On our way home from Lucca we stopped at il fiume Serchio and took a dip in the very refreshing and shallow water. Lots of big mossy rocks and the slight current felt good in today’s heat. When we got home, Bella’s friend Jarmila had returned so she hung out with her and I showed Jenn the hike up to Rocco. Amazing views. We saw where the wedding had taken place last week and they had left behind a box of alcohol and a copper sun sculpture. I am so tempted to bring the sun back here… maybe if it’s still there in a few days…
When we got back, Bella was in the midst of a water fight with Dario and the kids. Jenn eagerly joined in, but Bella wasn’t too excited about being immediately drenched!
The first restaurant we found when we came to look at the apt here last august was I Macelli, just down the hill. It turns out to be one of the best restaurants in the Lucca region! I eat here at least once and usually twice or more every trip… with Katya, we ate here 3 times in one week! The same waiter and waitress (who has now learned to speak English this summer) are always there and now recognize us. They brought Bella her glass of latte freddo before she even asked for it. This year they have had the most incredible black truffles and we get them every time. Tonight’s meal was as wonderful as ever, they even made the pasta with truffles vegan for jenn (though I think the pasta has egg in it… shhh!). For dessert we had sorbetto limone con limoncello… Katya’s favorite dessert. We ate outside and at the table next to us was our friend from Mi Bar… but I couldn’t remember his name — he recognized Bella though, smiled and said Ciao to us. They have also been closed this week, which means I haven’t had any morning espresso. In fact, tonight’s after-dinner caffe was my first this entire trip.
Bella told us that her friend was going to a “party” at the campo sportivo tonight. So after dinner, we went to check it out:
Here’s Jenn chatting up the Ecuadorean clothing vendor:
Jenn thought he had a nice butt:
Here’s a fun game — shoot a cue ball at the packs of Marlboros without knocking over the bottles of Spumante:
This ride would have all the US Safety Squads up in arms — while spinning quite fast at an angle, perform your best dance moves in the center of the platform. No seatbelts required here kids:
Bella and Jenn get down to the sounds of an Italian pop-ska-Beatles cover band:
We ran into this little fellow in the driveway on our way home tonight…
This wedding took place last week just up the hill from us, at Rocco
But no photos tonight… Bella thought that would be silly. Our favorite store, Self Service (which isn’t), is closing tomorrow for its summer holiday until the end of July, so we stocked up on mineral water for Jenn and lots of treats: fabulous strawberry & balsamic vinegar jam (YES), arugula pesto (no cheese or nuts — just herbs, olive oil and garlic, like my granny used to make it), gnocchi (also like granny’s), orechetti, and pasta sauce for Bella. Then we stopped at our wine store, Il Vinaio and got a bottle of delicious white wine. They will be closed our last week here, so I’ll be sure to make my olive oil run there before leaving! And finally, we made it into Bazar da Freddie, the produce and frozen food store across the street from the abandoned communist party headquarters. Cherries, zucchini, beautiful tomatoes… And when we got back to the car, we saw the woman that we’d given a ride down the hill to earlier in the day. Her name is Marisa and lives further up the hill in Rocca. We gave her a ride back and she was very happy to have someone to talk to.
We had the gnocchi with pesto and tomatoes, along with olives and cherries and some old bread that I had frozen back in February. Warmed up in the oven, it still tasted wonderful.
Jenn made friends with the guy who lives in the front house (Dario, Giuliana’s son) who’d been working on his motorcycle all day and I think she got him to promise her a ride before she goes! She also got him to help her open a bottle of limoncello before dinner…
Now that I’m learning more Italian, I’m finding the Tuscan accent is quite country-sounding compared to the Roman Italian I had been hearing from Anna, my teacher in Oakland. Lots of slurred letters and the ch (ci and ce) sounds more like shh. No wonder I could never understand my neighbors before!
Tomorrow morning is the big race in Borgo a Mozzano and the town is buzzing… couldn’t even get a table at our favorite restaurant tonight!
After checking out the bike race festivities, we popped into a cafe I hadn’t noticed before. It turned out to be the Borgo a Mozzano Tennis Club. Their big competition is called BorgOpen. Pretty clay courts!
