Rome for EURA 3008 Conference

Had a little time to wander before the EuRA (European Relocation Association) conference and our meetings began on Wednesday, May 14th. Curt and I met up with John and Jon for a stroll, lunch and gelato. We managed to walk past the Pantheon, Piazza Santa Navona and the Trevi Fountain. John, Curt and I have all been to Rome twice before but it was Jon's first visit. The city was packed with tourists!




This was an armoured police vehicle that we all thought was funny. Look at how big Jon looks next to it. Jon is about the same height as Curt.


At the conference.

We were proud Quality Seal recipients! One of the first 10 or so companies so far to pass the audit!

Photo on left is Curt (middle) with Radix guys: David and Jim.
Photo on right is me (middle) with Full Circle from the US: Ghadeer and Peggy (also Quality Seal recipients).

Florence's Duomo

Duomo is Florence's great cathedral in the center of Florence.

In 1296, Arnolfo laid the first stone but others added to it over the years.

The Cupola, was built in sixteen years, with a new engineering practice by Brunelleschi. This Cupola is now Florence's symbol. The frescos by Vasari were done for Cosimo I dei Medici from 1572- 1579 and cover a surface of 3600 square meters. They portray the Universal Judgement. The facade of the cathedral was only done between 1871 and 1884 by Emilio de Fabris

The clock inside was amazing. Roman numerals on a 24 hour scale.

More Florence Pictures

Just some things that I loved and snapped photos of.


An incredible chandelier on display in a beautiful old piazza.


Amazing balconies everywhere.


Look at these gigantic mounds of gelato. Had several tastes during the week and it's worth going back just for another taste.

Florence was incredible. The train journey was very comfortable. We stayed in THE most incredible boutique hotel called the JK Place. It's part of the Small Luxury Hotels of the World group. Our experience was so wonderful that I took it upon myself to leave a 5 out of 5 stars comment on the Trip Advisor website. It will be posted there in the next couple of days so check back to their site, do a search for JK Place Florence and it will be the top comment (it's by date).

Boboli Gardens in Florence

Here is an amazing 360 degree view of the Tuscan hills and Boboli Gardens. The peonies up there were amazing! They are one of my favorite flowers. They haven't yet started blooming in our garden but they will soon. The smell of these flowers are just incredible!

Gone to Italy

Curt and I arrived in Italy on Mother's Day (Sunday, May 11th). We took the 6am Wizz Air direct flight to Rome. We were excited that our tickets were only about $100 each (round trip and with tax). We got on the train from the Rome airport to the train station and then jumped on another train directly up to Florence. Our round trip train tickets were more than our airplane tickets (both journeys were about the same length in time). Curt splurged and got us first class cabin tickets which were very comfortable. The journey was 1 hour and 40 minutes through the beautiful hills of Tuscany.

Today, we returned to Rome where our business conference begins. We are having our first dinner meeting in 9 minutes (meeting in the hotel lobby). It's chilly and raining in Rome, however, it's not a city that ever looks anything but beautiful. Our long hours of conference meetings, exhibits, dinners and events will be easier to get through if the sun is behind gray clouds! At least we were lucky to get great sunny days in Florence. What an incredible city that is! I'll write more on our 2 1/2 days in Florence later. Now, I need to get my shoes on, put my lip gloss on and head downstairs as it's meeting time!