, warmth and value. It's all I'm looking for. Armani and Missoni patterns can suck my toe.