Happy Thanksgiving from Lucca
We have been wandering the streets of a wall city called Lucca on Thanksgiving. It feels like Thanksgiving with the chill in the air. We are so thankful for our family and friends and sat in a restaurant with four tables and 3 of them were Americans eating Pizza for Thanksgiving. Pizza in Italy we should stress. That is something to be thankful for.
We spent the morning driving in the country looking for an old monastary that was carved into the side of the mountain. It was way up in a rock cropping and quite impressive. We enjoy wandering the little mountain roads and looking at the scenery. We saw a road sign to Lucca and decided to go for it since it was only about a half hr drive. It is a very old town with many more and different shops than in Barga...more like Michigan Ave in Chicago with all the fancy shops but they are in little stores in ancient buildings. We are heading home again soon and hope to connect on wifi soon. Such a luxury that we take for granted in the states.
Last night while laying in bed I was thinking about how I had asked the Lord to give me a fresh and new understanding of what our overseas friends experience in where they live and I felt a pang of homesickness and longing for the familiar and to be able to just carry on a conversation in English with someone (other than Roger...ha ha ) and the Lord reminded me that so many friends who work in other countries experience that so much more and longer than I am and I forget to pray for them and remember them in that way. In most countries, mostly asian and south american I feel more at home then in the US so I don't think it was a mistake we came to Italy for vacation where everything is sooooo foriegn (except pizza) to answer that request...
thanks for listening...more soon.
thanks for sharing - the picts look awsome. I really enjoy reading your blogs!
ReplyDeleteI just caught up with your postings and love it. I am re-living our trip to Italy 44 years ago and I do remember the roads steep and with so many switch backs you would get whip lash if you could get any speed.
ReplyDeleteNo one spoke English then either and it was a challenge to communicate but that is what makes this an "adventure"!
We solved the water problem in the airports by filling our bottles from the water fountains after going through security. Like you we hated to pay the price for the much need fluid. Don't think I would try the tap water in the airport bathrooms but the fountains should be fine.
We had a Griswold Thanksgiving at Jennifer's. Doug was to fry the turkey and Jen had injected the bird with a homemade concoction she got off the internet. When Doug eased that bird into the hot grease the fun began. Instead of the grease temp going down it went up...way up. In less than a minute the bird looked as if it were left from a huge fire. Black...charred...ruined! We knew it was a loss and I was ready for a vegetarian dinner but no way as Jennifer was going to have a fried turkey. At 3 pm she was at wal-mart purchasing another bird. As she was making the marinate and began injecting the bird it hit me what happend. The recipe was made up of honey, applejuice and garlic. The fluid had seeped out onto the skin on the bird and you know what happens when sugar gets into hot grease. So, we washed and dried turkey #2 and Doug cooked it. We ate 2 1/2 hours later than scheduled..at 5:30 pm. We had a good laugh but that was the most expensive dinner we've ever had! Six gallons of oil and two turkeys. We were lucky to find a bird that was not frozen. Pizza would have been a great alternative.
We look forward to all your postings and are praying for you as we wonder "Where in the world you are".
Susan