Today I’m up real early. I put on my walking stuff and stroll through town, then down the hill on the road towards the S146 and Pienza. It’s an incredibly crisp morning and I take lots of pictures. On my return, I stop at the bar (below Carmalengo) for a cappuccino. When I return, Rick is awake and eventually my kids and Chris.
Views from Walk Around Castelmuzio
We decide that Rick and I should be together because we’re both early risers and Chris and Steph, since they both like to sleep in. I guess opposites do attract. Anyway, Rick, Chris, Becky, Sammi and I head back to the bar for some breakfast. We get assorted Danish and some capucinni before returning to the house to gather the rest of the gang.
About 10:30, Chris and I hit the road with all three kids. Steph’s still prepping and I don’t even want to go into what I think delayed Kris and Antonio 😉 (ah not to have children banging on your door). Anyway, they’ll catch up with us later, the advantage of having two cars.
We navigate to Arezzo easily and follow signs for the train station. We find the parking lot just past the station and at about 11:15, it’s only half full. We put money in the machine (enough to get us until 5:15) and leave the receipt in the window. We call Kris to tell her where we parked but there’s no answer.
As we start to walk into the older section of town (and towards the monthly market), Becky needs a bathroom. It’s really perfect timing because we’re right by the bar at which Rain and I had stopped on our 2001 trip, the one with the incredible hot chocolate. We head inside and get some kinder eggs for the kids and Pringles for Al (she missed breakfast), some hot chocolate for me (actually Becky and I share) and an espresso for Chris. I love the hot chocolate here; it reminds me of warm chocolate pudding and when my Mom used to let me lick the bowl.
After we finish, we head to the market. Stall upon stall of every item imaginable for as far as the eye can see. The girls are in all their glory as they check out every single vender. The girls find a clarinet for what they think is 3.50 euro – no that’s 350 Euro ;). Our phone rings, it’s Kris, they’ve arrived and are making there way towards the market.
Chris darts back with the kids and pawns them off on the other adults as I make my way to the Church of San Francesco to pick up our tickets for the fresco viewing. Two problems, one it’s cash only and Chris has the money; two, I forgot the reservation number. Chris returns in time with the moolah and they’re able to find our reservation via our last name. Phew.
We divvy up the tickets and continue our stroll through the market. I find a watchmaker and enter looking for a new strap for my watch. The watchmaker gives me a big smile when I enter. He speaks no English and me very little Italian; we both grab our dictionaries at the same time, laughing. He can fix it subito for twelve euros. It’s a deal.
We drop the others at the church for their viewing of the frescos while Sammi and I continue to shop. I find a stall with a duck wine decanter similar to the one Chris and I didn’t buy (and later regretted) during our trip in 1999. We also find a stall selling old tools, something for which Chris has a passion.
We return to the church to gather the troops and head across the street to Buca di San Francesco for lunch (and our second Buon Ricordo plate). Uh oh, they’ve lost our reservation. I pull out my e-mail confirmation and Antonio speaks to the matre’d and finally we’re seated. I’m thinking they didn’t lose it but had a mix-up on the name because they did have a table for nine already made in the center of the restaurant with a reserved sign on it and no one ever showed up to claim it.
There’s bottled water and wine (a bottle of Noveau and house) already on the table. Giving to Steph’s preference for lighter, fruitier wines, we open the Noveau feeling pretty confident that she’ll prefer that (she does). Antonio speaks with our waiter and arranges a sort of tasting for each of us. We start off with Bruschetti Tipica Toscana, one with paté and one with a bean puree, delish! Then we each have a small bowl of ribollita, also delish. Next a small bowl of parpadelle with rabbit and duck, yummy. For our secondi, Becky and Sammi have gnocchi (Becky ends up with a second order because she’s so hungry). Al gets the roast chicken, and she too ends up with a second order. Steph and Rick and Chris and I order two of the Buon Ricordo specialties, a mixed grill (meatball, braised beef, tripe, which I’m not crazy about), and Antonio has some other meat dish. Kris skips her secondi but the waiter serves her a tiny plate with four beans on it, very funny. For dessert we barely manage vin santo and cantucci. The bill came to about $275 for the nine of us and we got our second plate!
After lunch, we continue to stroll through the market. Chris and I purchase the duck decanter for 55 Euro and Chris checks out the tools. He doesn’t buy any but Becky gets a tiny china cup with March (her birth month) painted on it for ten euro. Kris and Antonio depart while Chris and I pick up some stuff in a salumeria. Kris needs to catch a train back to Perugia and Antonio needs to return to Bergamo for work on Monday.
About 5:00, we head back to the cars and the lot is packed, filled with cars and people driving through looking for open spaces. I never realized the market would continue so late on a Sunday.
As we head out of town, Rick makes a wrong turn in front of us. We track him down in a slow speed but crazy chase through the outskirts of Arezzo but we catch him, flash and honk him and head back on course.
Just after we get on the Bettole Siena Raccordo, we see a sign for Sinalunga/Trequanda. That must have been the sign we missed yesterday, blocked by some construction equipment. Now all of Rebecca’s directions make sense and we’re home by 6:30.
The kids shower and hang out while we make them some pasta for dinner. The adults nibble on the sausage and stuff we bought in Arrezzo. We all turn in relatively early.
