Thursday 21st March
Whilst in Rieti we attended a concerto evening; we saw it advertised outside the impressive Teatro Flavio Vespasiano and it looked appealing. Not to mention the fact that we could hear, that afternoon, the sound of the mezzo-soprano rehearsing, and she sounded terrific ! But as we walked back towards Piazza Vittorio Emmanuele II, we heard *and felt* a loud but muffled explosion, coming from we knew not where; no-one reacted in the slightest, so we assumed this was a familiar occurence. CS muttered, darkly, about something unpleasant underground ... Was he right or was he right ? -- the next morning, Rieti was under gentle attack from occasional waves of pong; it was, without any doubt at all, the smell of sewage, and it would seem that CS' guess had been right indeed. It must happen there all the time; I heard not one single mention of the unusual -- ah ... fragrance ... :-\
We dined at the Four Seasons' brasserie on that first night, fairly pleasantly (although the cook's sitting at a table to have his own dinner in a section near our table, turning on the TV *loudly*
Whilst in Rieti we attended a concerto evening; we saw it advertised outside the impressive Teatro Flavio Vespasiano and it looked appealing. Not to mention the fact that we could hear, that afternoon, the sound of the mezzo-soprano rehearsing, and she sounded terrific ! But as we walked back towards Piazza Vittorio Emmanuele II, we heard *and felt* a loud but muffled explosion, coming from we knew not where; no-one reacted in the slightest, so we assumed this was a familiar occurence. CS muttered, darkly, about something unpleasant underground ... Was he right or was he right ? -- the next morning, Rieti was under gentle attack from occasional waves of pong; it was, without any doubt at all, the smell of sewage, and it would seem that CS' guess had been right indeed. It must happen there all the time; I heard not one single mention of the unusual -- ah ... fragrance ... :-\
We dined at the Four Seasons' brasserie on that first night, fairly pleasantly (although the cook's sitting at a table to have his own dinner in a section near our table, turning on the TV *loudly*
to accompany his meal -- we were, it seems, early -- and then going back to the kitchen TAKING THE REMOTE CONTROL WITH HIM was a first !), and went on to the theatre to find that the concert was free ! And very nice it was, too ... apart from CS' nearly coming to a bout of fisticuffs with the bloke in front of him who wouldn't shut up or keep still ...
We're both suckers for anything by Tosti, and there was some very nice lieder, as well. The concerto evening experimented with giving readings (in Italian) as well as the music; the locals liked it, and we liked the music, so everyone was happy.
Friday 22nd March
During the next day I had interviews, and then we wandered and enjoyed not driving, and Rieti. I recommend it: it's a really nice little town. That night we dined in a ristorante that CS had booked us into during the day, having been instructed by the padrone what time we would arrive (!); the meal was pretty damned good, I admit it, but he didn't actually look on us -- as much as he could look upon anyone over his enormous moustache
We're both suckers for anything by Tosti, and there was some very nice lieder, as well. The concerto evening experimented with giving readings (in Italian) as well as the music; the locals liked it, and we liked the music, so everyone was happy.
Friday 22nd March
During the next day I had interviews, and then we wandered and enjoyed not driving, and Rieti. I recommend it: it's a really nice little town. That night we dined in a ristorante that CS had booked us into during the day, having been instructed by the padrone what time we would arrive (!); the meal was pretty damned good, I admit it, but he didn't actually look on us -- as much as he could look upon anyone over his enormous moustache
