Lucca/Monday  1/8:
Well, we did it!  We made it through the first day of school.  Lou said, “my brain is fried!”  Our first class started at 8:50 am with a short conversational test to determine our placement in a class!  OMG, EVERYTHING is spoken in Italian!  Our class is small…only four students including Lou and I plus a woman from NC, Amanda and another from Russia, Aysa.  Each day following lunch on your own, there is an optional activity which usually meets around 2:30 or 3 and lasts until 5 or so.

Monday’s excursion was a walking tour of Lucca within the walls or Il Mura as it is called. It was very informative (what I could understand!), then we stopped at a “bar” and chatted IN ENGLISH! with the other students – mostly around our age.  We met a nice couple from Australia, Malcolm & Michelle who are in another class and staying in Lucca for one year!  Their daughter lives in Denmark with her Danish boyfriend, Michelle was a former Flight Attendant and Malcolm loves to fish, what a small world!

A note on bars in Italy. A bar in Italy is not like a bar in the US, but rather a place for refreshments, where one can have a quick breakfast in the morning, usually consisting of a caffè [espresso] or cappuccino (strictly drunk in the morning) and a cornetto or some type of sweet. They generally serve Panini for lunch as well. Throughout the day, the bar  serves coffees, juices and alcohol as well, but the point is to have a quick bite or drink, rather than hanging out for long periods of time. These is an exception to this unwritten rule, however.  In many of the smaller villages you will see old men sitting inside or outside playing cards or chess drinking their caffe and having a good old time with their amici.  In Italy you’ll find bars on nearly every corner and in all our trips to Italy we have only seen a few people drunk. Italians drink moderately, almost always with a meal or appertivo and the idea of binge drinking is unheard of.

Tuesday 1/9:
Today was our second day of language class and I guess some is sinking in since I had a dream last night in Italian of being on Sicily with a handsome detective named, Montalbano, oh but I digress!  There is so much to know and I feel like the more I am exposed to it the less I know!

Tuesday’s Excursion was watching an Italian film, ‘Benvenuto Presidente’ – tutto era in Italiano, as usual.  Lou did not go, but I did.  The film lasted for 2 hours, but about 90 minutes into the film my mind shut down and I began to think about, what else, FOOD.

Wednesday 1/10
Our excursion today was to an immigration museum, The Paolo Cresci Museum for the History of Italian Emigration.  This was about Italian immigration to the US and South America.  It was very interesting with lots of photographs and documents.  I was thrilled to see a copy of a document for a Volpe! Not sure if it was a deportation document or not, given our family’s history!

Thursday 1/11
Today we traveled to Pisa by train. I had never been there before, and I was completely blown away.  Our instructor Eva, a bundle of energy, gave us a great overview of the area and history, ‘naturalmente tutto in italiano’ of course!  After a walk in the shopping area of Pisa, we stopped at a bar for beverages.  Lou and I had hot chocolate….not like what we think of in the US.  The chocolate was dark and very thick almost like a pudding, topped with luscious cream, very yummy.  Molto Buono!
Needless to say, most nights we are pretty tired after a busy day! Lou said he was conjugating Italian verbs in his dream!  But it is all great…  Of course, pasta, red wine or prosecco always help!

Friday 1/12
There was no activity after our class, however, Lou and I met up with one of our classmates, Amanda.  She took us to a lovely wine bar, Bollicinedautore, where we had Prosecco and some lite appetizers. I think this can become a good habit to develop. I read once that it takes 21 days to form a new habit, so that makes 20 more days to go and voilà!

Saturday 1/13
We walked outside the walls of Lucca to the  Aqueduct of Nottolini.
It was a beautiful sunny day with very few clouds and perfect weather.  When we returned to Lucca (within the walls) we bought pizza (by weight) at a local bread shop which is absolutely awesome, Forno a vapore AMEDEO GIUSTI  We couldn’t wait to find a bench to sit down to eat; It was warm, and we could smell the wonderful aromas through the bag!  Sorry there are no pictures since the pizza disappeared before we had time to take a picture…next time, maybe!

Later we did some laundry.  We have a machine in the apartment, but we had quite a bit, so thought we’d try the local lavanderia, or laundry mat.   We put the laundry in for the wash, and the walked to the local bar to work on my new ‘habit’ and sampled some prosecco! Not a bad way to get Lou to go along!!!

Sunday 1/14
We had a lazy morning then took a walk on the wall, il Mura.  We had a late lunch at a cozy local restaurant, Osteria San Giorgio.  [note, this link is a test, if you have been following along you no doubt must have learned enough Italian by now to be able to translate the text about questo ristorante]. None of the restaurants are large and this was no exception. It was packed with locals and we were lucky to get a table as the waiter asked if we had reservations, which we did not!  After our lunch even though the place was still packed, and the owner/server was very busy, he brought Lou and I two small glasses of his homemade Aranciello Recipe or orange liquor. It was ‘molto buono’. Um, I find I am using that phrase a lot!

Afterwards we strolled thru the town and up on the walls.   The walled area of Lucca is so charming.  At any given time people, are out walking, jogging, riding bikes.  It is such a great place to get your exercise, no matter how young or old you are.  The circumference of the walls is about 4.2 km (about 2.6 miles).  The walking/biking area is quite broad and an excellent surface.  In the evening the path is lit and very safe.   From the outer side in the evening the walls are lit up from the ground making a very dramatic view of the “Walled City”.

Our trip from Miami to London was uneventful…..and that’s a good thing!   We arrived in London at dawn and were looking forward to getting off the plane and walking a bit before our final flight to Milan.  Neither of us slept on the flight over; it always amazes me how people can sleep on an overseas flight and hardly move until we’re about to land!

After about a three-hour layover in London, we finally were on our way, and the short flight to Italy went very fast.  You know you are in Italy when things go a bit pazzo or crazy, and this was no exception!   Our rental car did not have a GPS, and we immediately discovered our cell phones were not able to connect to a network.  So now the challenge is how to get to the Autostrada or Italy’s version of 95, and head for Parma without taking the scenic route through the streets of Milan!  Lou loves to drive in Italy and in no time we were whipping around corners as he double-clutched, kept one eye on the road while never missing an opportunity to comment on a passerby of the feminine persuasion!

Our trip to Parma, our first overnight stop, or so we thought, took about 90 minutes, and since our phones were still not working we decided we needed to buy an Italian SIM card from Vodafone, the European equivalent to AT&T or Verizon.  As anyone knows who has traveled in Europe, parking is tough to find if not at times impossible in large cities, and Parma was no exception.  Lou, once again, summoned his ‘inner’ Italian and found a spot quickly, in spite of my protests that it was a loading zone!  He suggested I stay with the car just in case the Polizia arrived and demand that I move the car, while he went searching for a Vodafone store.  Never did we think that if I had to move the car, where would I go, how would we find each other again and how the heck do I navigate the labyrinth of streets and alleyways to arrive back at this same spot?  To paraphrase a friend’s favorite saying, ‘nothing is an obstacle if you make it an adventure’.

So off Lou goes while I stand guard to ensure our little Ford Fiesta does not get towed.  After what seemed like an hour or so, Lou returns with a concerned look on his face.  Oh oh, now what?  Well, it turns out he did find the phone store, he bought both of us an Italian phone number, so what’s the big deal?  Well, the clerk at the phone store told him that:

• Numero Uno: The SIM cards/phone numbers would not be active for at least 24 hours and,
• Numero Due: The place we are to stay our first night is NOT in Parma but over 45 km away, up in the mountains!  It’s is getting dark, we have no GPS or phone service, our Italian language skills are still locked away in our memories yet to be unpacked, and we don’t have a clue on how to get to our destination.

I keep repeating,  ‘nothing is an obstacle if you make it an adventure’…..

Our final destination our first day was to be in Zibello, not quite a village but rather more of a scattering of farms.   On the way we stopped four times to get directions including hand-drawn maps …not many spoke English but I did get help!    Did I tell you that I LOVE ITALY and ITALIANS, they are so friendly!

In case you have never been to Italy, there are A LOT of roundabouts and very few traffic lights!  I had to remind Lou it was getting late because he insisted on circling the roundabouts a few times commenting on the cornering abilty of our little car!    Using my broken Italian and their better but broken English we found our way in the misty darkness!  We were tired and hungry, but we made it!!!  All part of the adventure we said as we arrived at Trattoria La Buca

 

To set the scene, you must imagine it is dark, misty, cold a few street lights and not one car parked in the drive.  Racing through my mind was the thought that we either were at the wrong place or we would be told they had NO IDEA who we were and what did we mean we had a ‘reservation’!  A scene from Seinfeld came to mind when Jerry went to pick up a rental car and the agent told him she had no more cars, even though he made a reservation.  He told the reservationist that she ‘knew how to TAKE the reservation, she just did not know how to HOLD the reservation!’  Back to reality as we entered.  Grandma was sitting at a small desk, dressed impeccably in a sweater and pearls and greeted us as though we were part of her familia as she said she was expecting us.    Another woman, as old as granny showed us to our comfortable room which was across the street (there are only four rooms available). She wanted to carry our suitcases and insisted but Lou would have none of it.  The night was chilly and misty, but it was so atmospheric in this small out-of-the-way village – known for its Culatello, one of the most prized salumi in Italy, which is saying a lot.

We freshened up a bit and went back across to the trattoria/office for dinner and lo and behold the woman who escorted us to our room was now our server.  She had changed her outfit and was more than eager to serve us her homemade Pear Mostarda that had a little kick to it and was delicious on the bread (Hand cut pears, candied and preserved in a syrup, dense and sweet, flavored with mustard essential oil and pairs well with aged cheese like Morchiato Pecorino Cheese and with Parmesan Cheese).  It was a lovely dinner in the very small cozy dining room.   There were a few locals dining as well.  Toward the end of our meal, we were definitely fading.   Neither of had slept now for about 24 hrs!  We went across the street to our room and crashed!

We both slept great the first night for 12 hrs!   As we were having breakfast in the owner’s kitchen/reception area a friend of the owner of Trattoria La Buca, was visiting and chatting with her.  He asked where we were from and said,  “How did you find this place? No one knows about it except for locals”  If he only knew!

The good news was, we were in Italy, we did not have to camp out our first night and our Italian cell phone numbers were now active.  Thank goodness for GPS.  We drove from Zibello to Lucca passing snow-capped mountains.  The air was fresh and brisk and the cold was not too bad.    We could see from the map that we were not far from the coastal towns to the east of us.   What a beautiful country!  Wow!!!  We are really here!

We arrived in Lucca and were greeted at our apartment by Paolo, our home away from home for the next two months!  Our place is lovely and looks exactly like the photos online, just what we expected. Lucca is a great city for walkers and our first day we took full advantage of the quiet and virtually traffic free areas to explore.  Our first impression, inside the “Walled City” of Lucca, is wonderful!  But there will be a lot to explore in days and week to come.  What fun!

Close to our apartment we can shop for almost everything; fruit and vegetable [alimentari], the baker, the butcher and the pastry shop. We kept the car until Sunday, so I thought it a good idea to go to the “Superstore”  Esselungo, so we could stock up on the essentials.  We had a light lunch and then walked a lot.  It was drizzling on and off but not terribly cold.  We found our language school where we have enrolled for two weeks of language classes and it is a stone’s throw away from our apartment.  I cooked at home for the first time and it felt great.  I found a beautiful bunch of parsley at the store and made aglio è olio (garlic and oil pasta) and a nice salad. As we have become used to saying whenever we eat out, it was ‘molto buono’.

Oh and I must confess my first two purchases in Italy, were a beautiful fry pan and larger caffe maker or MOKA.  One thing Lou and I have found when traveling is that most of the kitchens are always missing a few important utensils.  Lou still chuckles when he thinks about it, after all, how many wives come to Italy and the first thing they buy are cooking utensils!  I think he thinks I need counseling!

A little note about grocery shopping in Italy.  The system for choosing and buying fruits and vegetables in an Italian grocery store is probably unlike anything you’ve dealt with at home. Near the dispenser for plastic baggies (in which you’ll put your produce), you’ll also see a dispenser for plastic gloves.

1-Put on the plastic glove before you pick up any produce – it’s a hygiene thing, and if you forget you may get some stern words from an employee (or another shopper).

2-Once you’ve chosen your items and bagged them, look for the number associated with it. You may see a number on a sign overhead, or on the bin in which the oranges or carrots or whatever you’re getting is held.

3-With that number in mind, next you need to find the scale. There’s one in every produce section. Put your bag of goodies on the scale, find and press the number for your produce, and take the sticker that pops out. That sticker goes on the bag and tells the checker how much to charge you.

4-No, there are no scales at check-out, so don’t forget to do this.

As for shopping at a fruit and vegetate stand, the biggest rule is this: Don’t touch the produce! You’re likely used to choosing your own fruit or veggies at home, but in Italy, the vendor will nearly always select them for you. You indicate what you want, and how many, and he or she will choose and bag them.

 

 

Well, today I am off for my Italian lesson at the Lucca Italian School.  What I am learning is that I know very little Italian, but that’s ok because each day I learn more.  Buono Giornata tutti!

For those of you who have been waiting for photos, I promise to begin to post more.  We have been so busy with school and after-school activities that by the end of the day and a few glasses of Prosecco we did not have the energy to work on the blog.  

 

Source: Lucca Italian School – Italian language courses in Lucca, Tuscany

 

 

Piazza dell’Anfiteatro is a public square in the northeast quarter of the walled center of Lucca, a region of Tuscany, Italy. The ring of buildings surrounding the square follows the elliptical shape of the former  Roman Amphitheater of Lucca. The square can be reached through four gateways. A cross is carved into the central tile of the square with the arms pointing to the four gateways of the square.

Map of Lucca

You may have the universe if I can have Italy……Giuseppe Verdi