MISCELLANY (Continued from page 18)
Diandra, is currently on the market for $18 million through Riskin Partners. Among those turning out for this gem of an event were publisher Jennifer Smith Hale, editor Gina Tolleson, winemaker Bilo Zarif, Jeff and Hollye Jacobs, Pat and Ursula Nesbitt, Kendall Conrad, Doug and Marni Margerum, Jennifer Zacharias, Setenay Ozdemir-Osman, Arlene Montesano, film fest director Roger Durling, Amanda Masters, and Kim and Tammy Hughes.
Apple of His Eye As the executive chairman of Alphabet, the parent company of Google, Eric Schmidt would be expected to be an avid user of his firm’s Android mobile phones. But Eric, 60, who bought TV talk-show host Ellen DeGeneres’s Montecito estate, near Lotusland, and whose net worth is placed at $10.2 billion by Forbes, has an embarrassing secret – he uses an iPhone 6, a device made by his company’s rival, Apple. The technology tycoon made the admission during an interview at a seminar in Amsterdam, admitting he carries both the iPhone and a Samsung Galaxy S7, which runs on his company’s Android software. “The Samsung S7 is better,” he told an interviewer. “It has a better battery. Are we clear? And to those of you who are iPhone users, I’m right.” His admission triggered laughter in the audience during the wide-ranging interview, which was being held on the opening day of the week-long Startup Europe Fest in Holland. Eric spent 10 years as chief executive of Google, where he oversaw the launch of the Android, before becoming executive chairman of the organization’s holding company, Alphabet.
Now and Yen Montecitans clearly have a yen for Japan.
Garden of Nijo Castle (residence of the first Shogun, Tokugawa Ieyasu) was designed by the first Grand Tea Master, Kobori Enshu, in 1603. It is designated a national treasure.
Michael Towbes eating a little octopus at a restaurant in Kyoto
A group from our rarefied enclave, including Mike and Anne Towbes, Anne’s son, Michael, and his wife, Nati – who were attending a friend’s wedding – and Bob and Val Montgomery, just returned after a two week trip to the Land of the Rising Sun led by Condor Express owner Hiroko Benko. The tour, which started at Tokyo’s Imperial Palace Hotel designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, with visits to one of the world’s largest fish markets, Tsukiji, which handles 2,000 tons of marine products daily, Harajuku, the mecca of Japanese teen culture and fashion, and the city’s entertainment district, Asakusa, home of Kabuki. The peripatetic pack also toured a national park near Hakone, known for its hot springs and Mount Fuji, staying at Gora-Kadan, a former retreat of the imperial family, where all guests had
The Inn (Ryokan) in Hakone, famous for its natural hot springs (onsen), which are heated by volcanic rocks. One must wear their kimonos all day and night. No bathing suits allowed in the public hot springs at the inn.
to change into kimonos, before taking a three-hour trip on the world-famous bullet train to Kyoto, one of my favorite spots with its temples and former imperial palace gardens. “Mike and Anne were kept busy shopping for his employees,” says Hiroko. “He always buys souvenirs for them on his travels. A very kind boss.” The ladies were also busy purchasing ornately designed outfits before the last dinner of the trip at the Sodoh Higashiyama, a former residence of a master Japanese painter. “It was wonderful to see the country through Hiroko’s eyes,” says Anne. “From a traditional tea ceremony from a grand master, who happened to Val Montgomery, Lili Townsent, and Anne Towbes
MISCELLANY Page 404
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