Serge in Italy

My protégé Serge Kakudji came to Turin to visit for a week at the end of the summer. He was lucky enough to be here on my husband’s birthday, which we celebrated at a park and then at some friends’ house. I put him to work in the new house, and he helped us move a ton of our things from the garage into the house. He was able to coach with a wonderful coach here, and we were able to have some quality time together. While I worked at the new house, he was also able to finally get to see a bit of Turin.

When my husband had to take a business trip to the Veneto Region, we met up with him there, and took the train in the evening to Venice. Serge had no idea what he was in for – – he hadn’t really studied that in history in school, nor had he heard that much about the city. We told him it was on canals, but I think he was imagining another Amsterdam, a city he knows. So when we arrived, it was amazing to see the city through his wonder-filled eyes, and appreciate what beauty we could behold in one evening. We walked around a bunch, saw the major places, giving Serge a taste of the city, and then took the last train back to where my husband was staying. We must return!

The next day, we took the early train to Milan, as I needed to get my Swiss work visa done for Geneva. So, off we trundled, and played tourist until that evening when Tullio was able to join us. We saw the Duomo, La Scala (and the Scala Museum), had a posh lunch, saw an exhibition of Leonardo da Vinci’s notes (amazing!) and the church which houses the Last Supper. Since it’s in renovation (seems to be a theme here…), you can only view it certain days, and it was unfortunately Monday when there were no visits. Again, next time! Afterwards, we joined friends at our favorite Japanese restaurant and pigged out on sushi. A pretty great few days. It was all over too soon.