Dinner with our Italian family in London at an American style restaurant
Before you wonder why we're eating at an American restaurant just two days into our European journey, consider that all of the best choices for meals otherwise were at pubs which do not allow children after 7 or 8pm and dinner tonight was at 8pm.
So we ended up at some place that is American as you can get - even down to the crappy beers.
But that's okay, the place was actually very nice and all that mattered to us was another couple of hours visiting with our Rizzardo cousins from Crespano del Grappa in Italy. (Crespano, by the way, is sister cities with Folsom, CA - all of 15-20 minutes from our house. talk about cool!)
So we had dinner with Anna Rizzardo and her wonderful fiancee Eduardo. Eduardo has spent a lot of time in England but was born and raised in Verona so he could easily translate as needed. Anna too speaks great English but she is worried she makes mistakes. Oddly that same fear keeps me from speaking Italian although I started to get into my groove.
Joining Anna and Eduardo were Anna's parents - Gianfranco (Franco - yes Franco Sartor, another Franco has entered our lives...but you will always be our first Franco) and Mara Rizzardo. Anna's father is the son of Germano Rizzardo who's father and my grandfather were brothers. Franco was so excited to see us all, especially my dad - perhaps one of the most touching moments was Franco calling home to his sister (Rosina...yes, we've found a third Rosina) to tell her all about us with such joy. From what I could gather there was a lot of mystery as to why my grandfather left Italy and Franco and his siblings grew up knowing only that they had a mysterious relative - a great uncle who had moved to Alaska but they knew no more. A very large mystery was solved today. And people question why I brought my parents. In fact, they question my brother and sister the same when they take them on cruises or Disneyworld or whatever. Yah, there is a price to pay - but patience is a virtue. But there are rewards too and for me this was the epitome of rewards.
In 2003 and 2004 a lot of questions about my grandmother Maria were answered for me. I remember feeling and writing back then that there was a weird feeling for me that I was somehow linked to Cavaso although I had never been there - a feelilng like it was "home". I attributed it to seeing the name "Rizzardo" in a cemetery for likely the first time in my life anad other reasons. Tonight for the first time, many of the same things were explained about my grandfather - Giuseppe.
In any event, it was a wonderful dinner in Greenwich's old town area. In about a week, we'll see them again while visiting in Italy. I think we are up for some fun that perhaps we were not counting on. All the better.
Some scenes from dinner around Greenwich and the classic ship Cutty Sark:
So we ended up at some place that is American as you can get - even down to the crappy beers.
But that's okay, the place was actually very nice and all that mattered to us was another couple of hours visiting with our Rizzardo cousins from Crespano del Grappa in Italy. (Crespano, by the way, is sister cities with Folsom, CA - all of 15-20 minutes from our house. talk about cool!)
So we had dinner with Anna Rizzardo and her wonderful fiancee Eduardo. Eduardo has spent a lot of time in England but was born and raised in Verona so he could easily translate as needed. Anna too speaks great English but she is worried she makes mistakes. Oddly that same fear keeps me from speaking Italian although I started to get into my groove.
Joining Anna and Eduardo were Anna's parents - Gianfranco (Franco - yes Franco Sartor, another Franco has entered our lives...but you will always be our first Franco) and Mara Rizzardo. Anna's father is the son of Germano Rizzardo who's father and my grandfather were brothers. Franco was so excited to see us all, especially my dad - perhaps one of the most touching moments was Franco calling home to his sister (Rosina...yes, we've found a third Rosina) to tell her all about us with such joy. From what I could gather there was a lot of mystery as to why my grandfather left Italy and Franco and his siblings grew up knowing only that they had a mysterious relative - a great uncle who had moved to Alaska but they knew no more. A very large mystery was solved today. And people question why I brought my parents. In fact, they question my brother and sister the same when they take them on cruises or Disneyworld or whatever. Yah, there is a price to pay - but patience is a virtue. But there are rewards too and for me this was the epitome of rewards.
In 2003 and 2004 a lot of questions about my grandmother Maria were answered for me. I remember feeling and writing back then that there was a weird feeling for me that I was somehow linked to Cavaso although I had never been there - a feelilng like it was "home". I attributed it to seeing the name "Rizzardo" in a cemetery for likely the first time in my life anad other reasons. Tonight for the first time, many of the same things were explained about my grandfather - Giuseppe.
In any event, it was a wonderful dinner in Greenwich's old town area. In about a week, we'll see them again while visiting in Italy. I think we are up for some fun that perhaps we were not counting on. All the better.
Some scenes from dinner around Greenwich and the classic ship Cutty Sark:
Well, I'm quite tired and we have an early morning tomorrow. Sadly our time in London is coming to a quick end and we'll take our show to Paris via the train through the channel tunnel (Eurostar train).
We're all excited and for the most part in good health and spirits.
Next stop - Paris!!
Comments
Post a Comment