What a Weekend...

Alright, this is incredibly delayed, but it’s been kind of difficult to find the time to sit and write…especially since I was a little late submitting my 2 journals to Schneider and Kramer. Anyway – here we go.

I’m not really sure how many details I can get into regarding the preparations for last weekend, so I’ll try to summarize. About a week into my internship I got a folder on my desk that instructed me to do a biography packet on a Congressional delegation. About 10 minutes later, I realized that I was putting together information on a group of Congressmen who were coming to Florence!

Headliner: Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi. Co-stars: Larson and DeLauro (2 Reps from CT! Including Larson from my district), Markey and Capuano from Massachusetts, Pascrell from New Jersey, and Miller and Eshoo from California.

Holy crap.

So I was in the process of organizing a trip to Sicily for the long President’s Day weekend, but I decided to postpone it until the weekend of Feb 27-March 2 so I could make myself available for this. Did they call on me? Yes. Was I about to pee myself? Yes.

The group arrived on Saturday the 14th (Valentines Day for some, Saturday the 14th for most). My first assignment was at their 5 star hotel where I had to put “welcome kits” onto the beds in each of their rooms (included maps of Florence, brochures, info about the Consulate, etc). Alright, Pelosi’s suite? HUGE. Her and her husband could’ve entertained a party of 50 people if they wanted to.

Their plane landed in Pisa and they were brought around to see the leaning tower and a church or two, and then it was on to Florence. Game time. Upon their arrival I was stationed at the top of the grand staircase to greet them and point them into the direction of the “control room” where our Consulate staff was holding the center of operations for the weekend. Picture Leo waiting for Kate Winslet at the end of Titanic, except I’m not dead and Nance is Kate Winslet.

When the arrived, kind of a let down. Paul Pelosi shook my hand, everyone else shuffled by. But still, there she was, it was pretty sweet.

Next job was to go up to their floor and translate between Mr. Livingood (House Sergeant at Arms) and the Italian police who were guarding the area. Livingood? Coolest guy. Talked to him for a little bit and told him I was from CT – perfect timing because Rosa DeLauro was walking right by. I told her I was from Larson’s district and she said well we’ll have to catch up later. Va bene, Rosa.

I couldn’t leave the floor until Pelose walked by. She smiled and said hello as she walked by, but I’m pretty sure she thought I was hotel staff so didn’t actually stop and say anything. Strike 2 for me.

The group took off for Palazzo Vecchio to meet with the Mayor of Florence while me and some of my co-workers headed over to the Consulate to get everything ready for a wine tasting hosted by the Consul General that night. Next task: Stand at the front entrance of the Consulate and (again) welcome them in.

This time, success. The group arrived in separate cars, so they came in little by little instead of all at the same time. First I met the Boston guys, then Jerz (what a King that guy), then Pelose! This time, she said, “Hi, I’m Nancy. Very nice to meet you. This is a beautiful place.” Niiiiice.

They walked up the giant staircase to go into the upstairs parlor where the wine tasting was being held. My job then was to handle the order forms if anyone was planning on buying any wine (which they did, lots of it.) After a few minutes, the CG was walking around with Larson introducing him to some of the staff. She turned to me and goes “this is Giuseppe, our intern.” I shook his hand and told him that I was from his district and BOOM…

Alright, the room – not that big. Larson – pretty loud. “OH MY GOD, HE’S FROM ROCKY HILL! LESLIE (his wife) GET OVER HERE WE HAVE TO TAKE A PICTURE, ROSA (delauro) GET OVER HERE HE’S FROM ROCKY HILL.”

Bright red.

After taking a picture with their travelling photographers camera and then mine, he continued to yell “NOW WE HAVE TO GET A PICTURE WITH THE SPEAKER.”

The whaaaat?

I thought my feet were planted pretty deep in the ground but next thing I knew I was standing right next to Nancy Pelosi. Anyway, after a few pictures I thought she was gonna bounce but nope, she actually initiated conversation and talked to me and my co-workers for a good couple of minutes. It was really great to see the real side of her and here stories about her kids studying abroad, etc. No matter what you think of her politically, she was still a great person to talk to regardless.

I heard the same about Dubya – I’m sure sitting down with him, a 6 pack of bud light, and a bag of Lays would be great…

So Saturday night turned out to be great.

Then came Sunday, what a day that was.

I was told my one of my bosses to be at the hotel by 8:15 AM because I would be joining the delegation for mass at Santa Croce. Sunday mass in Italy with Nancy Pelosi. Oh man.

All but one of the Congressmen went to mass, and most of the spouses took a different bus to the center to go shopping. From the hotel to the church I rode in the Congressional bus, which held about 15 passengers. Sitting behind Rep Markey and across from Rep Pascrell and listening to all of the Congressmen’s conversations was really cool. I kinda had to take a step back (which was hard to do while sitting on a bus…zinggg) just to process what I was actually doing. I heard Larson say “Hey Rosa, try and find the score of the UCONN game and see if they won. Dyson’s hurt you know.” How good.

The church was really nice, but absolutely freezing. It was kind of hard to concentrate a) because it was so cold, b) because it was all in Italian, and c) because I basically staring at them, the church, and all of the people who were staring at us/the police who were guarding each corner of the church – the entire time.

After church the guards who had at the beginning told us that at the end of the mass everyone had to leave no pictures blah blah actually started taking pictures of the group too. A monk-ish looking priest came out and in broken English told Pelose about the toms ob Michelangelo and Galileo that were there blah blah, while a bunch of the Congressmen decided to dip out because it was so cold.

Larson turned to me and said “Joe, where can we get some espresso?” So I walked over with him, Markey, Eshoo, and Miller’s wife and next thing you know, I’m sitting in the piazza outside Santa Croce drinking an espresso with my Congressmen. Life was good.

So everyone headed back and Larson wanted to look around at some of the street vendors who had set up booths outside of the church like they do every weekend to sell their handmade crafts. Basically my job over the weekend when I didn’t have a specific task was to make sure that if they needed anything I could help, so that meant stay nearby – but at the same time if the man’s shopping for stuff I wasn’t about to peer over his shoulder the whole time.

I was pretending to look around at some stuff until I heard him call me over. He was looking at this really nice pictures that a street vendor had painted, and asked me which ones I thought were the best. He asked the guy the price, and was going to give him all of it but I told him to wait before he took his money out so we could haggle with the guy and get a good price. One picture was €65, the other €25, but I got him down to €70 for both. I probably could’ve done better, but he still seemed to appreciate it.

I had kept a look out to see if they were still there while we were shopping, and they were. As soon as we gave the guy the money. The motorcade left. Not to worry, getting left behind with a US Congressmen meant that another bus was called and was already waiting for us with another security guard. The next 2 stops were the Uffizi Gallery (huge art gallery) and the Accademia (where Michelangelo’s David is). From the church to the Uffizi it was just me, Larson, and the guard in the bus together. Pretty dang cool I thought.

We met up with the rest of the group and headed inside. The place was PACKED which kinda sucked because there’s so much to see but with people pushing you out a door it wasn’t really working. One of the coolest things though was getting back into the buses (this time on the staff bus bc the Congressmen had met up with their spouses by now) and driving between the Uffizi, Accademia, and the Duomo. The Pelosi’s and one of her staffers rode in a Mercedes SUV looking thing, and whenever she was travelling with the rest of the pack we were escorted front and back by police cars. One of my life goals to ride in a government motorcade was officially fulfilled.

As we rolled up to the Duomo aka tourist capital of Florence with the loud police siren escort, we drove through the areas that were blocked off to car traffic. This obviously drew a lot of attention, and it was really cool to walk out and see people taking pictures and video and wondering who exactly was getting out.

There was a mass going on at the Duomo so no tourists would be allowed in at the time. No tourists except for the Speaker of the House and a U.S. Delegation. After a private tour of the Duomo (how sick is that?!), we continued on to see the David (also packed) and then onto lunch.

Originally I was supposed to break off from the pack and go back to the Consulate to meet up with the Public Affairs lady to go over to the cemetery (next stop after lunch) to get ready, but my boss told me I was going to stay for lunch. I wasn’t about to object. Lunch was amazing. Several courses, each better then the next. Never in my life would I have thought to try “pâté” aka chicken liver spread on a toasted piece of French bread, or a thin slice of lard also on a toasted piece of bread. Delicious? Ehh, kind of – but still great to try. Best part though, ravioli con tartuffo (truffles)..single best pasta I’ve ever had.

After that it was back in the motorcade (next to which a crowd had gathered to see who was getting in – so cool), and it was goodbye to Florence and hello to the beautiful Tuscan countryside. We arrived at the American Cemetery of Florence where hundreds of American soldiers who died in Italy during WWII are buried. Each of the Congressmen put roses on the graves of a soldier from each of their respective state, then there was a more formal ceremony where a wreath was laid on the main monument. Really incredible. After a photo-op for the people at the cemetery, it was on to Pisa.

The ride to Pisa was about an hour and 15 min from where we were. There wasn’t really any traffic until we got about 10 min outside of the airport. What happens when you’re riding in a motorcade but there’s traffic? Cars move. How friggin insane.

Anyway, we got to the airport and pulled right up on the tarmac where their private plane was waiting. As we were getting off the bus, a member of Pelosi’s staff gave those of us from the Consulate some gifts from the Speaker! Basically cool stuff to hold onto as keepsakes.

For the next few minutes I got to say goodbye to each of the staff, security, Congressmen, and Mr Pelosi individually which was awesome, got a hug from Larson, his wife, and Rosa DeLauro haha, and then as I was headed back to the bus felt a hand on my shoulder and who was it? NANCY PELOSI. One of her staff members basically ripped my camera out of my hand and said “One more picture!” – which I wasn’t expecting but was really happy about.

After that, they all boarded the plane and we stayed on the tarmac and waved goodbye. Our jobs weren’t officially over until “wheels up” aka when the plane was in the sky. We waited several minutes and then they were off.

After getting back into the cars we headed out of the airport. Remember that traffic that moved out of our way on the way going? Well on the way back they greeted us as if to say WELCOME BACK TO REALITY SUCKAAAAAS.

No matter what, it was a still an amazing couple of days.