Lucca

After hitting the books hard the last few days on our sunny balcony

we enjoyed a field trip to Lucca, a charming Tuscan town completely encircled by an impressively thick wall that is completely intact.

Amazingly, the city hasn’t been involved in a war since 1430 and really doesn’t have any claim to fame other than it is one of the few cities that avoided all bombing and is completely undamaged. Val and I enjoyed a quick Rick Steve’s tour of the town while the kids endured yet more churches, sculptures and bell towers.

Then came the highlight! A 5 km bike ride along the top if the city wall!

Maddie giggled uncontrollably whenever we permitted her to honk the horn and the rest of us laughed at the huge scene we were making:). Jackie and Owen did the lion’s share of the pedaling mainly because the rest of us couldn’t keep up with their pace. They were on a mission to make the full circuit of the wall before our 30 minutes were up. There may have been a backseat driver or two complaining about the aggressive and reckless driving of our bicycle built for six.

After surviving the ride, the kids enjoyed a park with yet more teeter totters.

The perfect ending to our day involved soup and a sunset on our balcony of our home just outside Lucca.