We arrived at 5:30 pm, quickly settled in, and went into the city. There are two bus lines that stop in front of the hotel. I received instructions that we should "get off at the first or second stop, when all the people exit, just a few minutes." These instructions were a little vague. After 20 minutes and many stops, we exited the bus hoping we hadn't gone too far. The city was large and a bit overwhelming. We had restaurant recommendations, but settled on La Taverna di Cecco, Via Cecco Angiolieri, 19. I had a very good dinner of pici (pasta made without eggs) in a spicy sauce and spinach. Martiza had spaghetti and spinach. Note: this is a no-smoking restaurant. We wandered through the Piazza del Campo and some of the side streets. The city is medieval, but seems also quite cosmopolitan.

Now it was time to head back to the hotel and we did not have adequate directions on how to do that. I know better than to leave a hotel without a name and address, really I do. If the name had been simple I might have remembered it, but Scacciapensieri is not exactly common. I knew that the bus line we took had already ended for the night, and without a hotel name a taxi was out of the question. We needed to find the isolated bus stop for the other line. The hotel had given me a map, and I was astounded that we figured it out. Fortunately, two people on the bus were staying at our hotel or we would not have known where to exit. So, lesson learned (certainly for this hotel): take the #8 bus, not the #3, and be sure to always carry your hotel’s card with you.

The Foods of Italy

So much of Italy is about food.  I took the photos in the above collage in 2006 and 2009 while touring in Tuscany, Rome, Lake Como and the Amalfi Coast.  Some of the photos are hanging over my kitchen cabinets.  You'll see some of these photos while looking through my website.