R&R in Lucca

A very nice quiet day today after a busy weekend in Cinque Terre and the Carnival in Viareggio.

Before leaving for the walk, We loaded up the washer/dryer and got it started. Can't remember if we talked about this before or not. Senior moment and the fact that sometimes I write the blog and sometimes Wendy does. So if I did I apologize for repeating myself. This is a combination washer/dryer. There is a setting that will wash and then dry your clothes in one cycle. The only thing is that it takes about 3 hours and it is only about 90% dry not 100% ready to put away. Then you still need to put you clothes on a rack to dry. If it is nice we put it outside for that fresh smell. The air quality here in town is excellent and there are not manufacturing at all and so little car traffic.

Started the usual walk on the wall this morning going counter clockwise as I will be going to exit the wall around 3/4 of the way and go for groceries. No sense making more steps than I need to today as the last 2 days, we were close to 30,000 steps each day. 

This was the first morning we saw frost here. Not heavy but would still need to be scraped off probably with a credit card as I do not think most cars would have scrappers but I may be wrong. Our rental car did not. The sun was out so it was not as cold as one may think.



Frost on the cars this morning in the shade

This was also the first time we saw a traffic jam in town. The garbage men were stopped for a couple of minutes for a pickup. There were about 6 cars, 5 bikes and a few people walking all at the same stop at the same time. It got clear up in about 1 minutes. That is what happen when you live in a city (town), you can expect traffic jams I guess.

Traffic jam in Lucca!

We had a nice walk and always seem to see something we had not seem before. May be the fact that some days you go in one direction and the next you go in the other. Wendy says I am like a dog (in a good way I hope). When I see something to photograph (squirrel) I will wander over, take a couple of pictures and run back to her. She does not pause her walking for me to take pictures, she just keeps on motoring along.

View of mountains from the wall

Different monuments statues along the wall

Nice patio on top

Language School

I wonder how I could get in to take picture.  Mmmm I 'll go in as a prospect student

Groceries did not take very long as I have to carry the bags back to our place. It was mostly salad stuff as we finished everything for salad on Friday. 1 bottle of wine and some bread. 12 items including the wine for 16 Euros. If I was at home that would mean 11 things for $12 if I do not count the wine.

Love the layers of changing bricks/stones

Our main grocery store Esselunga.  Always wine on sale at 50% off

Sometimes it helps if you know fresh, other stuff, nope

These are the scanners you can take to scan your groceries as you go along or for price check

I love groceries & Liquor.  Good prices also.

Trees are starting to blossom

After breakfast, surf the web, worked on the blog and pictures.

Laundry got done around 10:30 and got put outside. Only one little problem. My dearly beloved wool socks shrunk about 4-5 sizes and looked like they might fit our grandson Riley. Will see what happen when they are fully dry.

These started as size 12 socks before the laundry

Lunch, I made a sandwich with tomato and fresh mozzarella cheese on a crusty loaf of bread. Probably a little too crusty but was still good. Will make something similar for lunch on Friday as we will be on the train to Bologna this weekend, perhaps a less crusty bread.

Before heading out for our lunch time walk, we took in the laundry inside as it was calling for some mid-day showers. We walked in the streets around town near our apartment in case the skies decided to open up. There was a tiny drizzle when we started off and after about 30 minutes got a tad heavier but still no rain. We decided that was good enough for today.

The afternoon was spent like the morning plus some R&R. My size 6 wool socks are now dry. Time to try them on and see what happens. The good news is that is it not permanent and they do stretch back to size 12 and they are comfortable and warm still. They do return to size 6 when you take them off.

At one time, these were the same size

Just before 6 we went for another walk into town for about 1 hour or so to see if there was any activities. Nothing special but many people wandering the street.

One of the small squares in town

Looks like it is getting a bit busier. More and more store & restaurants/bars seem to be opening or re-opening up in town. I wonder if it is like home and people go south for a couple of months in the winter.

We did buy a fridge magnet of Lucca in a ceramic shop. The owner said it was made here in town outside the walls by his family. He had all kinds of beautiful stuff. Not cheap but that is to be expected. We may end up picking up a little something else to take home.

Nice ceramic shop not far from our apartment.  Family run, everything made in Lucca

The skating rink was not open and is scheduled to close tomorrow.  Perhaps something will be happening as it is Mardi Gras. 

Skating rink closed tonight, tomorrow is supposed to be the last day

Between the 3 walks, we still managed to get 15,000 steps in today. Not too bad for taking it easy. Starting to know the streets around town pretty good so it is fun to walk around without a map and kinda laugh at the poor tourist, like I was 2 weeks ago, looking lost and trying to figure which way to turn.  We did see one poor tourist car that had wandered inside the wall, the couple in front did not seem to be talking...I see a fine coming there way by mail some time in the next year.

Wendy made a delicious chili for supper. One of her specialties. And it turned out to be one of her best. I had bought a 1 litre tetra pack of wine for 1 Euro when I had gotten here for mostly cooking but also for those afternoon when I needed a glass of wine. It was half gone so we decided to finish it with the chili. It is actually not bad wine but also not a great wine compared to what you get in a bottle. Just not tons of flavours and aroma.