is what my morning is today. It's Saturday and I've been here since Wednesday night, the night of frogs and porcupines. Thursday am, I got up, got showered and saw the rain and headed to Lucca. Lovely Lucca is about a 40 minute drive and i had to cross the bridge-a-doon, and drive fast pass old ladies with seemingly no concern about cars AUTOS whipping by them at 50 km/hour as they toddle their way to pick up their daily rations from the butcher and cheesemonger (ok, probably the supermarket...let's be real). I once again, want to alert the authorities with my concerns of old ladies walking on a narrow sidewalk with cracks and crevices and the autos speeding by , but no one seems to be seeking out my feedback. YET!
LUCCA
It's a walled city, you may know it from it's contribution to paper...let's welcome Lucca with a big warm welcome!!!!!
I parked inside the city walls, like a real person of significance and it was raining on my little tin death trap car like crazy. I sat and used AI to pick a place for lunch. I've decided that an afternoon in a town is plenty, vs an all day guided tour. I've put together by now that here's what you do in a town: walk to the center, look around. Tour the cathedral/town hall, gawk at the thing of significance, follow the crowd, grab lunch at the most AUTHENTIC and OLD spot in the place where people used to live 200 years ago before the tourists came, and then get gelato or a sweet treat. Walk some more, see the univeristy/museum/castle and then walk to the one unique WACKY aspect of the town (glockenspiel/ public art/fountain with a man eating babies while he has an additional bag of babies at his hip), walk by a slightly pockmarked or destroyed wall and think in your head "This is probably from ww2" and then grab a drink (Negroni please for me) and listen to some authentic music by people in costumes and head back on the train.
Lucca: i walked to the center, I only had cash from Switzerland and I owed my hosts 5 Euro for a visitor tax, so I got cash EUROs out of the ATM, i went to the cathedral. It was LOVELY. I love when a building has fucked up marble flooring that are uneven and seem like they should have been repaired but weren't and that was the cathedral in LUCCA! And, chevron seems to be the pattern of choice: the street pavers were in a pattern of chevron and so was a pillar on the cathedral door. I love Chevron (pattern, the oil is JUST FINE).
Here's the story: At the cathedral, there was a cross, the Volto Santo, that had divine intervention, 3 times. A fellow named Nicodemus, who knew Jesus, sculpted Jesus on the cross, up to his neck. Makes sense, sculpt his body and then take a nap. Faces are hard to sculpt.
DIVINE INTERVENTION 1
When Nicodemus woke up and the rest of the face was sculpted by ANGELS and said to be the perfect likeness of Jesus. (Side note; it was OKKKKk…I’ve seen better sculptures of Jesus (THE PIETA) , I don't think it was his good side).
DIVINE INTERVENTION 2
The cross was buried for a while in the "holy land" (a few years? a few hundred years?) and then someone dug it up. The authorities couldn't decide where to send it, so they put it on an unmanned ship. The ship lands in Luni, a port near Lucca,
DIVINE INTERVENTION 3
But the authorities, were like, no, hold up, even though we are here in Luni, a perfectly fine place, there's still some additional divine intervention we need to happen. The cross still hasn't fully declared where it goes. Let’s put it on a cart, pulled by 2 wild oxen. Sure enough, the wild oxen, not at all influenced by anyone who lives in lucca, ends in lucca.
BTW, everyone at the port city, Luni, were kind of pissed. But; when the authorties in Lucca open the cross and there's some very special blood, and the authorities of Lucca gave the people of Luni, the port city, some of that very special blood, as a consolation prize. Even though everyone was totally fine with this cross landing in Lucca.
NON-DIVINE INTERVENTION 1
Also in the cathedral: a grate, hanging in the middle of the aisle. Sometimes, if it's an important day, they stuff it with kindling or straw and they light it. I saw the video, it was cool.
NON-DIVINE INTEVENTION 2
And then, in another side of the church, there’s a beautiful sculpture of a dead lady. Her dog is also sculpted. and then, a young noblewoman, age 26, died just after childbirth. Her very rich noblehusband commissioned a beautiful marble laying down statue of her, and her face is amazing, and on top of it all, at the end, sits her loyal little doggy. I'd love to get that with pickle, my old dog. My preference would be Pickle forever enshrined, humping my arm, which she loved to do.
GOOD LUNCH
I went to Nonna Clara's, which must be a big thing on the socials, as it was packed with loud-talking americans. I went there too! There's a pasta-making station in the front window, and i felt like I was in "master of none" tv show restaurant. I ordered meatballs and then the house special: raviolis stuffed with meat and then covered with a meat ragu. it was delicious, and i took the meatballs to go, and plan to eat them later today. Nonna has done well, and there were 2 other restaurants on the placemat. I also ordered a glass of wine and ended with a cappuccino. Man, did i feel naughty! On a THURSDAY! And I had a job interview at 5! BECKY! Breaking all the rules! I also posted a pic on social, perfectly messy, showing this meal.
DESSERT
I read about a little bakery, from the 1800's, that serves anise and raisin bread. YES PLEASE! I love anise/black licorice/all of the things. I went in, and stood aside as the AMERICAN TOURISTS ordered loudly. I disassociated myself from my countrymen, and more politely ordered. I got a bunch of chewy hazelnut things, and then the bread and some hazelnut biscotti. It was delish.
PUNISHMENT
I meandared the streets, walked a segment of the wall and then decided I'd seen it all: the square, the atm, the place to eat, the bakery and the wacky: and hopped back in my pile of tin. BUT, in my windshield wiper was tucked a piece of paper. Gentle readers, that's never a good sign. I got a european parking ticket. I was punished for having that glass of wine at lunch. It's for 43 euro or 54, I can't recall but now I know...don't just park in a parking lot and think "they won't ticket me" because they will. THEY WILL!
JOB INTERVIEW
I did a screening interview for a job that sounds right up my alley: onboarding, live, running a sales bootcamp. Dear readers, don't tell my company:but sometimes i apply for new jobs. SHOCKER! The recruiter couldn't hear me via the speaker in the car, because the rain was pelting against the tin car. TUSCANY PROBLEMS! It went well, and I am getting pushed to the next round.
SHOPPING
I still hadn't picked up any real food for the week, so I went to the local shop. That was super fun. I picked up pasta, bananas in a tray, covered with plastic, 3 bottles of wine, popcorn for snacking while I write, cheese, 2 trays of cured meat, thinly sliced, packaged biscotti, apples, peppers, chocolate, wine, a fizzy grapefruit drink, creamer and coffee. But the coffee, my friends, was not coffee. It was packaged like coffee, with a picture of a moka pot (I AM IN TUSCANY), but it turned out, in the next morning, it's not coffee but barley or something like that. I had made a fatal error. The next morning, I couldn't admit I was wrong, so I sucked down that "coffee" the next morning and then shamefully went to my room and wrote. I made a ton of progress and then got tired and slept for 3 hours. Because I drank grain coffee with no caffein. When I sleep in, or take a nap, I have to say to myself "YOU ARE A BIG GROWN UP, you can do whatever you want" otherwise, the guilt creeps in..I should be writing/reading/doing sit ups/hiking/being profound instead of napping.
WELCOME DINNER
It was time to get back to the Casale, and have the welcome drinks and dinner. It was me, Becky, and then 3 other guests, 2 professors, and one lady who was also painting in the art barn. They had kids and family but didn't talk too much about being moms,which i know is so key to a person's identity, but when you aren't a person with kids, it's a big thing and you have to nod and smile and laugh at their stories. But in this case, the ladies didn't take over the convo about their kids, which honestly, was kind of nice. We talked about our hosts, about lucca, about their travels and dogs (Tizi had been a veternarian, recommended a Terrier Shephard, said that guinea pigs make very nice pets, but better in pairs and that being a vet screws up your knees). Tizi made a zuchunni/egg/cheese bake that was so good, mashed potatoes and a salad. And then, we all hung out, drank wine and then went to bed.
Given I'm 3 days in, I figured I should develop a plan. But mostly, I'm following my little heart's desire, which usually consists of sleep, reading, a bit of writing, walking and driving around and looking at things. Add in some good food, and a few beverages rolling at one time (capuccino, vino, water) and I'm a happy camper. I don't think I've watched tv except 2 nights in Lauterbrunnen when we watched friends with the entire family. I don't mean that as a humble brag, I mean that as a DIRECT brag. Look at me, in Europe fancy-free and not watching tv! But don't worry dear reader, I'm reading a fun gossipy book about Jackie Kennedy, so I'm keeping up with the tea of the day. And, i have a smart phone, so I'm watching about how AI agents convinced another AI agent to write fake reports about what they were doing on the NY Times. At the dinner table last night, I fully admitted to my use of AI and I sensed my fellow retreaters were NOT impressed. Count me down as one of those who are ruining our environment but I've enjoyed the local recommendations from Claude.
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