His name was Lucca and he lived by the Ghetto Riviera

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August 29, 2009 - Lucca & Viareggio, Italy

Today we left Rome and had a long day of driving to get to the northern hilltop town of Lucca just west of Florence. On the way we passed Pisa, which is only famous for the leaning tower. We saw it from the road and decided to pass on a closer look as it was getting late in the day.

We parked easily and got our bike out to ride in to town. As we rode into the completely walled village we noticed it was very clean and cute. I feel much more at home in the small villages than the big cities. There was a bike trail that went all the way around the wall of the city. It was a nice ride and Lucca was filled with quaint squares, cobble streets and beautiful churches. We would have been more excited about it if we hadn’t have just visited 10 or 12 hilltop villages just like it.

We were planning to stay at the southern end of the Italian Riviera, Viareggio. This was some of the toughest driving for Andrew as he dodged tons of scooters, bikers, cars pulling out, buses, pedestrians, round-abouts and looking for campground signs on the tiny roads. He said is was similar to playing an intense video game.
The campground seemed nice enough and we thought it was close to the beach so we pulled down the bikes and was anxious to see the ocean.

Just down from camp, there was a row of trees in which we thought it would open up onto a beautiful beach. We rode along the trees looking for an opening. Finally we found one that lead to a nice enough trail but still no ocean waves where heard. The trail opened to a very busy street filled with cars and scooters. Across the road we saw some boats down another busy road. We must be getting close it there are boats. We headed down the narrow road which one side was a tall 10 foot stone wall like a fortresses around one of the hilltop towns, only this wall was covered in graffiti. The ocean must be protected behind the wall. Andrew climbed to the top of the stairs and stared laughing. I came to the top and there was nothing but lines of what looked like rented chairs and umbrellas as far as you could see. People where backed in like sardines ad you could hardly see the water for all the chairs, towels and umbrellas. Far from the secluded, peaceful beach I was hoping for. We rode down the walled side of the beach and the wall got bigger and bigger. The stairs turned into a rusty iron ladder. At the end of the walled road was a jetty where people where fishing. The water and shore was littered and filthy. I would never eat fish that came from that water.

The tour books of Italy do say that it is a “package deal” - you have to take the beauty and charisma with the ugly and chaotic. I don’t get it. The Romans created this incredible place over 2,000 years ago and the Italians can’t come up with a descent beach parking lot or stairs. I guess it works for them.

Back at camp we cooked up a feast and I went to take a shower. There was a cold shower and a hot one in which you had to pay. I didn’t have any money with me so I opted for a cold one since it was so hot anyway. Boy, that was cold!

The crowd at the campground was different than the regular campers we had been encountering. These people where all very loud, singing in all different languages. Three younger gay guys from Italy and Belgium strutted in their tiny bikinis to the cabin across from us. They left the door to the cabin open and where running around nude in the cabin and sometimes even outside. Maybe we had ventured into one of those Au Naturelle campgrounds without noticing. Soon they came over wanting to borrow some shampoo. Funny thing is that only 1 of them had hair. I only understood the shampoo part so I gave them some. He thanked me and went into a diatribe about how he learned his English from Brittany Spears. I’m glad to see that Brittany is giving so much back to the Italian youth.

Andrew decided to take a hot shower so he took some money with him. He got undressed in the hot shower stall and realized you had to have tokens for it. So, he got dressed to go to the cold shower stall and got locked in the hot shower stall. Finally he was freed, took a cold shower and came back an hour later with a funny story. I thought the boys across the way had gotten a hold of him he was gone so long.

Our neighbor boys came strolling in with one more in hand at around 6:00 am the next morning - singing - you guessed it. Brittany Spears.

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