Lucca

Salve!! Sorry I did not post last night, we got back to our hostel very late and I was too tired! I am so excited for this post because it we had a marvelous evening!! The train ride to Lucca was absolutely gorgeous (as were the rest of the train rides) but this one had this awesome looking mountain that was so different from everything else-- it was white with ash, possibly, I am not really sure.

Finally we reached Lucca, which was a 6 hour day of traveling (much longer than most of our other days of travel). We chose Lucca because it was a lot cheaper than Pisa, but Pisa was our real destination-- we thought. Until it took us an hour to find our hostel because of the terrible directions they gave us. By the time we found our hostel and checked-in, the tower was closed!! We decided that it wouldn't be worth it just to go see the tower, we wanted to go inside, and therefore would just have to plan a weekend to go back. We were both really disappointed. We got settled, facebooked a little bit and then decided to venture out into Lucca. I looked up online this plaza they had where the buildings made a circle and in the middle there were restaurants and small stores, so we went to visit that first. We got there at about 8:20 and right when we arrived, any disappointment that we had melted away as we gleemed at the plaza. We got a limoncello to drink and sat down in the middle of the plaza.



















It was really a beautiful plaza. To make it even better-- we happened to be there on the night of a Puccini performance. There was an orchestra and tenor in the middle of the plaza ready to perform right after the sun went down. We were there slightly before the rush of people came and therefore got a really good table for dinner.

We ate dinner there while listening to the music- which was just amazing!! A perfect cool night, listening to gorgeous music- perfecto! We split bruschetta, canelloni and pizza and I had another glass of Chanti. The food was delisioso- the tomatoes on the bruschetta were so sweet and so fresh- and of course the vino was delicioso as well!!

To accompany the yummy food, the music was even better! It made my whole evening- I could not stop smiling. The mistro or conductor or whoever was so funny! He was like a cartoon character leading an orchestra- so funny! We was very interactive with the audience and spoke in both English and Italian. As the concert came to a close, he kept telling us it was the last song and then after that song would continue with "just one more". The singer was a blind man that was absolutely amazing! I have never really heard anyone sing like that- operaish I suppose- and now I really want to go to an opera. I really, really enjoyed that performence. I know it is not the same but I hope you can hear even 1/100 of what I heard last night in this video and notice how amazing he really was- and maybe catch a glimpse of the hilarious mistro as well.

*After trying to upload this video and it failing, I will post it on my facebook, so visit it there to listen :) * Dang it! After trying to post it to my facebook and failing, I guess I will just have to try again tomorrow :( I think the internet connection is not fast enough to upload the file. And yes, I know I could just erase everything about the video completely and no one would even know- but where is the fun in that???

After the concert finished, we got gelato- this time I got pistaccio- and we walked back to our hostel. On the way we randomly found, at 11:45 pm mind you, a children's production of Peter Pan! These kids were so cute and so well rehersed. I had no clue what the were saying, besides the occasional Wendy and Peter Pan of course, but it was so cute to watch.


Around the city there is a wall that you can walk on (which we thought was pretty cool) so we used that to get back to our hostel, this time it was easier to find! As I said earlier, I was really tired and we needed to get to sleep so we could get up early and travel to Siena today. We arrived in Siena around 12:30 and did not have to meet everyone until 4. So for 3.5 hours we went across the street to a mall and then back to the train station. We would have gone into the city but there was no place to leave our luggage and let me tell you it is a PAIN to travel with luggage. Finally 4 arrived and so did everyone else from our program. There were many hearing and deaf people which was fun to see. I got all of my information and then my mum, Fulvia, came to meet me :) She does not speak much English so conversing is really interesting. I am trying to learn as fast as I can, and my small amount of Spanish background is helping a little bit. We went to her apartment which is really nice. It has 3 bedrooms (2 other American girls are staying here, not from my program and I have yet to meet them), 2 bathrooms, a living room, a small kitchen, and a dining room-- much bigger than I expected an apartment to be. Fulvia's daughter and her husband are coming to meet us for dinner tonight. Fulvia is making dinner as I type and it smells SO GOOD! I am so excited. I told her that the only thing I would prefer not to eat is fish but that I eat everything (because I decided that in Italy, I will not be my American self!!). But, she does not like fish either so we are a perfect match :)

This evening, I am unpacking and getting ready for my first day of school tomorrow. Wish me luck and talk to you tomorrow, ciao :)