They were truly entertaining and you can see the love and affection they have for one another. The 3rd place winners were USAers as well. One was with the San Francisco contingency and another was from the Midwest I believe. The mo' better news is that after the event, I was able to get down to some serious partying. After 9 days of Amsterdam, I flew my stuffed butt to Florence, Italy alone just for the heck of it.
Business can wait.
Such a beautiful city with tolerance for non-English speaking folks like me. With my daily ration of 5 gelatos and at least 1 4-5 course meal a day including water without gas, I was satiated. I found the men rather persistent in terms of trying to convince me in French why I should dilly-dally with them. I can now say that universal language is understood by all. I did meet a wonderfully nice persian, italian guide, though.