Wedding in Tuscany - Part III

Ciarán & I met in Leicester, England while we were both working on a controls project. We both do the same sort of engineering work. But there were loads of other engineers in Leicester for this project as well: Rob from England, Chris from Scotland, Gunther from Germany, Kristof from Poland, etc. I went home after the England portion was complete. The rest of these yahoos followed the project to Ireland. And with the exception of Chris*, they accepted Ciarán's invite to a wedding in Tuscany. Getting to see these guys again was an unexpected pleasure of attending the wedding. It was a huge added bonus when I thought the only person I'd know was the groom.

*The only reason I mentioned Chris Hyland is that he is one of my favorite characters from my England stay. He has the strongest Glaswegian accent you can imagine (think Brad Pitt in 'Snatch', but worse). I couldn't understand him for at least one month, but once I did I realized he was one of the funniest guys in the place. A few years ago I dragged some friends over to Ireland for Thanksgiving at Ciarán's flat. Chris was there. I tried to warn my friends that they weren't going to be able to understand him. They didn't believe me. They were wrong. They'll all admit it. I don't think they understood a single word he uttered all evening (and Chris is a bit of a talker). But they all believe he's one of the more fun loving people they've ever met. Chris is good like that.

But the other thing I had going for me, was that I was exotic. You don't get that feeling often as an American. But I was only person from the USA for miles. Ciarán & Eilish introduced me to their friends and families as Texas Mike. Texas has a bit of reputation and they were all excited to meet a cowboy - I think. I didn't want to disappoint & confuse them by saying I was actually from Delaware. Delaware doesn't really have a reputation (even in Pennsylvania, yet alone Europe). After getting over the fact that I was not adorned in a ten gallon hat, boots, or a giant belt buckle, the lads settled in and treated me like one of the gang. Of course, I was asked to explain America's policy on just about every subject you'd expect an Irishman to care about: Iraq, the church, the drug war, Hannah Montana, etc.

I've come to expect these questions. The Irish (and probably just about everyone else) believe that Americans are in constant contact with our State department and are ready at a moments notice to discuss foreign relations any news item from the past six years. The key in these situations is to speak authoritatively & resolutely - and make up lots of stuff. Unfortunately, they are not likely to ask you about the hitting statistics of Albert Pujols. A person I'm vastly more knowledgeable about than the President of the European Commission*. So making stuff up is paramount.

*President José Manuel Barroso. I had to look it up.

But so is making sure you've had plenty of wine. Personally, Chianti is one of my favorite wines - and I was living in the heart of it's home for 5 days. Beer in Italy would cost you an arm & a leg to drink. Chianti was about the cheapest thing one could buy. Thank goodness. Finding something affordable was a plus.

This was the crux of my evenings for four straight nights: Thursday to Sunday. The wedding was on Saturday & at this fantastic little castle (more on that later), but the other evenings were all at the villa Fonte de Medici. Destination weddings, I suspect, are nice in the fashion that for four straight nights you get to lounge with all your guests. It gave me a huge amount of time with Eilish & Ciarán, and I can say that I'm now pretty well acquainted with a few of their friends as well. This is probably my favorite part about the affair. However, the wedding itself was stunningly spectacular and I helped a friend of mine crash it.
{post originally written on 20-Aug}