Lucca

Yesterday my mom and I took our bikes on the train to nearby Lucca, a small city surrounded by a wall. We rode around, stopped at a cafe then she left to go to a castle with everyone else but I had to stay. Lucca is pretty and the bike was so nice, so I rode around all afternoon exploring. Turns out my Italian is not too shabby though. Okay, well my Spanish sometimes passes for Italian anyways.

The day before we went to the small market in town and I got a stove-top espresso maker and an herb mincer, graduation gifts from my mama. Lela made one of the best lunches I've ever had. She has a way with spices, plus the vegetables here are like so ridiculously fresh and flavorful. It kills me! The tomatoes are actually red all the way through! Oh, and I'm totally filling my pack with olive oil and pine nuts before I head home. And cynar, haha. We had a dessert party for my parent's new friends and distant relatives which was pretty awesome, but by the end of it I was so tired I passed out in my clothes and slept for like 12 hours.

The day before that we explored some random hillside village and quite by accident met an ancient Spadoni named Rosa who will turn 100 in October. We were passing her house and while we paused at her mail slot which read Spadoni, her son invited us in for espresso.

Seattle -> New York -> Milan -> Prato -> Pescia -> San Salvatore

I made it, one day later then planned, but whatever, whose keepin score. I'm in beautiful Italy with my parents and brother's family whom I haven't seen last summer! Just as I had secretly hoped they welcomed me with handmade raviolis, local cheese, prosciutto and espresso. Although I was jet lagged more than I wanted to admit, we went to a festa in Pescia and watched some bands play. I had some gelato di melone which was off the hook but the jury is still out on whether Argentina does it better. I need to try the tiramisu and chocolate first but the gelateria we went to was sold out on almost everything because of the festival. I'll also need to do a wine comparison, but I already know that on pasta and the like Italy blows Argentina right out of the water. But thats only because Argentina is too busy throwing down killer asados. Bought a ticket to Berlin and I'm getting excited about it. Prague will happen some other time I suppose, but for now I'm looking forward to buildings pockmarked with bullet holes from wwII.