May 12, 2009- Lucca

Tuesday we visited the walled city of Lucca. It is a beautiful medieval town with a fully 

intact curtain wall some 25+ feet thick. Home of Puccini (see picture). It was fun to wander through the town, but the best part was the walk around the top of the wall. It circumnavigates the city with a path about the size of a normal american street. Think  a short Burke-Gilman on steroids.

I realized 2 things during this visit. The first was really how much i shut down and stopped talking because i couldn't keep up with the Italian conversation. It was amazing to understand everything that people around me were saying and to get to interact and share my thoughts whenever i wanted to . The second is that getting by speaking Italian in Casarsa was vastly different than actually trying to buy something in Lucca.  I had to depend on Jen because every time the shop keeper asked me a question, i just froze and tripped over my tongue. Or tried to spit out something in French...old habits die hard;} I did come away with an amazing platter though, so it was worth looking like a fool.