Lee Ann, thank yo ufor the rec.

Would we need to request a certain orientation within the units to get the views? Like one side of the complex vs another side?

If you stay on the side facing Kearney Rd., you should have a view, especially if you're in a second floor suite.

I should also mention that if you choose to walk downtown, you'll have a bit of an uphill walk to get back to the property.

Lee Ann

Hi Lee Ann, wonder if we passed on the street.

We used to stay at Ft Marcy with friends many moons ago. Good location and convenient to walking downtown and going up Hyde Park Road to Ten Thousand Waves Spa and the ski resort.

It is uphill going up Kearny but after all the food we would eat I needed to walk it off!

Where'd you eat and visit?

Hi Lee Ann! Glad you enjoyed your visit and hope you can come back soon!

City, we live in Albuquerque, so Santa Fe is an easy getaway for us.

Lee Ann

Usually, we do our Santa Fe weekend in January (the B&B where we usually stay has low rates then), but we had tickets for Chanticleer, one of the best a capella men's choruses in the United States, on the 7th. When the Groupon deal for Fort Marcy Hotel Suites came up, we decided to combine the two and enjoy a pre-Christmas getaway.

Unfortunately, I started feeling sick on Friday - stomach yuck, a low fever, etc. But I decided I wasn't feeling bad enough to cancel our plans.

We had general admission tickets for the concert, which was held in St. Francis Cathedral. We'd seen the King's Singers there a couple of years ago, and the acoustics are excellent no matter where you sit.

I started feeling bad again partway through the first half of the concert, but I just closed my eyes and let the music sort of wash over me. Thankfully, I felt better after about 20 minutes.

By the time we got to our suite, Mr. Pickle was feeling a little under the weather as well.

We slept in Saturday morning and took our time getting ready for the day. By now, we were both feeling quite a bit better.

We brought breakfast food, but decided to go out for brunch instead. The Tune Up Cafe had been featured on Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives the night before, and I've heard a lot of good things about the restaurant, so we headed there.

All the good reviews are spot on! Mr. Pickle had pupusas, and I enjoyed their fruit compote stuffed French toast. http://tuneupsantafe.com/

We walked around the Railyard area for a while, but didn't see anything that caught our fancy, so we drove downtown and walked around doing touristy stuff - looking in galleries, etc. We bought a couple of Christmas ornaments at The Shop http://www.theshopchristmas.com/ Richard Gabriel, Jr., who makes lovely tin ornaments, was working in the store that day. He helped us find an ornament he made with a picture of one of the churches near where my father-in-law used to live in northern NM, and even autographed it. What a nice guy!

After returning to the suite for a nap and to check our email, plus fielding a car emergency call from our daughter, we went back downtown for dinner at Tanti Luce 221. http://tantiluce221.com/ Mr. Pickle had pappardelle with a bolognese sauce, and I had their duck two ways. Everything was very good, but we didn't think it was as tasty as Andiamo.

The temperature was dropping, so rather than walk around more, we drove to La Posada, where a singer and a jazz guitarist were performing. It was a small room with a very intimate feel. The guitarist was excellent, as were our drinks - a spicy margarita for Mr. P and a hot cider with Frangelico and a shot of rum for me. The cider was organic, so it was healthy.

We asked for a late checkout Sunday, took our time again having breakfast and packing up, and decided to hit the Turquoise Trail and head for home.

We stopped in Madrid at one of our favorite quirky stores, Weasel and Fitz http://www.weaselandfitz.com/ They have some really fun art pieces, and we picked up a necklace for PickleGirl's roommate.

We spent about five minutes in another shop, and discovered it was snowing as we exited. It was a lovely drive back to town with the snow falling.

Lee Ann

CityofSantaFe, I am very curious, who are you? I see from a fodors travel blog link at bottom of your porfile page that you are Kristine Hansen, and when I click on your fodors travel blog posts it shows you have written many different travel blog postings on many different cities and countries for fodors.

Are you a travel blogger who gets paid to post on fodors travel blog?

Your info is great. I esp. like your blog post on where to drink wine in Santa Fe! It is spot on.

I *think* CityofSantaFe may work in the tourist office for the city or in a similar position. [I see no *fodors travel blog link* at bottom of their profile page, nor any mention of Kristine Hansen.]

Lee Ann,
It must have been amazing to hear a performance at St Francis. I absolutely loved the interior of the cathedral when we were there. Even if I was feeling well, I could imagine just letting the singing wash over me in such a setting.

Clousie, it is really lovely. Acoustically, there isn't a bad seat in the house. Besides Chanticleer and the King's Singers, we've also heard the Santa Fe Desert Chorale sing in the basilica, and each performance has been wonderful.

DebitNM, that's my thought as well.

Lee An

Whoops - in a hurry and shortened my name!

Lee Ann

maybe cityofsantafe will respond, so you don't have to guess.

I think it is pretty clear:

http://www.fodors.com/community/united-states/four-seasons-santa-fe.cfm

Was not asking for it to be cleared up, and I completely understand you know what cityofSF does. I was just thinking it would be nice to hear from the source.

It is somewhat irritating when people speak for others, esp. when the question was asked pointedly to a particular poster about what they do, not to anyone about what they feel the person does, even if they are sure of it. It is kind of like a few wks ago when I was talking to a pair of sisters ages 8 and 10, asking them about their likes/dislikes, what they are good at, what they do with their time. Their Mom kept answering for them. She got impatient bc they weren't answering fast enough (which was fine w/me, I had time) I thought, but then it seemed maybe she didn't trust them to answer well enough or something. I asked her nicely to let them speak for themselves, and to please give them time to respond to my questions.

In that case, I will ask nicely that you not try to argue about this on my trip thread. Thanks.

Lee Ann

Just clarifying that I asked another poster the question and would like to give her a chance to answer, and do not need instruction on what is clear to someone else. There is no arguing intended or going on.

I looked back again and see now that CityofSantaFe commented on a travel blog posting by Ms. Hansen (her wine in SF article, which is very good, btw). Mea culpa, I misunderstood who the author was and who the commenter was on that fodors blog entry. But would still like to hear from CityofSantaFe and thanks to her for her helpful posts. It isn't often on here that we get someone who seems to have travel affiliation job of some sort who gives us unbiased advice on their city.

Please start a new thread if you want to talk about that poster. Thanks.

Lee Ann

Thank you for the various restaurant reviews. We may be headed to Santa Fe and I am keeping a file.

Weasel and Fitz looks like my kind of place. The recycled tires caught my eye!

wekewoody, they have some pretty cool stuff.

Lee Ann

wekewoody, there is a lot of info on here re: Santa Fe. A search should bring the info up. Feel free to ask away, Lee Ann and I love to chip in our 2 cents!

especially when it comes to food!

A girlfriend and I are headed to Santa Fe again in late January for 4 nights, as we just got a great deal for a big 2 rm king suite w/separate door to LR w/day bed and wood burning fireplace at Hotel Chimayo($109 a night for all of that, too good to pass up, even in dead of winter- but then again 10,000 Waves outdoor hot tub and inroom fireplace shoudl be nice).

LeeAnn, you said your meal at Tante Luci was not as good as Andiamo. I looked for but couldn't find your comments on Andiamo. Would you please recap your experience there? Is it someplace you would return?

I sincerely was not trying to be argumentative or mean above and am sorry, mea culpa, that it upset you that I asked to let the person I asked the question of answer my question. I have thought a lot about this post since then and have felt uncomfortable about it. It's a sore point for me, as I had a someone in my life who always answered for me or tell me what I thought(like the lady w/the 2 kids I was talking to) and I had to confront and try to deal that as an adult w/that person. She never stopped doing that, even after being asked, and it was extremely irritating. This person passed away very recently and that has brought up all kinds of feelings and thoughts. I think now, after some reflection, that I must have been very sensitive about that point and the timing of it when I wrote my comment. Honestly, there was no argument intended.

I always appreciate your insights on NM and Deb's as well. When I see either you or Deb posting on NM, I read the thread closely and bookmark/file folder that info for the future. Please forgive me for offending you. We are counting the days here in our household until your Jeopardy episode is on.

No problem, emd3. It's just that it's easy enough for people to start bickering here, and I didn't want it to happen on my thread.

We last ate at Andiamo a year or so ago. Here's a link to that trip report: http://www.fodors.com/community/united-states/weekend-getaway-in-santa-fe.cfm

I would definitely return. Tanti Luce 221 is good, but there was something about Andiamo that I preferred. I thought my main course, in particular, was a little more imaginative, and the prices are better (or maybe we had a bigger restaurant budget in 2011, I don't really remember ). But you would certainly have a good meal at Tanti Luce.

Lee Ann