We started off in Lucca, a relatively small city/town/place with walls from the 16th century running all around it. You could walk off of them if you wanted to since the top of the wall is also the ground from the inside. It looks a lot like what happens around here when they build roads through hills. Solid ground at the top and then a sheer drop. Except in this case that drop is a lot shorter, the solid ground isn't a hill (well, it is, it just doesn't look that way when you're driving up), and instead of just dirt there's a really thick, 16th century wall there. You'd break a few bones jumping 
Yes, well, anyway, we started off with an introductory tour during which we looked at several cathedrals, what used to be a Roman amphitheatre but is now just a circular square, a couple towers the folks back in the day would build as a way prominent families competed with one another, and the ancient Roman forum. No, not that forum. That one's in Rome. This was the, like I said, ancient one from when apparently Lucca was the capitol and before the one in Rome. It's very small and sits next to...whatever cathedral it is. ((A/N: It was San Michele in Foro, a lovely duomo with exquisite, if not mind boggling detail.)) But there's still an open air market there! Forum essentially means market so...yeah...grand isn't it? After all this time, it's still being used for its original purpose.
There were some lovely scarves I was looking at, but I decided that they're everywhere and that I could get one in Florence later. Only later, on the bus, did I think of how cool it would have been to be able to say that I bought something in the ancient Roman forum. But oh well. I did get some more gelato on a corner nearby, so that kind of counts. Stracciatella again because nothing beats it. I don't need to try any other flavors, I just know.
Speaking of tastiness, Sarah, Monica, and I stopped by a little pizzaria--also on a corner, all the good places to eat are always on corners. At long last, something that I actually thoroughly enjoyed. I can't remember what it's called in Italian, but it was basically pizza with spicy pepperoni. Obviously, the word we used was not "pepperoni" since that means little peppers. I have to wonder if some Italians don't think we love peppers on our pizza since, no doubt, so many of us have made the mistake of saying pepperoni when we really mean spicy salami. Apparently someone in our group at some point got miffed because they ordered pepperoni pizza and got, yes, pizza with del peppers on it. Silliness. :P
The pizza was cut into rectangular slices on a flat, wooden slab. Then it was cut into four smaller strips, which is how it was served to us. I may be exaggerating, but I think Monica was on her first strip when she looked over and was shocked to see that I had already scarfed down my pizza. She was very entertained that we had finally found something that I would eat. At this point, it's become a bit of a joke amongst part of our group that I'm such a picky eater that I eat NOTHING. And it's mostly true. I've been surviving off of the snacks I brought and the rolls we get every morning at breakfast. Cereal, too, but the rolls are handy to keep with me for later in the day.
The bathroom was kind of exciting. Apparently, the light in there was on a timer and the person in there before me hadn't taken that long. I'm assuming they time it so as to give the average person enough time to do their business. Well, I was still in there when the light turned off. It was pitch black and I had to grope around for the switch, which was actually in the other portion of the small bathroom. There was the tiny front room with the sink and then the tiny back room with the toilet. So I had to get into the front room and actually open the door into the pizzaria a crack so that I could find the switch and proceed to go back and perform the hunt for the button with which to flush the toilet, which is now quite common in my day.
It was funtimes.
Well, I finally bought something. I got one of those glass cubes with little bubble images inside of it depicting thetower, cathedral, and baptismal of Pisa and a somewhat tacky little jug/vase thing. I'm a sucker for little bottles like that. And my glass cube came in a cute little box, which made it all the better. I also ended up becoming mildly obsessed with the little Easter egg trees and such. It is Easter week, after all, so they're everywhere. Monica was greatly amused by this.
Florence--well, I should say as much as possible but there's just too much. It feels like an entirely different day than the one we spent in Lucca. We all started by visiting the Piazzale Michelangelo, which overlooks Florence, a.k.a. Firenze. I'm confused as to why we call it Florence when the people who actually live there call it Firenze. But whatever, we got some amazing pictures up there.
After we got settled into our hotel, we went out with Cynthia and Melissa for the "second best" gelato in Italy. The best, according to Cynthia, being in Rome. Then we went sightseeing. We didn't go inside anything, there was just a lot of walking and picture taking and being awed at the sheer magnificence of things. Namely one, the Basilica di Santa Maria del Fiore, which you can actually see in two of the pictures above. And its baptismal. But I was cold and wet and the sky was gloomy and my fingers were freezing so I decided that I'd get most of my pictures tomorrow since Cynthia informed us that we were going on a tour of these places then during which we could actually go inside them. It didn't help that I was exhausted before we even started.
Melissa took us by an apothecary that has since been turned into a shop where the same basic things are still sold--well, similar things. I'm really not entirely sure what I'm talking about anymore, but there was scented stuff alongside these oils and ointments and such that are supposed to help you with some ailment or another. I bought a little golden box in which you're supposed to put potpourri. I just really love the box. Rather expensive, but compared to the prices of all the leather jackets and handbags everyone is going to be spending their money on tomorrow it's probably a steal. We're going to a leather shop and an adjacent jewellry store tomorrow since Firenze is famous for its leather and gold. Anyway, according to Melissa, the same box is probably three times more expensive on their website.
Melissa also took us to see a shop in which she's spent hundreds at a time. And it's no wonder! They well what I believe she said were handmade leather bound books. The paper isn't handmade in all of them, but there are a few. Obviously they're more expensive than the rest. I bought a small journal with a fleur de lis design, much like my original travel journal that Chad gave me for Christmas, except it's not refillable. And sold in Italy instead of Barnes & Noble. Both made in Italy, though! Haha. Really, since I love leatherbound journals so much, it's rather fitting that I end up traveling to Italy and getting one directly from the source. ((A/N: I adore that little book and I use it all the time, for every little thing from grocery lists to random ramblings and writings. Kendra can attest to this. xD))
More things happened. We foudn out that the house they say was Dante's actually wasn't. Melissa would know because Dante is one of her "dead boyfriends." So, if you ever come to Italy, don't pay for the tour of Dante's house. The house itself wasn't even built in the right time period and nothing it it is from the right time either. dante was born in that general area, yes, but no one knows exactly where--it sure ain't that house, though.
After all of that, we came back tot he hotel only for Monica to find her mother sweety and not all that well lying on her bed. She's a diabetic and her blood sugar was way too low. So Monica called for Sarah, Sarah called for Cynthia, and Cynthia called for the woman among our group who happens to be a nurse. Louis is fine now, but it was pretty worrisome.
Not only that, but one of the older women's husbands is missing. She and her little group somehow managed to misplace him somewhere in Florence. How? Not a clue. Usually, group memebers keep an eye otu for one another. We sum up who all is gallavanting about with us and occasioanlly look around just to make sure everyone's still there. We even do it for other groups, making note of where we last saw this group or that.
It's 10:30pm, they lost him before we even came back tot he hotel for dinner, and Ihave no idea if they ever managed to find him. Just one disaster after another today.
Random sidenote to end the day, the first day for which I've actually managed to finish an entry for: what is up with our room keys needing to be stuck in the little slots by the door for the lights to work? I mean, yeah, you'll never misplace your key, but it's kind of hard to find that slot in the dark. Not that we have that problem with this hotel. They actually provide a single working light by the door so you can see what the heck you're doing with your key. The previous ones were rather inconvenient.
((A/N: This entry is nearly verbatim what I wrote in my original travel log. It's probably THE most accurate entry you'll see here.))
Photobucket is being annoying again, so instead of the individual albums I failed to link to throughout this entry: Lucca & Florence 3-19-08.
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