My Week Near Arezzo
Sep 9th, 2013, 10:04 AM
#21
When you go to Arezzo to see the beautiful frescoes at Chiesa San Francisco, have lunch right next to the church at Buca di San Francisco. We had a wonderful meal there and the host/ owner went out of his way to insure that we had a good experience. When we ate there, it was a member of Buon Ricordo, Touring Club of Italy's association of noted regional restaurants.
Don't be discouraged on your way in to Arezzo as you'll pass theough an industrial zone before arriving in the city center.
I was happy to hear that United treated your wife's medical condition with understanding. We had the exact opposite treatment following emergency surgery; they did not even take away the change fees. I will resummit our paper work from the doctors and see if a different agent will give us a better outcome!
Call United and ask disability department to have early boarding for you and your wife due to her recent surgery. She may have to ride in a wheelchair to the gate area.
Have a wonderful trip to Italy.
Don't be discouraged on your way in to Arezzo as you'll pass theough an industrial zone before arriving in the city center.
I was happy to hear that United treated your wife's medical condition with understanding. We had the exact opposite treatment following emergency surgery; they did not even take away the change fees. I will resummit our paper work from the doctors and see if a different agent will give us a better outcome!
Call United and ask disability department to have early boarding for you and your wife due to her recent surgery. She may have to ride in a wheelchair to the gate area.
Have a wonderful trip to Italy.
Sep 9th, 2013, 03:31 PM
#22
>>>it was a member of Buon Ricordo<<<
Wow! I haven't seen any mention of Buon Ricordo on this website in years. 10+ years ago there would always be someone asking about it. I didn't know it still existed although I have an old Buon Ricordo guidebook (in Italian). It looks like that restaurant still participates.
sm- If you aren't familiar with Buon Ricordo, each restaurant has a specialty and a plate to go with it. You order the specialty and keep the plate. People used to try to collect the plates. The Arezzo restaurant dish and plate are on this link.
http://www.buonricordo.com/ristorant...-san-francesco
I don't think your wife will get anything extra at the restaurant for her RS connection.
Wow! I haven't seen any mention of Buon Ricordo on this website in years. 10+ years ago there would always be someone asking about it. I didn't know it still existed although I have an old Buon Ricordo guidebook (in Italian). It looks like that restaurant still participates.
sm- If you aren't familiar with Buon Ricordo, each restaurant has a specialty and a plate to go with it. You order the specialty and keep the plate. People used to try to collect the plates. The Arezzo restaurant dish and plate are on this link.
http://www.buonricordo.com/ristorant...-san-francesco
I don't think your wife will get anything extra at the restaurant for her RS connection.
Sep 9th, 2013, 03:55 PM
#23
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We will be leaving Rome as you arrive, so I will look for you at the airport! We had our best meal tonight at Cesare al Cassaletto, which is out of the city a bit. The Galleria Borghese was very enjoyable, although do reserve online in advance and pick up your tickets 45-60 minutes early. We are finding Rome to be very crowded, as compared to our prior trips several years ago. Galleria Borghese had limited access once inside, so it was nice to enjoy it without crowds. Have fun!
Sep 11th, 2013, 01:25 PM
#27
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Most of you have been to Rome so you know what it's like. First of all, people here speak Italian. Completing five units of pimsleurs beginning Italian won't help you that much. You can take a train from the airport to Rome. It could have been the F1. It was on track 3 and it cost 8 euros. We got off at Trastevere and took a taxi to our hotel (taxi drivers are crazy but seem to get in fewer accidents than you think they would) the Hotel Santa Maria which is very nice.
We were sleepy but wandered into two churches which were gorgeous (the big one was http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa..._in_Trastevere) and sat at a fountain and watched gorgeous people.
Later, after a nap, we walked across Ponte Sisto to piazza navona and then to the Parthenon and then, because we got list, to Trevi
We were sleepy but wandered into two churches which were gorgeous (the big one was http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa..._in_Trastevere) and sat at a fountain and watched gorgeous people.
Later, after a nap, we walked across Ponte Sisto to piazza navona and then to the Parthenon and then, because we got list, to Trevi
Sep 11th, 2013, 01:46 PM
#28
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Fountain, and then back to Trastevere and dinner at a little cafe filled with happy young people.
I can't let that "first of all" dangle. Second would be all the people out at restaurants on the squares and in the streets eating and drinking and having a good time. So many wonderful places to stop and watch the wofld go by. and have a rasberry gelato. in a cup. A real cafe culture.
Third, the buildings on the squares in the golden colors with four and five floors of old brown slatted shutters and plants over flowing from balconies. Little shops with beautiful things, a violin shop, boot shops, bakeries, Africans selling earrings and knockoff purses and laser lights and little lights you shoot into the sky with a rubber band and they helicopter back to earth, ready for you to buy for only two euros (which I did; I can't wait to try it).
We were tired, but it was a beautiful day. Now, sleep.
I can't let that "first of all" dangle. Second would be all the people out at restaurants on the squares and in the streets eating and drinking and having a good time. So many wonderful places to stop and watch the wofld go by. and have a rasberry gelato. in a cup. A real cafe culture.
Third, the buildings on the squares in the golden colors with four and five floors of old brown slatted shutters and plants over flowing from balconies. Little shops with beautiful things, a violin shop, boot shops, bakeries, Africans selling earrings and knockoff purses and laser lights and little lights you shoot into the sky with a rubber band and they helicopter back to earth, ready for you to buy for only two euros (which I did; I can't wait to try it).
We were tired, but it was a beautiful day. Now, sleep.
Sep 11th, 2013, 05:52 PM
#30
>>>Completing five units of pimsleurs beginning Italian won't help you that much.<<<
You only need to be able to order wine and ask where's the bathroom.
Love Rome and Trastevere (although it can be noisy late at night depending on where you are staying). Glad you are enjoying Rome.
You only need to be able to order wine and ask where's the bathroom.
Love Rome and Trastevere (although it can be noisy late at night depending on where you are staying). Glad you are enjoying Rome.
Sep 12th, 2013, 05:57 AM
#31
Most of you have been to Rome so you know what it's like. First of all, people here speak Italian. Completing five units of pimsleurs beginning Italian won't help you that much. >>
but better than nothing. and perhaps by the next time you go, you'll have done 10 more units, and you can order the meal as well as the wine!
but better than nothing. and perhaps by the next time you go, you'll have done 10 more units, and you can order the meal as well as the wine!
Sep 12th, 2013, 01:10 PM
#34
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Today was a great day. Hotel santa Maria has great breakfast. Cappuccino with the little swirly pattern. Hard boiled egg. Salami and prosciutto. Melon. Fruit juice. Outside at little tables with pretty tablecloths in a courtyard.
Then we rode our hotel bikes to the Vatican where we saw the sistene chapel and many people and the ceiling. Very nice. Lots of other stuff.
Biked home. Pizza. Apples for fiber, which is important.
Walk to basilica Santa Cecelia. Cecelia drowned but somehow came back to life. On the way to the church we met a friendly sculptor from buenos aires who visited Rome and stayed for 50 years (F Brook). Annhig told us to pay the extra euros to see the mosaics in the basement so we did. Remnants from the time of Christ. and the basement chapel there was wonderful, like the mesquite in cordoba, beautiful tiles, many pillars and arches. Then DW talks to a nice lady from Birmingham England who was visiting a friend who said if you asked to see a sister of the order they would show you frescos by cavelini. So we go around to a locked door by the side of the church and talk on an intercom and get let in and taken upstairs and see what's left of frescos about judgement day. That was fun. We bought some soaps and sachets of lavender to say thanks.
Then we listened to two street musicians playing a sax and a hang (steel drums you play with your hands). I bought a CD.
Then back at the hotel we had wine in the courtyard and free tasty tapas. Followed by dinner with a friend of our DS#2 and topped off with gelato (raspberry in a cup). It was a pretty perfect day.
Still, we have so many things to do before we leave Rome for our villa in Umbria. That's on the very outer edge of humblebrag isnt it? We gotta see the colosseum, the forum, the pantheon, capitoline hill and galaria borghese. And have another gelato. Something's gotta give.
It won't be the gelato.
Then we rode our hotel bikes to the Vatican where we saw the sistene chapel and many people and the ceiling. Very nice. Lots of other stuff.
Biked home. Pizza. Apples for fiber, which is important.
Walk to basilica Santa Cecelia. Cecelia drowned but somehow came back to life. On the way to the church we met a friendly sculptor from buenos aires who visited Rome and stayed for 50 years (F Brook). Annhig told us to pay the extra euros to see the mosaics in the basement so we did. Remnants from the time of Christ. and the basement chapel there was wonderful, like the mesquite in cordoba, beautiful tiles, many pillars and arches. Then DW talks to a nice lady from Birmingham England who was visiting a friend who said if you asked to see a sister of the order they would show you frescos by cavelini. So we go around to a locked door by the side of the church and talk on an intercom and get let in and taken upstairs and see what's left of frescos about judgement day. That was fun. We bought some soaps and sachets of lavender to say thanks.
Then we listened to two street musicians playing a sax and a hang (steel drums you play with your hands). I bought a CD.
Then back at the hotel we had wine in the courtyard and free tasty tapas. Followed by dinner with a friend of our DS#2 and topped off with gelato (raspberry in a cup). It was a pretty perfect day.
Still, we have so many things to do before we leave Rome for our villa in Umbria. That's on the very outer edge of humblebrag isnt it? We gotta see the colosseum, the forum, the pantheon, capitoline hill and galaria borghese. And have another gelato. Something's gotta give.
It won't be the gelato.
Sep 12th, 2013, 02:06 PM
#36
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Wow, you tell the details of the day in a way that manages to make me feel as if I were there and simultaneously be so sorry that I was not. You are a great writer, sm. Your day sounds like a gem.
Sep 12th, 2013, 03:04 PM
#37
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big grin on my face from reading your posts, SM. Isn't Rome just sooo great? Food, yikes!!! We have been once and your report brought it all back in such a lovely way. Your villa looks amazing. Did you bring tennis rackets? Can't imagine how much fun you all will have. Ciao!
Sep 13th, 2013, 06:06 AM
#40
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I've been reading my fodor's guide, which suggests you don't have to know one of the sisters at Santa Cecelia's to see the frescos, you just ring the bell at the door beside the main entrance, pay 2.50 euro, and look at the frescos. How about that?
