Lucca

28/9 PISA TO LUCCA

Great sleep, very quiet night, Jen off for an early walk on this fine morning to round the Torre once more before the crowds.

Back at Ed she joined Jeff for a vigorous 10BX with added arm flailing to shoo the mossies away.  Tucked into some maths while all the wet gear is draped out in the hot sun, drying in no time.

Off for Lucca, via a Carrefour Supermarket where we stocked up big time (€227, including lots of one off stuff to doll Ed up), then ½ hr drive and we pulled up in a council aire, did lunch al fresco “sotto l’albero” (under a tree - these lessons are working?), had a read, another coffee and a chat about the pearls of wisdom that can come from the study of history while the kids did some scootering tricks (wheelies!)   

Then we walked the ~ 1.5km into the walled citadella where our agenda was pretty free - and so much to see.  

A network of narrow cobbled alleys lined with restaurants, shops peddling swish clothing, gourmet foods, books, sunglasses and shoes, shoes, shoes.  Found ourselves admiring the strikingly handsome Puccini (this is his town),

Mr Puccini

Took in some marvelous mostly marble churches with their regional green & white striped decorative style, 

then to the old Roman amphitheatre which has been thoroughly built upon, retaining only the familiar elliptical shape and the odd piece of old rock.  Strange to imagine that where the amorous lovers of fine cuisine sit today there were so many blood thirsty battles between man and beast 2 millennia ago, all in the name of entertainment. 

in the arena

a Roman remnant

Then across the town via the shopping main drag to the cathedral with it’s own version of “The Last Supper” painted by famous Venetian ,Tintoretto, 

Cathedral door (1 of 3)

a sit with a chat on some steps by a truly Italiano gate and wall, 

and then home via the markets to pick up dessert (nougat covered in  a crust of hazelnuts in toffee).

Wipe washes, dinner and wash-up done by 7.30, another 1-2 hrs of reading, chatting (Kel interjecting every few minutes to update us on Harry Potter’s progress, she’s reading the 4^th book, the 2^nd time she’s read the series this year), + downloading and editing photos and blog writing.  Another great day in Italy.

29/9  LUCCA

The J's went off for separate runs around the Passeggio del Mura (the gorgeous circumferential city wall that until just recently was open to car traffic) admiring Lovely Lucca from a high, busy with Saturday market set-up and both thence concluding that we should stay another few days.  Europe’s ubiquitous morning aroma of coffee & fresh baking is unbeatable.  It comes from apartments, homely windows, small cafes, patisseries, bars and even service stations.  Wish we did this buzzing market thing in Oz - almost all towns stand still for the morning and streets are heavily laden with all sorts of produce.  No-one is frustrated with the congestion.  Local police help with traffic & tourists and all is very merry.

So after breakfast, we left our council park & made for the local camping ground a few kms away in the hopes that it would provide a quieter park up with showers (nice after sweaty runs - still quite hot & sticky with most days in the high 20s ).   Taking advantage of Saturday morning business hours, we went via a camper store, Natiliberi Campers, to see about increasing our leisure/accessory battery (1 of which is dead) power by maybe changing the circuitry from batteries in series to batteries in parallel (?) thus allowing more free camping days.  Seems they can do it for us on Monday.  With Gabriele & Barbara opening & tickling Ed’s gizzards, the kids sat at the table out of the way & smashed their maths, pausing for the odd sticky beak.  Just in time before "chuiso per siesta," we settled into a well equipped campsite near the river Sechio.  After a tidy up of ourselves, Ed and another coffee, we prepared a big lunch of BBQ fish before digesting with books. 

In the late afternoon, we jumped on the bikes to show the kids the wonderful wall with its beautiful green spaces around the crumbled bastion ruins and the riding and cycling circuit punctuated by shaddy playgrounds.  Kel practiced tumbling backwards on the rings and Wil practiced leaping sideways a la Ace Ventura over anything and everything.

With the luxury of plug in electricity, young and old enjoyed a movie night.  The kids giggled at Shrek 2 and the adults grimaced through Il Divo, a brilliantly made & filmed Italian documentary/movie about Guilia Andreotti, a recent Christian Democratic politician who served as president for 7 terms and his debated involvement with the Mafia.

30/9  ANOTHER DAY IN LOVELY LUCCA

Storms were predicted later in the day with rainfall pretty much from late morning so the Js  set off early for a wonderful bike ride along Fiume Sechio with 4 x 20 push ups, sit ups & tricep dips and the turn around mark.

Hanging for breakfast, we showered up quickly and over our relaxing coffee decided to bike ride & skate through old Lucca in the morning and go to school in the afternoon.

The kids brushed away a bit of skating rust with the Sunday morning exercisers providing an obstacle course.  

Wheels off, we sauntered easily & more pleasurably through the streets as most shops were closed.  

We pulled up for another skate around the piazzo de Duomo watching the congregation spill out after mass.  Nuns made their way skillfully & patiently around bikers, tourists & skating kids and beautifully dressed middle aged women in heels pulled up on their bikes, baskets full of bread & market items, for a quick genuflect.  Jeff artistically drank in his surrounds with his camera lens seeing character & detail that one can almost smell.

Without a map, we followed interesting lanes , stopped for a soupy hot chocolate & coffee, looked at some art and slowly found our way back to the bikes. 

Italian version of the Phantom - "Ghost who walks......"

The younguns schooled doing maths, writing and research (Michelangelo, Da Vinci, Girabaldi, Bob Marley & Rastafarianism.…)  Mumma prepared curried egg & lettuce sandwiches with milk & nectarines and the Big Daddy took off Wil’s heel brakes on his skates now that he has other rapid stop techniques!

Then the storm hit.  Wil suggested he & Kel get into their undies and jump in the huge puddles.  Kel lingered, hand standing, sweetly singing and then composing songs under an umbrella about how good her life is.

We drifting into a peaceful evening & night to the music of thunder and heavy rain - hopefully it’ll cool things down even if just for a good sleep tonight.