Museum visits in Lucca

Usual walk on the wall this morning which goes without saying but first I had to go check the patio for ant dead or alive pigeons. Wendy is doing a load of laundry and I need to make sure the coast is clear. The one that had flown into the bushes last night was still there. There a wire mess behind the bushes that I only found out this morning. I think the pigeon has a broken wing. I picked it up and this time I threw it over the wire fence. It flew in circles going down until I could not see it anymore.

Mid morning I was going to go for a bike wall and take pictures with a longer lens. Usually in the morning I just bring my wide angle. About 2 minutes from our place, there a man on the ground shouting with 3 other man on top of him. They even peppered sprayed him. The police station is very closed by so I figured the 3 on top of him must have been cops without uniforms. I did not stay long and moved on. About 100 meters further in run into Paul & Stephanie at the information center. Wendy had told them to drop by as we have leftover food that we will not use for them. They were out on their new bike that they got from the landlord as the tire would not stay inflated and one was missing a bell. We may a u-turn and we got to the apartment. The bike ride will have to wait.

Paul & Stephanie new bikes.

It is close to noon now as I head out for my second try at my bike ride. I do 1 loop of the wall and take 3 types of pictures of what you see when you bike/walk the wall. People, Towers and balcony. Of course there more to see but I limited myself to these 3 subjects for today.

I think it is called a Juliette balcony

Wendy's favourite church

Magnolia tree near the wall

They are almost done

Tomorrow we go up it.

Reading a book and using the bike as a footrest.

Some R&R with friends

Back at the apartment for lunch and we have minestrone soup for lunch. Afterwards we go visit Palazzo Mansi which is only about 2 blocks from here. The Mansi family had some major $$$ way back by the look of it. The top floor which has a collection of painting was not open this week as they are short staffed. I think we saw enough paintings last weekend anyway. We must have visited about 20 rooms with a variety of things in them. We were escorted by a lady who keep speaking to us in Italians even if we never responded. She indicated which way was next which was nice. Not sure if she worked there or just hung around there to be honest. Either way it was appreciated.

Riding in style

Great tapestry

Some great rooms

Amazing master bedroom

Period costume

Amazing detail

At about 4 I went to visit a museum, Domus Romana Lucca. It sits in the basement of a Palazzo. When they were ding renovation in the basement of it they found the foundation of a Roman House that dates from 200 BC. Also a coin and a couple of pottery piece. Lucca streets are now about 6 feet higher now than they used to be. At one point you can see the foundation of the Roman house, part of a middle ages wall and the medieval ceiling.

Roman house fondation

Roman pillar stone, middle age wall and medieval ceiling

Next I went to visit the Basilica San Frediano which was not too far from the museum. Nothing too extraordinary about it. Just very old and big. A few paintings. I only did a short visit as it was getting close to 5PM and they were closing.

A Saint's remains

I saw these 2 things near the church

Yes we deliver but on 2 wheels

Diane, this one for you.

Wendy got some last minute work and ended working until about 6. Afterwards we went exploring town, We walked a tiny section of the wall, something we did not do much at night. We then went looking for a small church that Stephanie has said we should see. We stumbled on a art gallery that featured Kingfishers in front of the Cathedral. The were many painting of them done in an artistic way of kingfishers. A movie was also showing them catching fish. Another artist had country scenes of an old farmhouse in different seasons. In the basement floor there was an exhibit featuring antique clocks and the clock from the clock tower and a bit of history about it and the tower. The town used to have about 200 tower but when a family came in power, they ordered the non-family towers to be demolished. This non-family tower was so well built that it escape this fate and they installed a clock at the top of it to make sure it would survive similar fate.

We found the little church but it was not open. We then wandered the streets of Lucca. Wendy says I did not pick the best one and i think I agree with her. We ended up mostly on streets with lots of cars. We ended up in the amphitheatre. It is really an amazing place. We stopped at 2 souvenir shops looking for 1 Euro souvenir but did not find anything. How can you have 2 stores selling almost the same thing next to each others. 2 ice cream/gelato places I could understand. I might even buy one at each back to back. Must get really busy in the summer.

Wendy's favourite church

Amphitheater

We then met Paul & Stephanie at 7:45 at La Bottega di Anna e Leo near Wendy's favourite church, Basilica San Frediano which I had visited earlier in the day. We had a great meal and service. We started of marinated vegetables in olive oil and 1/2 litre of red wine. I had beef stew and Wendy had ordered something that sounded like Tortellini and started with a T. She got something that looked with Ravioli. It was stuffed with a meat filling and topped with a meat sauce. We also ordered a side of grilled vegetables to go with our meal. Here in Italy the main course does not come with any side. So my beef stew was all meat. Stephanie had ordered liver and it was the same for her. Plus if you want water, you have to order a bottle, no tap water here usually 2 or 3 euro and you get you choice of fizzy or still. We needed another 1/2 litre as the first one was now gone. For dessert we had vegetable pie. Mostly spinach for vegetable but the waitress said there was other small bits of vegetables as well. I suspect there were eggs and a creamy cheese in there as well as it tasted a lot like a cheesecake with a yummy crust. The bill was 50 Euro even. Well worth it. We left the restaurant at about 10PM. Once again we mostly talked about travelling and things we have not done yet in Lucca. What a fun evening.

Vegetable pie for dessert

On the way to  the apartment, I saw this bike parking lot.  10 spots with 5 bikes and nobody was parked next to each other.  What are the chances of that.

Back at the apartment we played a game of crib which I started off running and never looked back. I needed 5 points in my last hand to win and that is what I got exactly as I did not managed to peg any points. Poor Wendy ended up being skunked. I think she enjoyed last night winning match but better. We quite after that game.