Sting!

Well my week started out pretty much like any other. After a fairly uneventful but very nice little weekend, I woke up Monday to the beginning of a sore throat and spent the day explaining cell phone services to incoming students at a local school here in Florence. (My new part time gig.) By the end of the work day I had a full-on sore throat but also a dinner with 7 lovely ladies to celebrate a birthday. We met for an apertivio, then a hilarious and wonderful dinner before joining the rest of Florence in Piazza della Repubblica to celebrate the opening of the Hard Rock Cafe. We missed the free Simple Minds concert in the piazza, but we didn't miss the after party in the Hard Rock itself - thanks to some friends with actual invitations. We danced and enjoyed free cocktails until it was finally time to get home.

Tuesday was a day of surprises. I woke up and couldn't move I had a horrible sore throat that I thought might keep me in bed all day. Unfortunately (but very fortunately) for me, I had agreed last minute on Monday to go to Fiesole and babysit from 3-midnight for two little boys. My conversation to arrange the situation was in Italian, which was fine, but I may have gotten a few of the details mixed up. First, I thought I was staying with two girls, but they were boys. And second, I understood that the parents were going to a wedding and I would be watching the kids at their hotel. Okay, easy enough, I can do this.

Hotel Villa Fiesole

I got ready and threw on a nice enough shirt, white shorts and some flip flops and headed for the bus to Fiesole. I got to the hotel and the woman at the reception explained what I would be doing today. She said that I would be watching two boys whose parents are famous photographers and are shooting a wedding at a nearby villa. I am to hold down the fort and then take the kids to the wedding before heading for home. Oh and she thinks there will be famous people at the wedding. GREAT! I started to tear up for a moment, cursing my decision to wear the shorts and not the sun dress.

The day turned out great, however. The boys were a lot of fun at 8 and 10 years old. They swam, we played card games and actually laughed quite a bit. After getting them fed at the hotel, they got spruced up and we went and met the car to take us to the wedding at the other villa. It was me, two kids, a driver and two event staff to escort us past the gate. Now, the mom had warned me that there was going to be a surprise performer at the end, so security is really tight, but if I want to stick around once inside, that it would be worth it. Okay....very intriguing.

La Villa Gamberaia gardens

We walk into Villa Gamberaia in Settignano and into the most beautiful fantasy world I have ever seen. It wasn't even like being in a movie, it was better. (Look at the photo gallery here.) We walked up a gravel path to the villa that was lined with cyprus trees and candles. We get to the villa which is surrounded by sprawling gardens and ponds, and hidden grottoes with statues and sculptures everywhere. Strategically placed throughout the grounds were various large white tents for the party.

In the garden where the ceremony took place

The first was a "kids" tent with beautiful Indian rugs, and pillows, little decorative lamps and tables where the kids could hang. Then there the grown up tents dripping with crystal everything and covered in beautiful flowers and linens. I waited with the boys until the guests finished their dinner and finally the groom got up to make a speech to his bride. Oh wait - very interesting detail - they've been married for 15 years already. Just renewing their vows, no big deal.... Anyway so he gave a choppy but beautiful speech in English (which was obviously not his native tongue) to his bride who was lit up from the background by the fireworks from a neighboring villa. She was stunning. He ended his speech by telling her that she is always beautiful to him - when she's sweaty, when she's tired, when she's angry and when she's dancing. Everything she does, is just magic.

That was the cue for the curtain on the hidden stage to open and Sting to break right into "Everything Little Thing She Does Is Magic" surprising the guests who had absolutely no idea about the surprise super star concert. For the next hour, I joined the 50 guests on the lawn, trying to stay out of the way and hide my shorts, for a private concert where the bride danced her heart out with Sting on stage to "Desert Rose" and the groom butchered "Message In A Bottle" with all of their closest friends and family cheering them on. His song list also included Roxanne, Every Breath You Take, Fields of Gold, Englishman in New York and Shape of My Heart.

Unfortunately I didn't have my camera or video camera, which are usually attached to my hands, only my phone which sucks anyway but also only had about 2 minutes of juice left. But oh well.

Cap the night of with their private fireworks display on the hillside overlooking Florence at midnight, and I say they covered all the bases with this one!

I left there with a huge smile and feeling completely fortunate that I even got to see something like that and so happy for that couple. They were too cute. Oh and I got paid for all of that, P.S. Best babysitting gig ever!