Tuesday 13 September 2011

A slightly late start this morning as we wanted to wait for the washing to finish so we could hang it out to dry before we left. Our little courtyard where the automatic machine is located is very enclosed - although open to the sky - and consequently there is not a lot of drying. This added to the fact that it is extremely humid makes getting the washing dry a bit of a hastle. We tend to bring it indoors at night and hang it in the bathroom where it dries off nicely. So much about washing.

Today we wanted to update our blog and to do that we have to go to the Information Centre in the Piazale Verdi. It costs €2 per hour and usually takes us all of that. Today there were dozens of people milling about the doorway to the Centre but we duly got our ticket containing login and password and set to it. Kev was not feeling that well as he has contracted a nasty cold so he went looking for a Farmacia while I downloaded the blog and a few photos. We are pretty much behind with our albums because of being without wifi for so long but I am slowly catching up and now using the updated Offexploring site it seems to be a bit quicker. We had a couple of emails from friends and family which was nice and by the time Kev got back I was almost done. He bought a packet of something that looks like Lemsip but which is called "TachifluDEC". It has paracetamol and lemon so perhaps it will work. While I was sitting blogging a stream of people came into the Centre to collect holders and candles for the procession tonight. It starts at 8pm and apparently is not to be missed.

At the Information Centre, we spoke to a young Melbourne couple who were doing a camper tour of Europe pretty much on their way home from living in Britain for the last 4 years. They have been applying for work back in Melbourne and therefore need to log into their email each day to answer any messages. They bought a couple of old cycles and a bike rack for their camper which means they can leave the van in an outlying area and cycle into the city. We told them about our Florence "trip yesterday and they were quite keen to go there by bus and explore. It only took an hour on the .Autostrada from Lucca to Florence (Firenze) and was a comfortable trip.

While looking for a Farmacie Kev found a Piazza we had not been to and a market and wanted to take me a show me. First though we headed back to our apartment to drop off the laptop. We spent the next hour or so wandering (as we tend to do quite often) and watching all the many people who have flooded Lucca for the festival week. Today the house where Puccini was borne was open to the public and a constant stream of people was going through it. We avoided the crowds and did our usual thing - looked for somewhere for a beer and lunch. In the end we bought a piece of Foccacia bread and headed home as we had meat, salad and beer in the fridge and decided that would do just as well. In France there were bread shops everwhere selling all sorts of bread but specializing in bread sticks. We avoided the bread sticks mostly in France in favour of salad. Here in Italy the bread is as HARD AS ROCKS and it pays to avoid it. Here in Italy there are no bread shops but there are lots of Paticceria shops and some of them have focaccia and if you are lucky you can buy a loaf of brown bread in the supermarket but there is absolutely no choice like there is in NZ - it amazes me. We have resorted to buying the focaccia bread which is about 1 ½" thick and relatively soft in texture. It is made with oil and quite delicious. We don't eat it all the time but now and then it is quite nice. It comes in huge slabs about 15x18 inches and you simply indicate the size of the piece you want and they cut it off for you. It is sold by weight - today the piece I bought cost €1.80 so a relatively cheap lunch.

Kev is having a rest so I am catching up with our journal in the meantime. We have to have an early dinner tonight in order to be at the starting place to watch the procession through town. There is also a fireworks display at 11.30pm but I doubt we will last that late! We seem to have been keeping very civilized hours over the past months.

We headed up to the main street of Lucca (via Filingu) at about 7.30pm and stood against a shop front. The street is no more than 4metres wide at the widest part and that is shop front to shop front. It was soon dark and all of the shops had their own arrangements of candles in holders above and around their doorways and windows - it looked great and very festive. The parade was kicking off at 8.00pm and we had no idea of what to expect. All of a sudden around the corner came four motorcycle cops on their bikes with the blue lights flashing and they were followed by this huge banner and a huge man carrying it supported on each side by a couple of people holding ropes to keep it steady. I thought that a band would have been good! Then there followed hundreds of people, each with a candle, each group from a different parish and then there was a band. A few more hundred marchers and then there was another band. These bands would have been good if we weren't able to still hear the band that had gone out of sight. There were no floats as there are in parades in NZ. This was some sort of religious parade and we know that there are 100 churches in Lucca and everyone was out walking. I have to say that they all knew the words. After watching for nearly an hour we left and walked down Via San Giorgio (our street) towards home only to be greeted with the Medieval mob all standing around waiting for their turn. This was more like a parade but it wasn't happening so we just wandered amongst them all, dressed in their finery and snapped pictures.

We had a cuppa and went to bed but at 11.30pm the fireworks started. Almighty bangs and thuds rising to a crescendo after half an hour and finishing with what has got to be the most almighty bang I have ever heard. Kev slept through the lot! After the fireworks had finished I could hear all the people returning to their homes talking and laughing.

If anyone reading this wants to let us have updates from the Rugby World Cup games we would appreciate it. There is only Italian TV here and the only sport is SOCCER, SOCCER, SOCCER or Cycling. I did manage to buy an English newspaper the other day and saw that NZ had beaten Samoa in their first game but that it wasn't much of a game but we are starved of NZ news here and would love some updates please.

Tomorrow we are hoping to do the wall cycle if Kev is feeling a bit improved. He is certainly full of a cold today. We will need to go early as the heat has been very bad over the past few days. Hopefully when we get back to the coast this will ease a bit.