Apr 22, 2011

My Name is Lucca

 Terrible post name, I know. I couldn't think of anything else, but Lucca is amazing. It was my pick in the "where would you live in the towns we visited" game. The medieval part of the city in surrounded by a wide giant wall the grassy top of which is populated with joggers and elderly couples strolling hand in hand. And it had really good shopping (which I avoided due to spending lock-down), and we enjoyed a delightful lunch of minestrone, bread, pate, and, ahem, prosciutto. 

Brother and Em.  We tromped around town for a solid hour, looking for an annual flower market which Mama wished to see.  You may note that my father is not in many pictures.  This has nothing to do with his photogenic-ness, but rather the fact that he was likely off getting gelato when various photos were taken.  The man became extremely fluent in two Italian words- cappuccino and gelato.  He probably had gelato 3-5 times a day on average.  Good thing he is an exerciser!
 The beautiful church on the main square.  I loved this statute with the golden rays.

 This gate leads to my secret Italian garden where I scribble my critically acclaimed and extremely lucrative best selling novels, and drink cappuccinos which serve mainly as an excuse to eat more prosciutto.  Then I'll take Buddy on a stroll, and make Hubs fantastic picnic lunches ala Ina Garten, which we eat in a romagical nook of my garden.
You can see the side of the wall snaking around in the background of this photo.  So after looking for the flower market for ages, we finally found it.  It was a plant sale, just like the one which happened last weekend in the park here in town.  Not exactly wander around for hours material, but they were enjoyable wanderings.


So glam, no?  I swear I wore different clothes every day (while only packing 2 carry-ons for myself), but my trench coat was my mainstay. Lightweight nylon, this last minute purchase from Stein-mart was clutch for the changeable Italian weather.  And I felt so very Euro.  Although definitely not Italian.  Thank goodness Mama is blonde too.  Two freaks are better than one!

4 comments:

  1. That was my favorite city while I was in Italy, Cinque Terre was beautiful but Lucca was so peaceful when we were there in the autumn (and that IS where I had the best gelato anywhere).
    Glad you had a great time there!

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  2. I love this! You and your family are my kind of travel people. Not fast paced and rushing around to see as much as you can possibly sqeeze in, then 3 more stops. I love the idea of actually exploring a city and strolling its streets to really get a feel for it. It's hard to get a sense of anything from a tour bus or a 4 hour stop over. And I'm very jealous of all your dad's gelato!

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  3. I just read "Sarah's Key" by Tatiana de Rosnay, and part of the story takes place in Lucca. Glad that I got to see some real-life photos to illustrate the book :)

    Love that trench coat! Very Euro chic :)

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  4. Beautiful pics! Loving your trench + big glasses- you guys look fabulous! So fun to find somewhere you'd actually love to live - must have been awesome!!

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