SuperAlto's Travel Reviews: Cod. 091 Historic Center - Monti

All ratings are out of 5 possible points

Overall: 5 (would definitely book again)

Location: 5
Comfort: 5
Staff: 5
Breakfast: n/a

Website

We rented an apartment in Rome through the Bed and Breakfast Association of Rome.

Location: The apartment is centrally located, near a Metro stop and within walking distance of the train station and the Coliseum. (We also walked to Vatican City, but I don't recommend trying that unless you REALLY like walking.) We were on a quiet street in a Roman neighborhood, buying our groceries and eating out without encountering hordes of other tourists. As advertised, the apartment is on the third floor (68 steps from the lobby), with no elevator.

Comfort: A spacious two-bedroom apartment, IKEA-furnished, with air conditioning and a washing machine in the small kitchen. The bathroom was split, with toilet/bidet/tiny sink in one room, and shower/small sink in the other room. This is a good layout for four people, as one person in the shower doesn't tie up the entire bathroom.

The kitchen was adequately equipped for our needs, with dishes, utensils, and assorted pots and pans. We cooked a small dinner most nights: pasta, canned sauce, meat sauteed in a frying pan. The washing machine (once I figured out how to operate it) worked well, and we eventually found the drying rack in a closet. The beds and couch were all comfortable. The towels were a bit on the thin side, but there were plenty of extra ones.

Staff: Marie at the Bed & Breakfast Assn. was very helpful, answering my various questions and suggesting apartments that fit our needs. Once we arrived at the apartment, Rosa, the owner, was friendly and helpful. Unfortunately, she did not speak English, and I don't speak Italian, but she managed to communicate most of the necessary information to me, only once having to call her English-speaking daughter to answer one of my questions. She also left us a bottle of wine as a welcome gift.

SuperAlto's Travel Reviews: Residenza Il Villino, Florence, Italy

All ratings are out of 5 possible points

Overall: 5 (would definitely book again)

Location: 5
Comfort: 4
Staff: 5
Breakfast: 5
Website

Location:  Il Villino is centrally located, within walking distance of all the major sights. It was a bit further from the train station than we had anticipated, and we elected to take a cab when we departed so that we wouldn't have to make that hike again in the July heat.

Comfort: We had a family suite on the first floor, between the entrance door and the gate pictured above. The children had a separate bedroom with twin beds, while DH and I slept in the main room.

The couch was lumpy and uncomfortable, but we didn't spend much time sitting on it. The beds were very comfortable. There was also a dining table, a refrigerator, and a private bathroom with a shower. The bathroom was quite cramped, with the toilet and bidet a step down (we called it "the well"):

The suite was spacious, with high ceilings, but the windows and shades were kept closed for security and privacy, so there wasn't much natural light. The air conditioning worked well. We felt very secure at Il Villino, with electronic locks on all the doors and gates.

Staff: All of the people we met were friendly and helpful. Sergio was on duty when we arrived. He showed us how to operate all of the various locks and keys, showed us a shorter walking route for our return to the train station (we must have looked rather tired and sweaty), and recommended a delicious restaurant for dinner.

Breakfast: Delicious, varied selection. Blood orange juice, tea, coffee, and either cappucino or espresso made to order. Fresh fruit, meat, cornetti, packaged toast, and more. Breakfast was served outside in a lovely courtyard:

SuperAlto's Travel Reviews: Pensione Guerrato, Venice, Italy

All ratings are out of 5 possible points

Overall: 5 (would definitely book again)

Location: 5
Comfort: 4
Staff: 5
Breakfast: 4
Website

Location: Pensione Guerrato is located next to the Rialto Market, within easy walking distance of all the major sites. It was easy to reach from the train station, despite a vaporetto strike that left us on foot for the day.

Comfort: We were assigned to room 25, on the top floor, a quad with private shower:

As advertised, there is no elevator, and 75 steps to climb. Our room had a double bed and two twins, with adequate air conditioning. The room and bathroom were spacious, bright, and clean. The only problem we had is that hot water was in very short supply on the top floor. Our showers (brief ones!) ranged from lukewarm to cool.

Staff: The staff was very friendly and helpful. Piero was on duty when we arrived from the train station, and he helped us store our luggage until check-in time, and directed us to a coffee shop where we could get some breakfast. During the evenings, the woman at the desk (sorry, I forgot her name!) gave us excellent recommendations for dinner, and accurate directions to get to the restaurants.

Breakfast: The food was plentiful and tasty, but the coffee left something to be desired. (I am not a coffee drinker, but M and J are, and M refused to drink it at all.) A typical breakfast consisted of coffee, tea, orange juice, apple-filled cornetti (yum!), yogurt, soft cheese, packaged toast, and probably something else I've forgotten. Italian opera played in the background added to the atmosphere, although the dining room seemed to be exclusively populated by Americans.

Counting Down

One week until we leave for Europe! (And, for those of you that know my real name and where I live, we are not leaving our house unoccupied, so don't bother coming by to steal our stuff :-) )

DH returns from Portland tonight, I've FINALLY finished our massive filing/shredding/organizing project, and I still have a million things left to do.

Outdoor Performing

Current mental soundtrack: "The Coolin" by Samuel Barber

S&P sang last night at the Temescal Street Cinema. It was an interesting concert. After a week or more of warm, sunny weather, we ended up performing on a foggy, windy day. I dressed appropriately for the weather: long underwear (top and bottom), T-shirt, blazer, dressy scarf, fleece jacket, hair in a ponytail to keep it out of my mouth. I felt really silly putting on my long underwear in June, but was very glad I had done it. The only part of me that was cold was my hands, and everyone in the choir had the same complaint. By the end of the performance, we were all having trouble turning pages with our frozen extremities, and my fingers didn't stop tingling for an hour afterward.

Outdoor performances are always entertaining. We had sirens, a helicoptor, wind blowing the conductor's music, and kids riding bikes in front of the "stage." We made an unusual number of mistakes (probably because we were half frozen): at one point, we lost the entire always-reliable alto section for four measures of the "Geographical Fugue." Every performer has those occasional lapses, but nothing gets the adrenaline going like the realization that the other four singers in your section had the same brain lapse, and there is no one left on your part! Overall, the performance was okay. The audience seemed to enjoy it, and there only a few REALLY "interesting" moments. :-)

Please Reform MY Insurance!

Gotta love those insurance companies. (Although my doctor's office shares some of the blame for this story.) DH and I work for the same employer, and I've been covered under his plan for a number of years. With the astronomical increase in premiums for 2010, I figured out last fall that it would be much cheaper to cover me separately, since I'm in a lower salary band than DH. Same insurance company, same plan, just a change of policyholder name--shouldn't be a problem, right?

The trouble started in February when I tried to refill my allergy prescription. The drugstore told me that the insurance company refused to pay for it without a "prior authorization," so I called my doctor's office and was told it would take several weeks to process. I called again the following month, to find that they had no record of ever having spoken with me. This time I went in in person, handed them the form, and the office staff was very apologetic, and assured me it would be fastracked. I waited another month, called them back, and was informed that the insurance company hadn't responded yet. I called back again yesterday, and they had no record whatsoever of anything being submitted! This time, I got someone who passed it up to my doctor right away, instead of to her assistant.

The fun doesn't end there. I got a new prescription the same day for another brand of allergy meds. Got a call from the drugstore saying that my insurance wouldn't cover that one, either. Back to the doctor, who went with a generic from the approved formulary this time. Drugstore called again tonight: yes, the insurance company will pay for this brand. Unfortunately, there's a shortage of it (maybe since the insurance company is forcing everyone to use it), and they haven't had any in stock for the last three weeks!

Unexpected Sights

Two days in a row of unexpected sights while driving the middle-school carpool. Yesterday, as I was leaving the school, two log sections rolled down the hill into the street about twenty feet in front of me. Must have gotten away from the tree trimmers. Today, we turned onto G. Blvd., and saw a blizzard of white office paper lining the road, and a garbage truck with its blinkers on. M walked around the corner after I parked the car, and reported that the papers seemed to be packing slips and things. I later heard from L's mom that they were papers from some local businesses headed off to the shredder. The garbage company sent out a crew pretty quickly (one truck parked right in front of our house, but I didn't think to ask them what was going on), and cleaned them all up.

School's out, DH is in Beijing, and next week will be a flurry of Orinda Idol stuff: music rehearsals, choreography sessions, and, most importantly, dress shopping.

Homework for the Parents, Two Years Later

It's state buffet time again. B did her report on Minnesota, and didn't have any idea what we should cook. I posted a request to my Facebook friends, and most people agreed that we should make some sort of "hotdish," preferably with either wild rice or tater tots. Also suggested were rhubarb pie, bundt cake, jello with marshmellows, lutefisk, and anything with wild rice. (I had no idea that Minnesota was known for wild rice.)

In the oven right now is "Mom's Wild Rice & Chicken Casserole", which had all of the ingredients my Minnesota friends felt were necessary: wild rice, chicken or ground beef, cream of mushroom soup. I hope it turns out well!

*   *   *   *   *

 Photo (11:20 am):

Take This Kid Instead

And now for a completely different shopping trip. Yesterday we dragged M out to the mall. He is heading to Disneyland this weekend for a choir trip, and has been complaining that his black dress shoes pinch his feet. So, off to buy shoes. We went to the mall. We went into one department store. Over his protests, we forced him to try on TWO pairs of black tennis shoes (the horror!), because he didn't like the soles on the first pair. We bought the second pair (on sale!), and left for home.

Leave the Kid at Home Next Time

We headed out yesterday afternoon to pick up some floor pillows for the gaming area, since the old beanbags are really uncomfortable, and a couple of T-shirts for B. We came home with a sofa for the gaming area (who knew that IKEA had $149 loveseats?), a T-shirt for B, two pairs of jeans for B, a skirt for B, a headband for B, a rug for B, and a body pillow for B. Guess which kid went shopping with us and which one stayed home?

Two Wheels

Current mental soundtrack: "Poisoning Pigeons in the Park" by Tom Lehrer

I finally decided what to do with my March Madness winnings: I bought a bike today. I haven't owned a bike since grad school, and REI is having a sale this week, so DH & I stopped by to take a look. I had been eyeing a pretty blue one online, but they didn't have any in stock. Instead, I ended up with an even nicer green one (the official color is "wasabi"), complete with front and rear lights powered by pedal power. It's not the color I would have picked if there had been a choice, but it's growing on me. (And for some strange reason, I had to buy myself a limeade afterwards.)

Now I just have to wait for it to stop raining so I can take it out for a spin!

Six Performances

Current mental soundtrack: random selections from Sleeping Beauty, by Tchaikovsky.

Just got back from watching B's evening performance. She did a great job, and it was fun to finally see her on stage for an extended period. When kids first start performing in ballets, they're usually on stage for about a minute, and then they're gone. The entire second half of tonight's program was Sleeping Beauty, and she was in the opening number (4:48 according to the track list the stage managers were given), then stayed on stage as background throughout the first half of the work. (Did a good job acting, too.) She has one more performance tomorrow afternoon, which I won't see because I'll be at the Voci concert.

Checklist for tomorrow (I have to remember all of this when I leave in the morning):

• Ticket for morning pre-ballet show
• Money for lunch with B (she's requested Bongo Burger)
• Campus parking permits for lunchtime parking ease
• Voci concert outfit (top, skirt, socks, shoes)
• Silver jewelry for concert
• Makeup
• Hair stuff (curling iron, styling creme, hair clip, bobby pins, etc.)
• Water bottle
• Music
• Snack for self before concert
• Shaker for possible use in one piece
• Caramel pecan brownies for intermission bake sale
• Dinner (t.b.a.)
• Warm jacket & scarf 
• Black top & black jeans for evening ballet show (assistant stage manager). Keep black concert shoes & socks
• Notes for ballet show

DH is on chauffeur duty--he will be dropping B off at the ballet school at 8:30 tomorrow morning, then returning there at 2:00 with three of B's friends and my sister. After he drives everyone home (including B), he and the kids are going to a party at a colleague's house.

Garland Dancer

Current mental soundtrack: "Today, this Spring" by Libby Larsen

To hear my mental soundtrack, be sure to come to this weekend's Voci concerts!

B is performing this weekend in Sleeping Beauty, so I'm spending my "spare" time as one of the crew of stage managers.

Here she is backstage:

And here's a photo taken from the wings during yesterday's outreach performance:

It's fun watching her class progress. They started off as cute little beginners who mostly moved at the right times, but not always in the right direction. By now, they are starting to look like they know what they're doing. Their feet point the same way, they move at the same time, and they look like ballerinas.

They're In!

Just got the announcement--B and her friends will be in Orinda Idol again this year. I've been waking up in the middle of the night wondering if they would get in, if I did everything I could to help them, if I should have steered them towards an easier piece, etc. Now I can go back to my more normal middle-of-the-night senseless worries :-)

To and Fro and To and Fro and...

Current mental soundtrack: Hymn 355 from the Episcopal hymnal (yes, I

sang at church this morning)

Yesterday I wore my chauffeur hat; three round trips to the ballet
school! First was the usual Saturday morning pre-ballet class (B is a
teaching assistant). Then back home for B's Orinda Idol audition at
1:55. Back to the ballet school after that, to drop off B for her 1:30
rehearsal (late). A final trip to pick her up at 5:00.
DH took M to fencing, went to Costco, and got M a haircut. Each of us
also took a trip to the grocery store, because we didn't remember
everything the first time.
B's audition went pretty well, although I'm not 100% certain that
they'll get in this year. B, L, M, and A picked the hardest of the
pieces I gave them to choose from, and A is having some trouble
holding her part against the others. They didn't start work on it
until after the musical (two weeks ago), so it wasn't as solid as I
know they can do.
DH cooked a fabulous dinner last night, after all that driving around.
Porterhouse steaks, potato salad, corn on the cob, and fresh
strawberries (that we were too full to eat!). Our first BBQ of the
season :-)
Off to dim sum after church!

--------------------------
Sent from my iPhone

Hei, jäkkä däkkä düüdi aadi oodi aadi üüdi ambo

Current mental soundtrack: "Announcement III", by Jaako Mäntyjärvi

Long day is finally over! DH is in Crete this weekend (he finally made it there after having his original flight cancelled because of a transportation strike), so the kids and I got to travel together all day today.

We left home at 10:00 this morning to get B to the pre-ballet class she TAs for. While she was in class (10:30-11:30), M and I had coffee and breakfast across the street.
Next stop was M's fencing class from 12:00-1:30. B and I ran some errands, and picked up lunch at Costco.
At 2:00, we returned to the ballet school for B's afternoon rehearsal (2:00-3:00). I also got to stay and watch, since I'm one of the stage manager crew, and we were instructed to take notes today.
We got home at 3:30, fed the dogs, packed our bags, and were out the door at 4:05 to meet up with my carpool.
The three of us, plus two other singers from my choir, made it into the city pretty quickly. We met up with two other singers, and had dinner at Taqueria El Castillito, our usual stop before San Francisco concerts. The "super nachos" are enough to feed a family, and very tasty.
Concert warmup began at 6:30, and the concert at 8:00. It went quite well today--the, um, "interesting" things that happened in yesterday's concert didn't recur. The kids had their own role: Mäntyjärvi's "Announcement IV" refers to unaccompanied minors in the audience, so at the appropriate moment in the piece, the entire choir pointed to M & B, who fled the room! They had a great time acting this out:

Under health and safety regulations, unaccompanied minors are not allowed in this performance except by written permission from the composer. Unaccompanied minors will be removed and may be destroyed.

The encore was Mäntyjärvi's "El Hambo," which satirizes Swedish folk dancing, the Swedish Chef, and who knows what else. I brought a wooden spoon to dress rehearsal on Wednesday, since I just couldn't imagine the Swedish Chef without cutlery ("bork bork"). This evolved into banging the spoon on a pot held by my neighbor, since we weren't able to do the clapping written in the score (no time to memorize the piece).

For the post-concert reception, I made a lemon poppy seed bundt cake. My fellow carpooler baked a lemon bundt cake, and someone else brought lemon bars. I guess we were all in a lemon mood!

Bork Bork

Current mental soundtrack: "Answer: The Cow" by William Bergsma

Tonight's rehearsal was long and difficult. I knew it would be that way before we started, and I was right. I love singing with S&P because it's fun to sing challenging music with a group of excellent musicians, but I think that this set is testing the limits of our muscianship. One piece in particular, Per Nørgård's Wie Ein Kind, has sucked up a lot of our rehearsal time. To give you an idea of how difficult it is, last week our conductor made the perfectly reasonable request that we try to observe the dynamics in this piece. I think I missed about half of the dynamic changes--the rest of my brain cells were committed to singing the right notes at the right time. (Those of you who have sung with me in the past know that I can sight-read almost anything, which tells you something about this piece!)

That being said, I think it will be a fun concert. Some very modern-sounding stuff, but also some very entertaining texts. (And be sure to stick around for the encore!)

Unexpected Snags

Current mental soundtrack: "Mister Sandman" (I think this one is going to be stuck in my head for the next five months--very catchy tune!)

DH and I are going on a business trip this week, leaving tomorrow and returning Friday. This was scheduled at the last minute, but everything seemed to be going smoothly until tonight. My sister can stay with M (B is at camp all week), the other mom in the carpool can drive for us, and I am scheduled to be home in time for the Voci retreat on Saturday. Our plane tickets were booked yesterday, with us flying into a larger airport about two hours away from where we're going (saved ____ University about $1000). The plan was to rent a car and drive from the airport to the university tomorrow night.

DH just called at least a half dozen car rental agencies, and I checked both Travelocity and Expedia, and we got the same answer each time--not a single rental car to be found anywhere in the airport! We've never had that happen before! So, as he was starting to panic, I pointed out that his first appointment Thursday morning isn't until 10:00, and discovered there were plenty of cars available Thursday morning. (I have no idea why we couldn't get any of them ten hours earlier...) I booked us a hotel online for one night, he called the hotel we're supposed to be staying at to tell them we would be arriving the next morning, and we have a car confirmation in hand now. Whew!

The hotel I booked is one that we last stayed in thirteen years ago, when M was just a few months old. I wonder if they still have green sheets?

B's Birthday

Current mental soundtrack: "Mister Sandman" by Pat Ballard

B's birthday party was a success! The treasure hunt I planned worked out quite well--none of the clues were too easy, and only one was too hard (the crossword puzzle).

The theme was Ugly Dolls, and the prizes at the end of the treasure hunt were keychain Ugly Dolls wrapped in gold tissue paper. The clues included a word scramble, a cryptogram, sheet music ("Rubber Duckie"), a walk with a compass and measuring tape, and a jigsaw puzzle.

The cake was vanilla with homemade lemon filling and buttercream frosting.

Wait, Did I Remember To Put Sleeping and Eating In the Schedule?

Projects completed this week (besides the usual work, chauffeur duties, grocery shopping, cooking, laundry, and rehearsals for S&P and Voci):

• Two Peter Pan rehearsals at B's school (co-music director)
• Attempted retrieval of M's cell phone, which was confiscated on Monday when it rang in French class. The school has instituted a new rule that confiscated phones have to be picked up by a parent. Of course, when I showed up on Wednesday afternoon, no one could find the phone. M did get it back yesterday.
• One rehearsal for Annie at M's school. I helped out in costumes--none of the other moms on duty that day could tie a tie. I only had to stay for the first hour or so, but when I went to pick up M at 6:30, I had to wait until 7:10 before he finally appeared. Fortunately, Voci rehearsal is only five minutes from my house, so I still made it on time.
• Two dozen cupcakes baked, filled, and frosted last night. Four will be included with a dinner I'm bringing to some friends [see below], and the rest are for S&P retreat on Saturday. (Vanilla with raspberry filling and buttercream icing.)
• Apartment in Rome booked for July (had to dig out the fax machine that's been stored in our garage for the last four or five years)

Projects in progress:

• Making dinner tonight for a friend who's just had surgery. I will make potato soup and pick up a loaf of bread this afternoon before taking B to ballet class.
• Organizing B's group to audition for Orinda Idol. The signup deadline is next week, and B and her best friend L (who sang together in the last two competitions) waited until this week to decide they wanted to try again. L's mom wasn't thrilled by the idea, but B really wanted to do it, so she's going along with it. After several phone calls between the girls, they finally decided who they wanted to join them this year. They talked with their friends yesterday, and I finally had a spare minute last night to e-mail the moms. Both moms got back to me within half an hour with positive responses! (It appears that a lot of moms are online between 10:00 and 11:00 pm.)
• Picking suitable music for the Orinda Idol group. I have been collecting pieces for the last couple of months, but not knowing who would be singing, I have some SSA and some SSAA pieces. Now to figure out what will work with the group we have.
• Baking (scheduled for tonight after ballet) and decorating (scheduled for tomorrow night after retreat) B's birthday cake for Sunday.
• Putting together the treasure hunt for B's birthday party on Sunday. Most of the clues are prepared on my computer, but not yet printed out. Two clues still need some work before Sunday. I have no idea if the clues are too easy or two hard for these girls.
• Prepping for S&P retreat tomorrow. I'm temporarily the alto section leader (until D returns in the fall), so I have to run the alto sectional. As assistant conductor, I get to run the SA sectional that follows. (At least the cupcakes for lunch are already done.) Retreat is 10:00-4:00, which pretty much wipes out the entire day.