Partying with the Medicis

On our way home from dinner the other night we noticed a party going on behind the barred gate of a palazzo courtyard and peered in. A young man saw us and told us that we could come in by walking around the block to the front entrance and so we did. It was the Medici-Riccardi Palace. The pictures above were taken the next day just to make you envious.

We never quite understood what the party was for, but no one stopped us as we came in, got a drink at the open bar and found our "host", the young man who had told us the way in. He was one of three who had been invited in the same way by an Italian woman seeing them through the gate. He was paying it forward to us.

These three were from Argentina, Mexico and Brazil respectively, each in the course of a year- long visit to Europe. They ranged from 19 to about 25 years old and were enthusiastic and interested in seeing as much as they could while working when they needed to. Each of them said they had worked several months in London to improve their English, which was excellent. We chatted for a while, remembering our own extended European trip after we were married. We lasted seven months before homesickness set in and they were months we've never forgotten. I'm sure these guys will have similar memories.