Honeymoon - Part II

Day 5 - Saturday, July 5, 2008 (cont)
Our hotel is an ancient villa with vaulted ceilings, no air conditioning, paper thin walls, and the most fantastic 10 feet high windows. After dropping off our belongings we headed into the town of Lucca.
A few fun facts:
Lucca is a town completely surrounded by a barracading wall and has been for 2000 years. The wall is backed up by about 40 feet of dirt. Napolean once gave the city to his wife as a gift. She decided to turn the top of this wall into a beautiful park.
Lucca is also the hometown of Giacomo Puccini. More on this later.
Tonight for dinner we had C: Caprese Pizza and D: Tortellini Lucchese and then found an old church offering a FREE choral concert. This is the 150th anniversary of Puccini's birth and in celebration, there is a choir concert EVERY night. The choir tonight was from London. It was made up of 70 geriatric volunteers and were painfully and woefully out of tune. At one point Dave and I both got the giggles and absolutely could not stop laughing. It got to the point that we both were on the edge of an outburst. Uff da!


Day 6 - Sunday, July 6, 2008
This morning we headed to Florence on the train. After wandering around aimlessly for a solid 5 minutes, we located the tourist information building and were on our way to the Accademia Museum which houses Michaelangelo's David. We were unable to secure reservations beforehand and had to stand in line for about an hour. Highlights were:
1- a collection of musical instruments from the 16th and 17th centuries including TWO Stratavari violins, one that was actually used in the Medici quintet!!
2- David (the sculpture, not the person) The museum doesn't allow photographs which is a real shame because pictures don't convey the large scale of the sculpture. David is somewhere around 12 feet tall and is exquisite. It is said to represent Lucca (David) conquering the surrounding large city-states (Goliath). David is looking to the side confidently and has an enlarged, strong right hand, representing the power and strength that comes from God.
After the museum, we picked up a couple of calzones and headed to the Duomo steps for lunch. It was such fund to eat and people watch with the backdrop of such a magnificent building. I have never seen such an ornate building! Across the piazza stands the Baptistry with the famous "Gates of Paradise" at its entry way. After lunch we had the BEST GELATO of our lives at Grom. D: Chocolate Extra Noir, Fragola (Strawberry), Pesca (Peach) C: Stratiacelli (basic cream with chocolate chips) and Hazelnut. Each flavor was so true to the actual fruit or nut. Fantastico!
Now it was back on the train to Lucca. We took a long nap at our hotel and then headed into town for dinner. While in town we did learn that the trains and buses are definitely going to be on strike tomorrow thus thwarting our trip to the beach. No problem...we'll go with the flow. Every night we are pretty sure we've had the best meal of our lives, but tonight we are SURE this must be it. D: Delicious Gnocchi a la pesto C: Lasagna al forno.

Day 7 - July 7, 2008
After breakfast at our hotel we headed into Lucca to experience part of the culture here. We rented bicycles and rode around the 2.5 miles on the top of the rampart wall twice. It was a bit rainy which was refreshing for two Washingtonians. :) The rest of our day is completely unplanned. The only thing we are sure of is EATING...lots of wonderful Italian food. Tomorrow we are headed to Venice.
Side note: We want to wish Zach and Kira Hawkins a wonderful 1 year anniversary today. Can you believe it was a year ago today? We love you both!