Loving Lucca!

Sun, Sept 14, 2014

We're on our own now!  Tracy and Ed dropped us off at the Verona train station, and we began the first of many train journeys.  It took 3 trains to get us to Lucca, and it was a little crowded on 1 train because of our huge backpacks, but we made it to the final train to Lucca, and we were right on time, and our AirBnB host was waiting for us at the train station...until we missed the stop.  Let me tell you a little bit about signage here in Europe - not so good.  Not on the streets, and not for the train stations.  Plus there's no one announcing the next station.  Plus, according to the map, I counted the number of stops we had until Lucca came up, but we skipped a couple of stations!  So as we're pulling away from the station, I'm telling Joe "yeah, Lucca should be in another 2 stops, oh CRAP, there's the sign for Lucca right here!!!"

On the wall at sunset

So an hour later, after getting off at the next stop then getting back on to come back, we arrive in Lucca.  Our gracious hosts understood, and brought us to the apartment within the walled city.  It's a cute little 1.5 bedroom with enough room for us to spread out our stuff, since we'll be here 5 nights.  The owners also left us 2 bottles of wine that they make as well as olive oil (again, that they make).

Back from the market

This week we plan on doing some work, exploring the city, but getting some down time and relaxing.  So we need to get some groceries so we can enjoy our host's wine!

Thurs, Sept 18, 2014

One of many covered passageways

Lucca is such a cool little town, at least inside the walled city.  We briefly left to go check out an outdoor market (which I wasn't impressed with because I was looking for more food related stalls and they were mostly clothes, and crap), but other than that we've been inside.  The weather has been very nice, not too hot, sometimes a little cloudy, but very pleasant for the windows to remain open.  We had heard about biting bugs here, and we found this to be true.  They're invisible biters, as in, I didn't realize I had so many bites on my leg until I started scratching and looked down - ahh!  That's a lot of bites!  So I started wearing some bug repellant.  Joe got bitten as well, and by tonight he's a little fed up with the bugs.

Anfiteatro Piazza

Our first taste of marinated white anchovies

But BESIDES the bugs, Lucca has been great to hang out in.  I started recognizing certain shop
owners, and learning my way through the maze of streets.  I found my FAVORITE gelato place in Italy right here in Lucca, had great homemade tagliatelle from a local store, and I cooked a few times as well.  The wall surrounding the city is not very high, but it's wide, so it's a bike/running path, so I got to run 3 times this week, and also used it to get to some areas in the city.

Spritz!

We discovered the "spritz" drink in Verona, and now I can't get enough of it.  It's not too strong of an alcoholic drink, and it's not too sweet, with just a slight hint of bitter, so it's a perfectly refreshing drink to have at lunch!  We had it every day, it's so good, and so nice to relax with a beautiful drink while eating outside in an Italian square.

Since today was our last full day, Joe and I climbed (yet another tower) the Guinigi Tower.  It has a hanging garden off the roof of the tower.  I also did a little bit of shopping - I really can't buy much because I have NO ROOM to carry anything, but window shopping can be fun here.  There's one street that has just tons of different kinds of shops, and if you get a little tired walking, you can grab a gelato from numerous places along the way.

View from Guinigi Tower

I think my favorite thing to do here is just hang out, wander, and soak it all in, especially sitting on the wall, watching people go by.  I'm not really happy about leaving here (I'm not happy about packing) but tomorrow we go to the sea!  Cinque Terre here we come!

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