our first bresaola of our trip

At a piazza di anfiteatro cafe, seated outdoors on a sunny day, our first day in Lucca. Ahhh....After 1 nite in the Rome airport Marriott we shuttled to the termini to catch our train to Lucca via Florence. Traffic to Rome was yucky and the air polluted, plus my stomach was upset from my 3 americanos at our hotel's continental breakfast. What?! The coffee was so amazing and being jetlagged it was just too hard to resist. Lots of activity in the train station. We listened really hard or knew what to look for or could read or understand Italian I could see how this could be easy. We had enough time to take it all in and work it out with a bit of help from the locals and we were on board in our comfy first class recliner seats. We relaxed on our train ride through Italian countryside next to one Italian watching soccer on his laptop while the other played bejeweled on his. Kids so far have been taking lots of pictures. Rachel is collecting shots of various brands of cars while Rebecca is enjoying photographing graffiti. So glad we could entertain them. Meanwhile, Greg and I have been enjoying the medieval and mix of old-new architecture in Tuscany.

The car rental yesterday freed us to explore the 14th c. Ponte di Diavola and neighboring town Bagni di Lucca, gave Greg a thrill on the roads, tested our Tom-Tom and our stomachs on the windy roads along the Appenine Mts. and got us our first taste of Italian gelato. It also got us a parking ticket, as we overstayed our parking spot into the weekend market in Lucca and narrowly missed being towed.

Our apartment decor is 70s Ikea chic while the building is beautiful on the outside and in the midst of renovations on the inside. There are lots of places to kill yourself on the way up the short 3 flights of stairs - the heavy door, the broken step, the timed light that might switch off mid key-turn, narrow hallways and sharp corners. Thus climbing the stairs w/ multiple bags to cushion any possible missteps....

We have been sampling the restaurant food, enjoyed a couple of forays into supermarkets, cheese shops, meat shops, bread shops, sweet shops, and clothing shops. Greg ran and I biked the wall around Lucca our first morning where we enjoyed people watching and getting a feel for the city size. I could easily see us going nowhere else, there is so much to do, but Florence, friends in Rome and adventures in Tuscany await. Highlights so far in no particular order: The cured boar meat - polpa di cinghiale and artichokes in oil - carciofi sott'ollo; the farro salad; hours before dinner, where the streets and bars become alive with shoppers, drinkers, families and visitors; exploring the cobblestone streets of Lucca; hearing Italian; Devil's Bridge; unsalted Italian breads and sweet breads and pizza and cheese flat breads; having our own apartment; and communication and navigating adventures.

Today we meet our nieces at the Lucca train station and will do a bit of site-seeing w/in the walls of our city. We are looking forward to hearing about their travel adventures so far as they continue their semester abroad in Vienna. The next day they are off and we are driving to Pisa for the day. A presto!

4 hour layover in Heathrow

Don't laugh, but sitting on the west side of the American Airlines Eagle plane on the way to LA on a beautiful sunny day flying over the Pacific was really the most amazing launch to our trip. Flight to London felt quick, between the meals, the 4 hour sleep and 'My Week with Marilyn'. You'd think the bad news would be our 4 hour layover in Heathrow. However, with British Airways business lounge access the layover is really quite something. A wonderfully peaceful area, the options for food and fun are really quite astounding. We stayed on the second floor, finding a comfy spot in the lounge area where we proceeded to sample the chicken tangine w/ couscous, the vegetarian curry w/ rice, the leek soup, a bloody mary, the sweet and spicy crisps, the steak flavored crisps, the yadda-yadda crisps, the cheeses, the coconut-orange shortbread, a latte machiatto, a tasting of french bordeaux wines....I am wondering whether we can just spend the night. But of course not -there must be more culinary and other adventures awaiting us outside of the airport See you in Roma. Ciao!

Stop the Presses!

Our flight to Rome (via Madrid) was on Iberia Airlines (using American miles). Lo and behold, the Spanish Union workers decided to strike on......yes, you guessed it.........March 29. Our flights were canceled. Greg discovered this little ditty when our online reservations did not appear on Monday morning. After two hours on the phone with three different supervisors, American finally rebooked our entire itinerary to Rome through Heathrow on American and to Rome on British Air. But we now leave this evening rather than Thursday morning, so we'll get to Lucca a little earlier.

All is well after missing a few heartbeats!!

Ciao'

Getting Ready!!

Just a couple of weeks to go! Here's our general itinerary, subject to revision when we get there!! It's a quick trip, but we'll make the most of spring break with the kids!


3/30 – Arrive Rome at 11:30 AM, meet Stefano to be driven to Lucca – arrive Lucca around 5 PM, check in, get settled.

3/31 – explore Lucca with jet lag in tow. Pick up rental car. If feeling energetic, take 20 minute drive to Villa Torrigiani or Bagni di Lucca

4/1 – Shelby and Caitlin arrive at some point from Florence – spend day in Lucca

4/2 – Shelby and Caitlin leave – drive to Cinque Terre – day trip with Pisa

4/3 – day trip to San Gimignano

4/4 – day trip to Florence

4/5 – leave in the morning for Rome by train – arrive Rome by 1 PM – taxi to hotel. Explore Rome.

4/6 – Vatican by 9 AM – then explore Rome – meet Blumsteins for dinner….

4/7 – fly home – flight leaves at 11:30 AM – taxi to airport…..Arrivederci Roma