P-DAY#8 in Firenze, part 5 "dinner with 104 paneristi"

...okay - it's the last one, promised!

I'll continue my report with the activities in the evening of last saturday, september 26th. After an interesting trip to the Palazzo Vecchio where we were
welcomed by the city authorities, the main dinner for all 104 members was about to start. Simona, our local host, helped us to find a fantastic location: the Hotel Baglioni.



After all passed the check in (receiving little gifts from p.com and our mate Hammer) it was time for the starters.



Kristian, Nad and Thorsten



A nice couple from Austria: Astrid and Christoph



I tried to catch all tables while walking around with my camera (delicious pasta served)




USA, Denmark and Hong Kong ("90210 warning")




Germany, Canada, USA




Hey Asi! Thumbs up. Nice to meet Hedda, finally...!




A not so sharp pic, but good enough to catch Sainthan's smile




The Lonan Ranger was speaking... Belgians listen up!



Glad to welcome our friends from Russia on P-DAY for the first time. Thanks for being with us! Also on the table: Simona's children Ricky (with girlfriend) and Benedetta.




As you can see on this photo, we had a lot ladies attending this year. Nice!
Firenze must have a "hook factor" ...and a shopping trip is always nice, eh?




Frank had no idea what Aurelio was doing...




Good boy, Bo!




USA and Russia chatting face to face... easy!




Loud glasses, Frank!




Aurelio from NY with Nad and Houda from Canada.


Well, let's speak about Asshat now.

We were collecting some signals over the past months, one got us really "LOL" in late july, find the nomination e-mail extract below

I have a nomination for you although he's a previous winner.

Adrian (Covac) just came back form a vacation in Spain. He packed his
Fiddy in his luggage (this is worthy of an asshat alone) AND they lost
his luggage!!! It was found again, but it makes a good case for a
second award

Well............... we totally agreed!



So here he is again! COVAC = Asshat 2009!
He was sadly not joining us this time, so he received the Asshat's insignia in absence. Bo had the honor of delivering on his way back home (thanks, mate!)

For safer future travels we got him a new "fiddy hand bag"

Side note:
Thorsten got Frank and me an "alternative Asshat" because we forgot who booked
our hotel room...! It was me, in april, but I totally forgot it on thursday morning
before enterring our plane to Pisa. After a quick call with Thorsten he was helpful
to clear things for us... yeah sure. Thanks! Later during P-Day I found my
hotel reservation printed out, between the member list and dinner reservation notes from the hotel Baglioni... oooof! Asshat me!


The group picture that underlines our slogan:
"Panerai brings the world together"


Photo credits to Jay Pulli. Ladder credits (for his higher step) to Panerai.

...and again many many thanks to Simona di Stefano. Without her help and support we were not able to let P-Day#8 in Firenze become such a great meeting!



That's all folks. Thanks for being with us!
Thorsten, Tom, me and Frank



representin' the DNA of Panerai