It’s been five days since I’ve written anything and someone asked if we were OK so I thought I’d better write and let you all know that we are just fine.

After our very tiring tour to Cinque Terre, we decided to take a couple of days to wander around Florence, take a bus ride to somewhere and stay close to home.  We wandered up and down streets that we hadn’t been on and saw some nice sites, found a lovely cafe with wonderful pizza, rested in a small park, enjoying peace and quiet and followed that with a Saturday unlike any we’ve experienced yet…so many people in the square.  We don’t realize how noisy it is until we find a garden or piazza with few people, away from the constant din of the traffic. We breathe in the silence and sit in contemplation knowing that it will not last. Our legs, knees, and hips are starting to scream at us that it is time to go home for a rest. Cobblestone and uneven cement make walking difficult and we have left our footprints on much of it.

We had been to Lucca a couple of weeks ago and really enjoyed it so we went back for a second time.  The bus trip was an enjoyable hour of watching the countryside slip by. Well, for Joey it was. I slept.  Joey is amazed at how I can fall asleep on a bus or a plane as easily as I do. What can I say…it’s a gift!  Sunshine stayed with us the whole day and we once again walked the narrow streets.  Since we had taken an early bus, we  visited the shops that had all been closed when we were there last.  We walked on top of almost the whole wall of the city stopping to admire some of the views and sitting on the benches to rest and people watch. We saw a man selling his artwork from the trunk of his car, a car parked at a funny angle (they do that in Italy…just stop and park wherever), a cute little street cleaner car and people just going about their everyday lives.

We even found a sewing machine shop but we still haven’t found anywhere that sells fabric…strange.

We visited the info centre and actually got a very nice young lady who was happy to tell us a few things to see while in Lucca.  She gave us a map and off we went to see the  bell tower she told us about.  She said it had a fabulous view if you wanted to climb the almost ten stories to the top which we chose not to do – no surprise!  We could see people up there, though, and took a nice picture.

We laughed at all the tour groups passing us as we sat and had coffee and knew that they didn’t have time to explore or visit the shops but hustled to keep up with the group.  We knew how they must be feeling.

Another day we decided to go a different direction in Florence and follow the road west from our flat.  After several blocks of walking we entered a park filled with huge trees and lots of grass which are things we haven’t often seen.  We walked for several minutes passing mostly men sitting on benches and several more watching us as we passed, some mumbling something at us.  We both, at the same time, started feeling uncomfortable and Joey was the first to say that maybe we shouldn’t be here.  That’s exactly what I had been thinking so we turned around at the next corner and made our way to a busy street.  That was the only time we have felt unsafe since coming here.  Instincts are a good thing and thankfully we were smart enough to follow them.

On our way home we found another bakery – imagine that! We stopped in and found raisin buns which were delicious.  The next day Joey went out and bought us some for breakfast which we grilled and enjoyed immensely. We also came across the Opera of Florence building and went in to see if we could get tickets to something.  The nice young man there gave us free tickets to two dress rehearsals on Sunday which we will go to.  We are looking forward to it.

Yesterday we walked across the river to take in more streets that we hadn’t ventured down.  Saturday mornings are a quiet time in the city. We walked to the piazza where every Saturday vendors are out selling everything from fruit and veggies to hand made articles. One Saturday a flea market was also held  but that was the first Saturday we were here and we haven’t seen it since. While walking back over the bridge we saw a rower gliding his long, sleek boat through the muddy water.  We have had days of hard rain over the last two weeks, swelling the river, making it run fast, stirring up the mud on the bottom.  The beautiful blue water that we saw when we arrived has been turned  brown and murky. I was so glad I had taken pictures of the beauty that once was as I don’t think we will see it again before leaving.  The pictures that I took of the reflections of the buildings in the water are no more.

We think about everyone at home all the time and we will be back before we know it.