Lucca, Italy
Much better night, an easy day yesterday. A quiet day today, and a quiet morning. The church bells chiming today as we walked toward the old town after breakfast in the hotel, but the streets deserted. We hiked the path to the train station to see what the timing would be to get us there tomorrow morning. Our plan is to leave the car here safely in the private parking lot of the hotel, and then take the train to Florence for a couple of days. It is about a half an hour to the station from our hotel, at a leisurely walk.
Wandered the city, calm, peaceful and nice in the sunny/cloudy Sunday morning. More church bells and a very small crowd of mostly older people exited the church in the Piazza that we chanced to be present in as the bells chimed. We wandered on, searching for the oval plaza that we spotted from the treed tower of yesterday. Found it, wandered about, found that Lucca is the place of Giancomo Puccini's birth and he played the organ in the church that we recently passed by, as did his father and his great-grandfather. He composed 'Turandot' and 'Madame Butterfly', and others that escape me at this time of writing these notes. Google him, you'll get more details than I have the knowledge to provide.
It was cold today, with a strong wind, so we had lunch indoors. Today I had, again, pasta and meat sauce. Our good friend Dick says that I am a peasant because I always choose that meal. True, I am a peasant, but I know what I like. Today's was the best so far. Jan had a Gnocci Pesto, but pronounced it a bit oily for her taste and that she had a better lunch in Rapallo. The restaurants are going to have to get used to the picky tastes of experienced travellers like us. Or peasants like us, says Dick.
Wandered some more, down the shopping streets of Lucca's old city. Mostly closed, but not all the shops. A lot of Lucca was 'en Promenade' today and they were a charming lot. These aren't as striking in appearance as in Cannes or Cadiz, less attractive in a glitzy way, but very real and homey, and most of all a very happy bunch. A very good walkabout for the day.
Later this evening we went out for dinner, walking again to the old city. Had a wonderful dinner in a restaurant that didn't actually open for dinner until 7:00pm. We got there early (we thought they closed at seven, not opened, a bit of a language problem showing up there for us) but they served us wine and bread anyway, before the kitchen opened. The meal was superb, absolutely great, adding salad and a pasta dish (sorry Dick) for both of us.
Made our way 'home' to the hotel, full and happy. Tomorrow, Firenze, by train. No pictures today, but lots expected over the next few days as we go east and then south.