Tues May 6 - Exploring Lucca, Puccini

Marian and I walked over to the supermarket (CONAD).  On the way we stopped at a little "bar".  "Bar" has a different meaning here - it's for coffee and pastries.  We had a caffe latte and split a chocolate croissant (pane al cioccolato?).  There was a nice signora behind the counter and several men standing at the counter drinking their expresso before going to work.  Nice relaxed friendly vibe.

Lucca aerial view

Walked through the wall into the main part of Lucca town.  Our apartment is in a great location.  Just outside the eastern gate (Elise).  Moseyed around, bought tickets for the Puccini concert tonight.

Had lunch on San Michele Plaza at Tournadot - delicious salads - my fave so far - would like to come back here.  

Marian, Harry & I rented bikes (3 euros) and rode around the wall, i.e., on top of the wall which is like a park.  It was fantastic.  Beautiful warm day.  Trees overhanging the pathways, people walking and biking and just sitting around.  Great views on either side - inside the wall, and outside the wall.  Took about an hour to go all the way around at a leisurely pace.

Met up with Toby.  On the way home we stopped at a little wine shop on the main drag, Dolce Vita-I Borghi, Via Santa Croce, 79.  The proprietor Riccardo was very nice and offered suggestions of inexpensive but good wine.  Encouraged us to come back tomorrow and let us know how we liked it (which we did).

The evening's event was a Puccini concert at San Giovanni church at 7:15.  Lucca is the birthplace of Puccini (1858) and they honor him every evening with a concert, a different program every night.  They call it a permanent festival, "Puccini E La Sua Lucca."  Tonight's program was Le Donne Di Puccini (the woman of Puccini, i.e., arias from the female characters of Puccini's operas).  There were two women singing, with a pianist accompanying them.  All were very talented, voices filling the church without any amplification.  And the pianist was amazing.

Dinner:  We had made reservations for 8:30(!) (we are starting to eat later, like everyone else around here) at Canuleia Trattoria which Marian had read about online.  It's a comfy restaurant, relatively new, run by a husband (the chef) and wife (everything else).  Rack of lamb (Toby), scallops (Marian), sea bass (me).  Excellent.

Weather still clear and should be good again tomorrow.  I hope we have another chance for a bike ride - that was really fun.  Also it felt good to be moving around but not walking.