Market day in Lucca

We managed to get up earlier today so we could go for a walk before Wendy starts work. It is fresh in the morning, only about 2 degrees but the sun is shinning so it feels warmer than that. Also there is very little wind and since we are surrounded by a 50 foot wall and 3 story buildings, there are no wind chill effects.

We decided to go where the market is going to be later today. Found the squares but no activity yet. Walked to the gate where we will go take the train in 2 weeks to find out how far is was. Last time we went thru the wall and had to climb up and down stairs with luggage, not fun.

Some of the mountains view from the wall

Back at the apartment before 9 as Wendy starts her day at 9 here in Italy. Big difference compared to 5:30 & 7am back in NB. A quick breakfast and Wendy starts works.

Today she is taking her lunch break at 10:30am as she is booked from Noon until 2:30PM with Web Demos & meetings. Off we go to find the markets. Once we get to the square there is no activity there. When I was at the tourist information, the girls had marked both the Wed. Gypsy/farmers market and the Antique market that occurs every 3^rd Saturday of the month. Well I remembered wrong which was which. I am now officially in trouble. We did find a tiny square where there are vendors setup to sell books. Looks like they may be there everyday. Will return again when I have more time and I am not in trouble.

Piazza with outdoor skating rink and a carousel

Garbage collection truck and street cleaner

From where we were it was just a quick 8-10 or so minutes walk to the other location. Most of the vendors are selling clothes & household items. There were a few that had cheese, meat or Fruits/Vegetables for sale. Wendy bought a dish towel for 1 Euro. Only have one at the apartment so it will be nice to have. No time to do any more shopping as it is time for Wendy to get back to work. We will return and revisit the market as we will have 4 more Wednesdays to do this.

My number one task for today is to get air in my tires and raise my bike seat. The last person who drove this was not 6 ft 1. I remembered seeing a bike place yesterday. Bike the wall hoping to find what we saw last night when we were walking. No chance of that. Biked around town for a bit and asked someone by pointing at my tire and saying air. He told me the name of a square and I found it no problem. The shop was just closing but the lady said the air hose is in the back alley but everyone had gone home for the afternoon & lunch and to come back later for the seat. Filled the tires with air and now the bike seems to be twice as easy as before to pedal. Went to the market and picked up some vegetables (Artichokes, eggplants and fennel). When in Italy eat like Italians.

Mastering the art of biking and taking pictures at the same time

As I was storing my bike for the afternoon at the apartment, a man was getting his bike to go out. Tried speaking English to him but he said no Englese. I pointed at the bolt that needed to be loosen for the seat to be adjusted. He nodded and went to his shed and got a couple of wrenches and we adjusted the seat.  He left the wrench on his window of his storage room in case I need him again. Will need to lower the seat for Marc when he & Mary-Sue get here in a few weeks for a visit.

We decided we would do a load of laundry today. The capacity is a lot less than at home. We choose setting number 4 that the property manager said was good to use. The laundry took about 3 hours to do because it was on wash and dry. It was not 100% dry but almost there. Wendy put the clothes on the clothes rack outside to finish and get that outdoor smell.

We decided to go bike the wall and get some more air in Wendy's tire before supper. A lot less people on the wall as there is a small breeze tonight and there is a bit of a chill now that the sun is setting. We also bike outside the wall as there is a nice gravel path that also goes around the town for walking and biking.

Biking on gravel paths outside the wall

I guess I should have put the flash on for Wendy to take this picture

Back at the apartment, I made pork scallopini with white wine, mustard &mushroom sauce for supper. Fun cooking with wine when it is so cheap. A couple of games of cribs, which Wendy keeps beating me overall, and off to bed we go.