Monday, October 17, dawned very, very foggy! We delayed our start time to drive to Arezzo which was a good plan!

It looked like Omaha did yesterday!! As we drove southeast, the sun came out and fog went away. It turned out to be a great day to walk around Arezzo seeing all the churches! After we arrived in the city and easily found a parking lot, we started our 'tour' researched & plotted by Sarah! First stop was a bar for me to buy a chocolate croissant in memory of my arrival in Santiago one year ago today!!! 

Then on to the 14th-century Gothic Chiesa di San Francesco to see Puerto Della Francesca's fresco cycle of the Legend of the True Cross. The exterior is quite plain...

 Then inside:

 This is a long view leading towards the fresco:

We were fortunate to get tickets with only a half hour wait.  Only a certain number of people go in per hour. 

Now off we go to find the 12th-century Pieve di Santa Maria church before it closed for mid-day break. This involved walking uphill, downhill, back uphill and asking several times for directions. Now tell me how we missed this two times??!!:

Does this look like a church?

This side is where we decided that we were close!! 

The inside did look like a church!

 This column needed some heavy duty reinforcement...

So now back to the uphill climb, again, to find the 13th-15th century Cathedral. Luckily, Sarah went ahead at her faster pace while I dawdled as my knee was hurting a bit. It was closed until 3:00!! I appreciated every uphill step she saved me from taking! So lunch time at a place right where I was at...Ristorante Logge Vasari perfectly fit the bill. We sat outside on the Logge enjoying the wonderful weather and the activity in the Piazza Grande. Sarah noted that there really wasn't much action...Monday afternoon? There were two other tables of Americans - I am interested to see how many will be in Florence!

The porticoes of the Palazzo delle Logge Vasariane, 1573

A free treat of either creamed carrots or squash!

Tortino di Panzanella (typical bread pie) which we shared

We each ordered To Puno Gnocchi al Ragu (dumplings with bolognese ragout)

This woman was making pasta right there & then for the restaurant!

Piazza Grande looking towards our table

Arezzo was the film location for much of the movie, Life is Beautiful. The Piazza Grande was one of those sites.

Now rested and fortified, we set off to see the cathedral, uphill! It wasn't quite 3:00, so at a nearby park I sat & watched several classes of students play soccer and a tag-like game. Interestingly, the 4 adults (supposedly the teachers) were men! Sarah walked further into the park towards a Medici Fortress.

A peek of the cathedral tower from park.

The Cathedral

Glazed terracotta images from the Della Robbia workshop.

Interior

As we walk back down the hill towards the car, we see a library:

Inside the entrance

Rather impressive!

We find the car, master the automatic payment machine & find the way back onto the autostrada!! We stop in Grassina to get a few groceries at The Coop then Sarah brings us safely home where we see two male pheasants in the olive grove!  We had

one more 1st time experience tonight - we did a load of laundry in the Italian washing machine! Now to see how long it takes to dry!