Mementos and some daily trivia

Today I enjoyed a long visit by a good friend, a well known historian and writer, who surprised me with an unexpected, but quite welcomed gift. During one of his many visits at the Albanian Public Library (he actually spends most of his time there and at the National Archives doing all sorts of fascinating researches), he, very coincidentally, found an copy of an old Albanian newspaper, the front page of which includes the announcement of the wedding of my father and mother a long time ago in Rome, Italy.

For some time now he has gone through many old archival files of my family, the Court of Cassation, and the Council of State of Albania, in search of significant papers dealing with my father, who was a lawyer, Chief of the Cassation Court when I was born, and later on also a Member of the State Council. So far he has collected more than 500 documents that reflect my father’s legal opinions, judgments, and objections throughout his career, which, he feels very strongly, should be collected and published for future use and reference. While we reminisced a bit (his father was also an attorney), we also discussed a lot about current situations in the country, the still persisting problems, and the hopes for the future of Albania.

This was this morning. Now, as I am writing, the Italian TV channels are going nuts about the marriage of Tom Cruise and his Katie that will take place in about half hour in the huge castle of the small town of Bracciano (north of Rome). The direct coverage shows the arrival of the many foreign guests, and mentions the only Italian one, Andrea Bocelli, who will be singing at the party. Their cars find their way up the ramp to the castle lined with lit torches, while on the top of the 3 towers flags are flying in the late afternoon breeze. The town is jammed with on lookers, cameramen and reporters, and everyone is doing a booming business, especially the people lucky enough to have their apartments facing the entrance to the estate. More than 3,000 euros is going price for the privilege of such sites for just a few hours!

For me it’s time for a break, and I am going to enjoy a couple of Albanian tangerines (called ‘mandarins’) that you can find everywhere here and they are so sweet!