For our last day in Tuscany we decided to train out to a smaller town have lunch and wander around. Abrezzo and Lucca are both about the same distance on the train so both were good options. I am considering both as long term spots for my future retirement so either were good options for visiting. We went with Lucca as it seemed smaller and as a medieval walled city we figured just walking around town would be nice.

I got up a little early this morning to check out the washing machine. I of course have gotten something on most of my clothes which need to be worn again. There are two kinds of soap. One says something like kills bacteria and the other looks like old style washing detergent. The machine is little so I just add a small amount of both and hope for the best. The stains have all been treated with the tide stick so I think it should work. I figure I have all day for them to dry before I have to pack them so I think it will work. I start the washer and 2:11 blinks at me. I have no idea if it means 2 hours to wash the clothes or if that is something else entirely. I don’t like appliances that have pictures instead of words and now I am regretting my arrogance. Hopefully that they will be finished before Christina gets up I check in them every 15 minutes or so. At the beginning the display didn’t seem to be associated with time as it didn’t seem to be going down minute by minute so I was worried it would never get done. Finally about the time Christina woke up the display said 1 then beeped and turned off. Pulled out my clothes and they were dry and the stains all still there. First thought was that it hadn’t done anything but I know I saw water. Now I am aggravated because I wouldn’t have dried them if the stains hadn’t come out. So lesson learned get your phone and check the translation before using appliances. Now I am going to have to wear clothes with stains on them the rest of the trip.

We didn’t get an early start and barely made it to Lucca for lunch. Christina scoured the web and found a place that was opened past 2. Our train arrived in Lucca at 1:30 and we headed out for lunch. It was starting to rain when we headed out and both of us left our umbrellas behind in the apartment but we thought we might be okay with just our rain jackets. The walk to lunch was not horrible, we got a little wet but not bad.

The place Christina found, Cafe GiGi was super cute and the food was delicious. We had a tomato and cheese appetizer and then Christina had the macaroni with tomato sauce and I had the gnocchi with sun dried tomatoes and cream sauce. Macaroni in Italy is not the same as America. It was just like flat lasagna noodles only smaller. Other than the table with small children beside us lunch was quite enjoyable.

After lunch it was really raining and we wished we had bought the large umbrellas at the train station. Thankfully, the grocery store in the same square as GiGi had small umbrellas. Twenty three euros later we back out wandering the town.

Lucca is a really cute small town with lots of shops to wander through. Being a rainy day in January not all we’re opened but enough were for Christina and I to do some damage. We found a chocolate shop a cashmere store and shoes. We both came back with scarves, loafers and chocolate. Fingers crossed they fit in our luggage.

The train ride ride back was uneventful. It was dark outside so you could not see out the windows. With nothing to look at we played on our phones. It wasn’t raining to hard so we decided to walk back to the apartment one last time. We had a lot to pack so we stopped for some sandwiches and a bottle of Prosecco and headed in.

I think we bought too much. Our bags are packed and bulging. Not sure we can buy anything in Orvieto but I know that is not going to happen. Maybe we will find a post office and ship some things home.