Blogs from Lucca, Tuscany, Italy, Europe - page 9

Hi Everyone! We now have been on our second farm for a little over a week and are happy to say that things have been going very well in comparision to our last place! We are a little bit tired of getting up at 5:30am in order to throw on some clothes and shovel some cold leftover pasta (our spectaclar breakfast) down our throats before heading out to the vinyards. The work isnt very hard and each new vinyard is differnt and beautiful so there is a change of scenary at least =) Other than that our work days have been full of grape-throwing wars, water fights, old men professing their love for us, many many breaks, breath taking views, LOTS of bugs, and four leaf clover hunts. After work, we return to the house and ... read more

Yesterday we needed the brolly to shelter us from the rain. Today it was needed to provide some welcome shade from the sweltering sun. Lucca is a graceful city set within its own walls. We had intended to walk the walls but there was little shade from the sun and we soon gave up heading for the Duomo San Michele in Foro. We were disappointed to find all the guides had gone for lunch and left the church closed. I did wonder if God had a siesta too. As we needed some shade we walked through the narrow streets to the Piazza Antiteatro a square surrounded by a ramshackle assortment of shops and cafes built on the foundations of the Roman ampitheatre. My last climb of the day, on my own was to the top of ... read more

I'm sitting here under a big old tree on the grassy city walls of Lucca, lapping up the glorious afternoon sun and watching people italian-style. Everyone continuously tells me that the Italians prance around when they walk. I hadn't really seen it until today, but up here overlooking the town, I know what they were talking about. There's couples holding hands and lingering over a kiss; elegant - always elegant - elderly ladies walking their miniature dogs; fathers chasing two year olds from one side of the wall to the other, yelling Claudia, Ciara, ciao!, their words a melody. There's a group of old men sitting around a wooden table, playing chess in deep concentration. Everyone is watching on, heads bent over the moving pieces, each one made of marble from Carrara, I assume. They all ... read more

Lucca was another old walled town similar in size and feel to Pisa but without the big drawcard of Pisa’s Cathedral and Belltower. It was a little less commercial and a bit more old-world as a result and we were able to find metered parking inside the old ramparts so we didn’t have so far to walk. It was another beautifully fine day at about 22 degrees, which is great for walking around these old towns as the buildings always give plenty of shade. The most notable thing about Lucca was it’s Roman amphitheatre - a circular piazza about 200m in diameter surrounded by 4 and 5 storey houses. The Romans were there in the 2nd century but all of the houses had been rebuilt or remodeled at a later date. Napoleon Bonaparte also figured into ... read more

Not a whole lot to report today - mostly a travel day. Got up around 8 and headed to St Anthonys church in Padua since i had stayed in a hotel right across the street for 3 nights nad hadnt been in there yet. there was a service going on so i just kidna crept around the back for a peek. yet another huge, beautiful basilica. its happened - i am officially churched out. been in dozens and dozens in teh last month and i dont even really take notice any more! went for the 7€ buffet breakfast at the hotel today because i knew id be on the train all day and didnt want to have to buy expensive, subpar train food. well it was a gerat idea. i had cereal with cold milk, kiwi, ... read more