geriandlennyblog: Sunday, May 22, 2011 LUCCA, Italy

Sunday, May 22, 2011 LUCCA, Italy

Our house is in a little town outside of Lucca called Lammari. It is very lovely. We were told that most places were closed today except the restaurants that would start opening about 8:00 p.m. this evening. Our landlady, Gisella, suggested that we try a local restaurant that she and her husband really like and she made an 8:30 reservation for us and gave us directions. She was also finally able to get us onto the internet using her modem so I am much calmer now about being able to get my work done during this final leg of our trip. Lenny is starting to feel a little better but is more tired than usual; despite this, he is always planning an outing for us for the today. At around 10:30 a.m. , we followed Gisella to a supermarket that was open today and she was not sure that we could find it without her guidance and she was probably right. It was a fairly large market and had everything we needed for our breakfasts and a few lunches. We also needed to buy toilet paper, paper towels and some dish detergent. It is surprising what is provided and what is not. We think that this is just the custom as they did leave us two very nice bottles of wine and she did bring us ice cream from her shop.

We came back to the house and did our laundry after having to go get Gisella to help us figure out the washing machine. We then hung up our clothes, Italian style, outside to dry. We had some lunch and then went to explore the walled city of Lucca. We knew that the shops would be all closed today but we thought we would get our bearings. What an interesting city of very high end shops and very old old buildings and very narrow streets – all surrounded by a huge wall, 2.5 miles in length. We wandered around for about an hour, then walked on the top of the wall with many tourists and locals out biking, jogging, men playing dominoes, women talking with their friends in large groups, couples lounging on the benches, families out with their kids and dogs and babies in strollers. What else would you do on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon when just about everything is closed? We supposed that many locals in Lucca do go to one of the 99 churches that we were told are in the walled part of Lucca. We walked about half way around the top of the wall and then decided to take a drive to see if we could find the restaurant for tonight. Just as we suspected, both Gisella’s directions and our “Betsy’s” directions, got us close but not quite there. Had we tried to do this later this evening in the dark, we would never had found it. After the last turn and even with a sign pointing that the restaurant was in a certain direction, we stopped dead in our tracks when we came to a very very narrow not well paved road but now, being experienced in the art of finding restaurants, we just continued and eventually came to our destination. The restaurant is located out in the middle of nowhere in an old stone building which was closed up tightly as if never to open again; none the less, by 8:30 this evening we are sure the place will be hopping.

Therefore, we headed back to the house for a two hour rest, a few appetizers purchased at the market this morning and a vodka and oj. So far, the day has been wonderful and just what we imagined it would be like here.

Dinner was great but we ate too much and drank 80% of a local Tuscan red wine. Since we knew where we were going we easily found our restuarant. The place was 25% full when we got there, however a large party of 25 with young kids came in right after us and were at a large table next to us. We moved tables right a way to stay away from the noise of the party table.

A couple next to us knew enough English to help us decide what to get from the menu. The owner knew no English. We ordered the best antipasta we have had since arriving here in Italy;Two crostini per person - a tomato with warm real mozarella on top, another with a mixture of really fresh exotic mushrooms and then a small piece of an asparagus torte. We then had a pasta course always called a primi plata which is where we should stop but no - then comes a secunda plata and here we ordered the local fish to share. It was prepared in chunks in a very good tomato sauce with peppers. The sides were roasted potatoes and beans. A perfectly prepared cup of cappucino ended the meal. Nothing fancy about this restaurant but the food was delicious and very moderately priced, at least for what we have been paying each night till now.

During our capuccinos, the kids, all dressed up to the nines for some family celebration, moved to the play table right behind us. We had a roaring dinosaur and lots of kids running around our table. The parents finally came to quiet them down. It was 10:30 and these two to eight year olds were still going strong. What a totally different culture!