Visiting Rotarians From Italy Bike GWB And Then Some

A group of Rotary Club members from Italy, accompanied by Rotarians from Fort Lee and Fair Lawn, biked both ways across the George Washington Bridge Tuesday. Part of the Rotary district 7490 Group Study Exchange program, the group started in Fort Lee, biked across the bridge and down to 23rd St. in New York City, through Madison Park, around the Armory on 25th St. and Lexington Ave. in Murray Hill, then back across to the west side of the city, jumping on the A Train to the Port Authority on the New York side of the bridge and then biking back across to Fort Lee.

“They sent five members over here—Rotarians from Italy—and then we sent five from the U.S. at the same time,” said Fort Lee Rotary Club member Keith Jensen, who helped lead the bike ride Tuesday and admitted to being “wiped out” by the end of it.

“So they’re in the Tuscany area, and we’re over here showing them around,” Jensen said.

Since May 28, when the Italian contingent arrived, Rotarians from the various communities in the district, which comprises Rotary clubs from across Bergen, Passaic and Hudson Counties, opened their homes to members of the visiting group, Jensen said.

“The core purpose [of the exchange] is the inter-vocational and cultural exchange,” he said. “You have people here that are biologists … you have one gentleman who’s a creative arts guy. Another one is a physical trainer. Another one is an engineer, and another is a geologist. So it’s really a diverse group.”

Group Study Exchange leader and master coordinator of their three-week stay, Glenda Campaniolo of Fair Lawn, planned Tuesday’s bike ride as a “surprise” day; they didn’t not know what they would be doing that day. Tuesday also happened to be their last full day in the U.S., scheduled, as they were, to return to Italy the next day.

Campaniolo said that in addition to the bike ride, the group went kayaking on the Hackensack River and made several trips to New York City to see Broadway shows and visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art among other activities over the past few weeks. They also had a chance to visit attractions such as the Fort Lee Museum and Fort Lee Historic Park prior to Tuesday’s surprise ride.

“I think it’s a great learning experience,” Campaniolo said. “Even for us to host them is a great learning experience. And not only that, you meet forever friends. I’ve been doing it eight years, and I have forever friends.”

Campaniolo said the group also took part in “vocational days” during their stay, spent with peers involved in the same career.

Visiting Italian Rotarian and group leader Alberto Lasagni called the entire trip “a very interesting experience.”

“It’s very different from our country,” Lasagni said. “It was very interesting for us to confront professionals from the other side of the ocean. New York is always a wonderful town. I was here 25 years ago, and I think it improved from that time. It was more sure, more clean and more enjoyable.”

Davide Angeli of Milan seemed equally impressed.

“This professional exchange [and the] trips to New York have been great,” Angeli said. “Like this one (the bike ride). I went to New York several times, but I never expected to find outside of New York all of this nature … It’s not callous at all. All of this quiet, it was very nice. And it was great to stay with these families and really speak with them every day. It’s more than one single thing we’ve seen. Just staying together and meeting them, different cultures, so that was interesting.”

Jensen, a Republican candidate for State Assembly in New Jersey’s 37th Legislative District, said that after the bike ride, he brought a few of the visitors to the United Republican Club of Fort Lee's Tuesday meeting, where they heard from Republican Freeholder John Mitchell, among others.

“One of the members is staying with a lovely family of Rotarians from Maywood, Dominic Jengo and his wife Nancy Jengo (D), who is running again for Maywood Council,” Jensen said. “So they got a feel from both [polictical] sides.”

The group’s final evening ended in Haworth with a barbecue hosted by yet other Rotarians.

Jensen said he was grateful to several businesses and organizations “that really helped us out” Tuesday:

• Pier I Café in New York, where the group stopped for some fresh blueberry lemonade 
• Frying PAN/Pier 66 Maritime, where they stopped to see what Jensen said “is ranked as one of the best outdoor bar/restaurants in NYC, because of its views, food, atmosphere and history”
• James Vincent Bicycles in North Bergen, which provided seven bicycles
• Strictly Bicycles in Fort Lee, which provided a truck to bring the bikes up from North Bergen for the ride
• and , "both of which were closed on Tuesdays (and Mondays)," Jensen pointed out.

"We first started our day (Tuesday before the bike ride) with a walk through the two parks that I did my best to narrate as a Fort Lee local,” Jensen said.