Letters: Petaluma pleasures, pounds of flesh in London and ripped off in Spain

More pleasures in Petaluma

Regarding “A Gem Hidden in Plain Sight,” by Avital Andrews, Aug. 5: Guys, you missed the Petaluma Cheese Factory — a must in Petaluma.

Rich Fischbeck

Irvine

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Thanks for including Della Fattoria in Petaluma. While visiting family in the Bay Area, we stopped at the restaurant for lunch. The food was fabulous.

My mother and I enjoyed the best BLTs we’d ever had. My sister-in-law loved her veggie piadina and was happy to see a number of vegetarian dishes on the menu. “Out of this world,” my mother said when tasting the restaurant’s lemon meringue tart. I chose a yellow cupcake with hibiscus butter cream icing — fabulous.

Will definitely return to this restaurant.

Laurie Dominic

Santa Monica

Pounds of flesh

I just returned from England and the Olympics, and here are a couple of tips:

If you plan to get a pay-as-you-go SIM card for your phone in Britain (or purchase a pay-as-you-go phone for use there), ask about an international plan, especially if you are planning to call/text the U.S. We had O2 and the plan was free — would have cost about $1.88 a minute, about 3 cents a minute less than a local call there.

A heads-up for luggage storage at major railway stations: Check first. Online we read “£3 [about $4.70] and up,” but we didn’t look into the “and up” part. We went to store six bags at Victoria station and found, to our dismay, it was $13 per item. We didn’t have a choice. Prices in London are not for the faint of heart.

Carl Addicott

Altadena

Ripped off in Spain

Reading John L. Sundahl’s letter [“Flat-out Robbed,” Aug. 19 ] brought back memories of Barcelona, Spain.

The viciousness and aggressiveness of the pickpockets was something we’d never encountered.

We were walking down a street off the Ramblas in the daytime and a guy suddenly came toward us and said he wanted to sell my husband something. My husband said no, and the guy tried to trip him while I was holding on to my husband.

My husband pushed the man away, and when we took a few steps, he realized his wallet was gone. He chased the guy but couldn’t find him. Although he took whatever money was in the wallet, he did toss the wallet and everything was still there.

We went into the restaurant where we were planning to eat and told the owners. They said it happened all the time and called the police. We spoke to the police, who didn’t seem to care about what had happened.

For a beautiful city with beautiful sights, it’s sad that these things happen so often. People need to be aware of what goes on in Barcelona.

Lydia Eagle-Kaplan

Oxnard

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The first thing one needs to remember when renting a car is that it’s a rental. That means the rental company will handle mishaps — including a flat tire — no matter what the cause.

What Sundahl neglected to do was call the rental company for assistance and thank the thieves for pointing out the flat tire.

L. Clayton

Laguna Woods

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Frozen out?

The summer pool party article by Tracy Brown was refreshing and appreciated [“Make a Splash in the Pool Party Scene,” Aug. 19].

I’m wondering what the Encore could do for a similar type of financial encore in the winter months, using the same pools with a frozen upper level and having an ice skating party with similar refreshments. The garb may not be as sexy as the summer months, but it does provide some revenue until the hot weather starts again.

Bill Spitalnick

Newport Beach