"Lucca? Why you go to Lucca?"

When we were in Rome, people would exclaim, "Lucca?  Why you go to Lucca?" when they heard our next destination. We weren't sure why we were going to Lucca, except that we wanted to experience more of Italy than Rome.  Now that we are here, I will tell every one who hasn't been that they should go to Lucca.

We have been in Lucca for perhaps 3 days.  It's hard to keep track because we have gone from the frenetic pace of Rome, to a frenetic first night party in Lucca, to utter relaxation.

Lucca is a walled city in Tuscanny.  We are staying at the Palazzo Busdraghi right in the heart of town.

Our front door.

We arrived mid afternoon on a train from Rome.  We hired a taxi to take us to the Palazzo.  Several hours later our friends John and Bruce arrived from Seattle.

The first night was a little rough.  It was the annual "White Night" which means that everyone stays up all night and makes lots of noise.  Actually, all the shops are open, museums are free and there are concerts in all the public squares. While we were joining the party in the streets, the festivity was fun.  However, once we went to our rooms to go to bed, and the party continued, it lost it's charm.  The chaos didn't quiet down until 3:00 am.  People were wandering out of town at 5:00 am when Taylor took his morning walk.  The music was so loud, blasting into our windows that at one point I looked out the window to see the people dancing.  Boy was I surprised to find that no one was dancing, just walking down the street.  Why the music had to blast from the corner by our hotel, I have no idea.  Taylor, of course, slept through the entire night.

View from my room around 1 am.

View from my room around 2 am.  Why aren't these people dancing?

Needless to say, the next day Margit, Taylor, John, Bruce and I were all a bit groggy, but Lucca is the kind of town where it's okay to be groggy. If you come to Lucca, you can avoid the groggy feel by avoiding White Night.