My cast is finally off so typing is no longer a chore. Thank you again for putting together such an amazing trip for us. Even with the broken arm, it was wonderful (and I got to tour an Italian hospital 🙂 )
I did want to let you know though, that both my husband and I were a bit disappointed with the J & J hotel in Florence. That being said, everything else was PERFECT!. I wanted to let you know specifically about the manager at the Palazzo Leopoldo in Chianti. We didn’t get to Chianti until well after 5:00 pm. I broke my arm in Florence on Saturday night and had a follow up visit with the specialist Monday morning at 11:30 so we didn’t get on the road until much later than planned. When we finally arrived in Chianti, with a cast on my arm from my shoulder to my fingertips, I was exhausted and very emotional. Joseph greeted me and then showed me the room that was to be ours. It was upstairs and they had no elevator. Normally, that would not have been a problem, but I knew that it would make the time in Chianti more difficult. The other problem was that all of their rooms had showers and no tubs. With a brand new cast and my inexperience in keeping it dry the hotel would not be a good fit for us.
I wasn’t able to hold my emotions in check and as a few tears managed to fall, Joseph assured me that he would find a solution. They have a sister hotel also in Radda, about 50 meters down the road. Joseph personally escorted me to the Palazzo San Niccolò so he could explain to Stephan (the manager there) our situation. Between the two of them, they changed our reservation to that hotel and upgraded us to a small suite which had a large tub and the hotel had a “lift”.
Then on to Lecco and my son’s tournament. They finished third in the world. He was disappointed but I was very proud. While we were in Lecco, we did rent another car with the help of the staff at Red’s.
If you ever need to make a recommendation for a hotel in that area, we could not give them high enough praise. Just a stunning hotel with wonderful amenities. We got lost trying to find the sports venue where the tournament was being held. My husband stopped at a gas station for directions. The woman who was working there spoke English well enough and drew my husband a map. He was about to leave when a gentleman overheard the conversation. He did not speak English but saw the map and told the woman to tell my husband not to go that way. It would take us too long. He told us to just follow him. This perfect stranger went 30 minutes out of his way in each direction to make sure that we didn’t get lost again. Again, everything was PERFECT!
There were so many special moments that my husband and I shared that would take me days to write them all: the tours in Rome, the small cruise in Sorrento was spectacular and our driver, Pepe was a character, the patience of the staff at the hospital in Florence while caring for me, the care and kindness we were shown in Radda, the charm of perfect strangers in Lecco.
Thank you again for the time and effort you spent on creating the wonderful vacation.
Regards,
Kathy Broome
