My daily journal
This is pretty brief and mostly for me, so I can remember what I did...
Friday, May 26
Kathy and I left Washington on United at 6:40 pm, and at 7:30 pm we turned around and flew back to Dulles, due to "mechanical difficulties." Fortunately I had two glasses of wine at the airport bar before boarding, or I would have been scared out of my wits by this. We finally left on a new plane at 10:00 pm. The highlight of the flight was being served a really decent vegan donut in my “special meal.” I checked out their site and supposedly they are sold at some DC area stores, though so far I've only found their donut hole assortment at My Organic Market.
Saturday, May 27
Because of Friday night's flight fiasco, we missed our Lufthansa connection
in Frankfurt and therefore were several hours late meeingt Marc in
Rome. Fortunately, he had called his voicemail so he knew what
happened to us. We then picked up the rental car and drove 2 hours
to our villa at San Guistino. Mark and Albert left a note to meet them
at a local restaurant and the evening ended in our first great meal
at the Osteria del Cacciatore. Villa info: Villa Solatio, near Monte
San Savino. The caretaker, Ugo Pasqui, does NOT speak English, as indicated
in the Tuscany
Now brochure...
Sunday, May 28
Day at villa/poolside (who knew it would be our only really warm day!); quick lunch at La Scuderia in Palazzuolo;
dinner at villa prepared by Franca, arranged through Tuscany Now. She served:
- 4 types of bruschetta: cheese spread (kinda tasted like pimento cheese), zucchini, tomato, mushrooms
- pasta with basil
- roasted eggplant with cheese (the others got a meat main course)
- salad
- panna cotta with strawberries
- local wines
Monday, May 29
Arezzo;
dinner at Osteria del Cacciatore
Tuesday, May 30
Chusi;
Montepulchiano;
lunch at farm store outside of Montepulchiano;
dinner at La Scuderia in Palazzuolo
Wednesday, May 31
Orvieto — gorgeous Duomo; also the underground cave network is
very interesting; lunch at La Torretta di Nonnamelia (trendy with great
food); dinner at Gorganza (La Torre di Gorganza) near the villa
Thursday, June 1
After my visit to the doctor to get antibiotics (bronchitis),
and my third visit to the local pharmacy, Mark, Albert and I went on
to visit three towns in Chianti: Radda, Greve, and Castellina;
lunch at Al Chiasso Dei Portici in Radda (upscale vegetarian sandwich
washed down with a really good Chianti); dinner at Osteria del Cacciatore
Friday, June 2
Cortona;
cappuccino break at River Coffee (a
Starbuck’s-like chain, but small);
lunch at great restaurant on the main square that we read about in Albert's
guidebook (I've forgotten the name, but they served a great ribollita);
dinner at villa prepared by Franca — this time she prepared:
- Bread soup timbale (bread crumbs, onion, tomato, cucumber)
- Risotto con funghi (mushrooms)
- Roasted vegetables in yellow pepper (in place of the others' meat dish)
- Flourless chocolate cake with strawberries
Saturday, June 3
Marc went off to Rome and Mark, Albert, Kathy, and I first stopped in Lucignano to pick up a painting M&A had purchased from a local gallery. Then we drove to Castiglione della Pescaia, the Rehoboth beach of Italy. We stayed at
Park hotel Zibellino and I must complement their web design company on making it look like a place one would want to stay...; dinner in town at the only restaurant that wasn’t filled (passable)
Sunday, June 4
Drove to Saturnia to see the sulfer springs (the public area, not the chic, expensive spa/hotel); lunch in Sovana; then visited the Tombe Etrusche, Tombe of the Siren, and Vie Cave; stopped to take photos of Pitigliano (cliff town); skipped dinner due to over-eating and general illness.
Monday, June 5
Mark, Albert, and I tried to go to Elba (through Grosseto, Follonica and Piombino) but was just too hard; ended up back in Castiglione della Pescaia for lunch at Posto Pubblico outdoor terrace (very relaxing);
went back to pick up Kathy and had dinner at another place in Castiglione della Pescaia. I can't remember the name, but it was pretty good and I had an excellent Nutella cake roll dessert, though I can't say it was vegan...
Tuesday, June 6
Before returning to Rome, we spend some time at the Parco Regionale Della Maremma — it
was a gorgeous day to enjoy the beach! We saw fighter jets practicing maneuvers
(pretty stomach-turning moves!) and had lunch in Tarquinia. Drove on to a hotel
near the Rome airport, which took forever due to poor roadway signage; had dinner
at a conference hotel across the street — food good, but way more
expensive that we were used to, and the waiter was annoying and reminded me of Manuel on
Fawlty Towers.
Wednesday, June 7
Travel day; returned home around 9 pm