{"id":312,"date":"2012-09-22T12:17:01","date_gmt":"2012-09-22T18:17:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/50.87.217.193\/blog\/day-2-sept-21-rome-embassy-"},"modified":"2021-04-03T23:30:10","modified_gmt":"2021-04-04T05:30:10","slug":"day-2-sept-21-rome-embassy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/day-2-sept-21-rome-embassy\/","title":{"rendered":"Day 2 – Sept 21 – Rome Embassy"},"content":{"rendered":"
 <\/div>\n
This morning was my big power point presentation at the US Embassy in Rome.
\n
I arrived at the appointed time to the security gate and… there were a
\n
hundred men in Italian suits and shiny black shoes already waiting in
\nline!<\/p>\n

Since I was the speaker, I didn't feel like I should get at the
\nback of the
line, so I skipped to the front of the line. There was a young
\nlady waiting
behind the gate watching for me, so I slipped inside before the
\nsuits could
protest… much.<\/p>\n

We had a full room with people standing
\nin the back. Everyone seemed to
really appreciate the depth of quilting
\ntalent that was shown, from several
quilt festivals worldwide.<\/p>\n

Toward
\nthe end as we left, we heard there was a demonstration blocking a
road
\nnearby. Later at my hotel I heard and saw a low-flying helicopter, and
\n
wondered if it was related to the demonstrations. It was.  There was  a huge
\n
anti-American demonstration near the Embassy all afternoon – we avoided the
\n
area and I don't have any more information on what happened yet. Our friends
\n
at the Embassy chose to stay inside the compound for the rest of the day
\n
instead of going home.<\/p>\n

I had lunch with a Venetian photographer and
\nhis wife. They live on Lido Island and he is known for his atmospheric photos of
\nCarnivale. We talked about me perhaps coming to Venice Carnivale in Feb 2014 and
\nthey offered to help me get into some private costume parties. Now wouldn't that
\nbe amazing?! I would go in costume, with my camera.<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/div>\n
This afternoon I went for a 2 hour walk – to the Spanish Steps and then
\nto
Basilica di Santa Maria del Popolo
http:\/\/it.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Basilica_di_Santa_Maria_del_Popolo<\/a>
which
\nhas 2 large Caravaggio paintings.<\/p>\n

I walked back along the river, then
\ncaught a taxi to the hotel to meet
my host Susan Fiorentino. We had to drive
\nthe long way to get out of the city, due to the demonstrations. We saw a lot of
\npolice but never saw the demonstration.
Anyway, she picked me up at 5:45, we
\ngot to the restaurant at 7 pm, everyone
else showed up at 8 pm, we ate at 9
\npm, there was a chaotic show and tell of
quilts at 10 pm, and after many
\ngood-byes we left at 10:45 pm, and got to the hotel at 11:30 pm. A good time was
\nhad by all. I had my first stuffed zucchini flower! Norah McMeeking and her
\nhusband sat next to me and we traded travel stories.<\/p>\n

Over my short trip
\nto Rome, there were several enthusiastic eQuilter customers who came to meet me
\nat all the events. One lady even cried, she was so excited to meet me. I got a
\nlittle teary too – it is so amazing that I can travel so far and find new
\nfriends who feel so close to me – I feel honored to have friends like this
\naround the world – thanks to quilting!<\/p>\n

Now I am packing, going to bed,
\nand checking out at 7 am for my flight to
Moscow tomorrow. (Saturday)
\n\"DSCN3101\"<\/a><\/div>\nShare Post:<\/strong>
\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"pinterest\"<\/a>\"linkedin\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  This morning was my big power point presentation at the US Embassy in Rome. I arrived at the appointed time to the security gate and… there were a hundred men in Italian suits and shiny black shoes already waiting … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-312","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-quilts","category-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=312"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1403,"href":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/312\/revisions\/1403"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=312"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=312"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.equilter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=312"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}