Lucca!

I'm a little behind on my blogging recently so I'm doing my best to catch all of you up and get back on track.  This past week was full of fun, busy days with the three of my roommates that were leaving on Friday.  They've been gone for a few days now and I feel like they took a piece of me and Florence with them. I miss them so much!

On Monday Amy, Jennifer, and I went to a town called Lucca that is a little over an hour train ride away from Florence. We were originally going to stop in Lucca to check the town out and then head to Pisa to see the tower and some live music that they do on Monday nights.  We ended up missing our train from Lucca to Pisa and just decided to spend the time in Lucca.

Cathedral in Lucca

Opera house

Lucca was a really pretty town that is enclosed by the same medieval walls from when it was built.  The town isn't very big but has a lot of flavor and good shopping.  It felt like a smaller version of Florence in a way, with a lot less tourists and more Italians however.  Everyone traveled by bike for the most part which was cool to see since there wasn't the hum of vespas zooming past on every street. Once we got into town, the three of us were pretty hungry so we went to find a bite to eat.  We found a cute little restaurant and all ordered their salmon gnocci... AMAZING! It was the first time I'd had salmon since I have been in Italy and it was to die for!

Salmon Gnocci 

After our late lunch we walked around the city and decided to rent some bikes. Something thats really great about the city is that you can rent bikes and ride around the city walls.  The trail was beautiful and you could easily see Lucca from up top.  There were tons of Italians out for an early evening jog and of course plenty of people riding bikes.  We rented a two seater bike and a regular bike that we all switched and took turns riding.  The two seater bike looked a lot more fun than it actually was because you couldn't really go faster than 2 miles an hour. But all in all it was a blast! We returned our bikes after touring the city and of course got gelato before making our way back to Florence. Perfect little Monday with the girls!

Amy and Jennifer on the two seater

Moi riding my little bike

Yummy cannolini with pistachio gelato!

Ciao Ciao!!

Xoxoxo Ash