Wed May 7 - Botanical Gardens, Roman Forum, Marian Cooks Dinner

Marian got up early (as usual) and went out to get some vegies.   She wants to cook dinner for us tonight.  Oh boy. 

But first we had places to go and things to see. 

Went to the Botanical Gardens which were beautiful.  Very green and lots of trees.  Saw 2 sequoia trees! Lovely rhodadendrons.  

Went under the wall which was dark and kind of scary. 

Old Roman Forum

Next we walked up on the wall and around to the North gate and back inside the wall to the old Roman Forum, so named because it used to be a round marketplace, now it's a circular plaza with buildings all around. 



It was nice there, lots of people to watch and warm sunshine so we stopped for a snack at one of the several restaurants in the plaza.  Bruchetta with tomato and cheese, and pears with gorgonzola cheese and walnuts.  Cold beer.  We were tired and hungry so this really hit the spot!  

The name of the restaurant was Perbacco.  There's a restaurant with the same name in SF!  We asked them if it was any relation (family name?) but no.  The meaning of Perbacco is literally "for Bacchus" (god of wine) - it's an exclamation that means "Oh My Gosh!" or something like that.

Old Gate on Via Santa Croce

Via Santa Croce

 Went looking for a few items we needed for dinner, especially we needed some fresh fish.  No idea where to go.  Did not see any markets that might sell it.  As we were walking along the main drag, Via Santa Croce, we passed by Riccardo's wine shop where we'd been yesterday.  I thought, why not?  He was friendly maybe he can help us.  So I asked, "Dove comprar pesche per la cucina?" (loosely, where can we buy fish for the kitchen?) and he actually understood what I meant!   His friend said there was a fish market outside the wall and as he told us the directions we realized we had walked by it, closed, the first night we were here.  So that was really great -- that we knew where to go.  

At the fish market, the woman proprietor did not speak a word of English.  But somehow we managed to communicate that we wanted some fish to cook for dinner for the four of us.  She picked up a big flat fish and gestured that she could cut 4 fillets from it.  Perfect.   She was so nice!  She even gave us cooking instructions too but we couldn't really understand what she said except to only cook it for 5 minutes.  

The foregoing little story is a great example of how warm and wonderful the Italian people are.  Those lovely interactions helped us get what we needed and just made the whole endeavor so much more pleasant.



Back home and Marian started cooking.  And what a meal we had!  Artichokes with yoghurt/mustard dipping sauce.  Then the fish, sauteed with tomatoes and fresh vegies (onion, peppers, tomato, green beans, asparagus), plus some good fresh bread and wine of course.  Delicious.  We sat around the table, there in our little apartment, enjoyed the meal, and chatted about this and that.   Very relaxed.   

It was late (we're eating like the Italians :)) but we decided to go out and get gelato at the place nearby which is supposedly has the best gelato in Lucca.  Le Bonta, V. Castracani, 269.   It's across the street from the La Mura pizza place we liked so much that first night.  


Well it is far more than a gelato place -- it is a fabulous bakery with the most amazing cakes and little bite-sized pies in all kinds of flavors and combinations, beautifully decorated.  We spent a lot of time looking at everything and then we each got one to try.  There was a line of people outside even though it was 11:30pm. 

Finally home to bed.  By the way it's raining a little tonight but tomorrow is supposed to be sunny and in the 70's.