Up early and a nice breakfast prepared by
our hostess Anna again. This was the first morning I was sitting with other
people and I met a couple from Norway who were here for a few days before
heading back to their home. Very nice and we chatted all about life in Norway
and the EU and all kinds of interesting things. I learned Norway is not as cold
as I thought but certainly not warm in winter. They do only get a few hours of
sunlight in the winter months but it's much worse in the North of Norway
because they get no sunlight at all in the winter and only sunlight all day in
the summer months. We were then joined by a newlywed couple from Surrey,
England. Well she is a native of Belfast, Ireland and him from Germany but they
met in a pub in England about 8 years ago when she got drunk and threw up on
him and it was love after that. It's
amazing how much of a person’s life story you can get over breakfast. And
amazingly they are headed to Baden-Baden for the spas. She's the first person
I've talked to since I got her, especially the Germans I've met who had any interest
in the town. She was so excited and we
call chatted about how everyone is naked and the Norwegian couple were very
funny about it because for Scandinavian’s, especially the Finish, naked is the
only way to go. Apparently the Finish people invented saunas or the ones we use
today anyway. The German man said it's just the way it should be and Germans
just like to be naked and his wife commented that her husband would much prefer
to be naked all the time. Again, the information you get from people over a croissant
and some jam.
I walked a lot today just trying to get in
anything else I missed while I've been here and I saw the botanical gardens
which I didn't realize were there. I had even taken a picture of the lily pond
on the first day and didn't realize it was an official botanical garden. I also
went to the Palazzo Pfanner and sat in the Baroque garden with the wonderful
fountain surrounded by statues and the gorgeous flora. They even have a bamboo forest
which is really nice and a surprise and I kind of surprised this English man
who was walking ahead of me clearly thinking his wife was behind him and he was
just going on and on about things and pointing out birds and making comments
and when I finally answered him, as I knew he was waiting for a response, he
just made a startled laugh. His wife joined us shortly thereafter so we all
chatted about the bamboo and then parted ways.
I sat in the gardens for a while doing
emails and getting some work done but the Wi-Fi was acting up so I moved on and
took a long, long, long walk instead and did my computer work a little later.
I found this museum on Lucca's history told through the eyes of a Medieval warrior in the passage ways that are beneath the enormous wall that circles the city. I can't remember if I saw this last but it was packed with people so I guess I'm not the only one just walking around stumbling on things. You can see the warrior on his horse in the background of the picture.
In some of the pictures you just see
details of buildings like a church I liked the signage and the beautiful fresco
above the door. Or the old tower soaring above the rose garden. I also couldn't
resist just random pictures of old buildings that connected to new ones and a
residential building with laundry hanging outside. Those are some of my
favorite things to see, real life, and real people. And in the picture along
the river with the large pillar with the Virgin Mary on the top if you look
closely under the pillar there is a water fountain and two locals filling up
their water bottles. I observed this happening several times today, I think
because it's Sunday and everyone is home and doing their weekly choirs, but
they all had these bottle carriers with large empty plastic bottles in them and
at different water faucets I would find people filling up their weekly bottles.
I love the day-to-day stuff it makes me feel less like I'm a visitor and more
like I'm part of their world.
I also went into the church where Puccini
was baptized. I may not have mentioned before but he was born and raised her. I
tried to imagine this morning what his parents and the priest and his family were
thinking when they brought him to church that day to be blessed. Could they
have had any idea of the musical genius that was then being sprinkled with holy
water and blessed oils.
So off once again to walk the city and have
a snack and walk the city and have another snack. Thank goodness I walk so
much, this snacking could be a bad thing but I really do feel I'm losing weight
not gaining it and I do try to limit my snacks to small items but one can't
help but get hungry when she's out all day and besides one needs a few potty
breaks and well-timed snacks are the perfect time.
I also, around 6pm when I was beginning to
really get tired, I stopped off at the Hotel Ilaria, a really nice place with a
comfortable seating area to just relax and read. The great thing about the best
hotels in the world, it's free to sit in the lobby and this one was
particularly comfy because it was small and the blue and gold decor and the old
maps of Italy made it very homey.
So finally it was time for a proper meal of
pasta and salad, yum, yum and although the spaghetti alla carbonara was very good
my mom's and my cousin Paula's is still much, much better.
Finally back to the hotel to write the blog, answer emails and
send out some resumes and housesitting inquires. Oh, a very long but wonderful
day!!!
